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Medieval Beginnings: Middle English Lyrics
Manage episode 378774524 series 3476717
From the first recorded instance of the word ‘fart’ in English, to nuanced vignettes of sexual power dynamics, the numerous Middle English lyrics that have survived down the centuries, often scribbled in the margins of more ‘serious’ texts, offer a vivid snapshot of everyday medieval life. In the tenth episode of Medieval Beginings, Irina and Mary analyse several of these short, fleeting verses, probably set to music, and consider their possible origins and purpose, their delicious ambiguity, and their equivocal relationship to the sacred manuscripts in which they've been found.
Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers.
Subscribe to Close Readings:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq
In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings
Further reading in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n10/barbara-newman/i-was-such-a-lovely-girl
Listen to 'Sumer is icumen in' sung by The Hilliard Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo
Some of the lyrics discussed in this episode can be found online:
Sumer is icumen in:
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/cuckou.php
I Have a Yong Suster
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/suster.php
Maiden in the mor
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/maideninthemoor.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_in_the_mor_lay
I have a gentil cock
https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/i-have-gentil-cook
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
102 episodes
Manage episode 378774524 series 3476717
From the first recorded instance of the word ‘fart’ in English, to nuanced vignettes of sexual power dynamics, the numerous Middle English lyrics that have survived down the centuries, often scribbled in the margins of more ‘serious’ texts, offer a vivid snapshot of everyday medieval life. In the tenth episode of Medieval Beginings, Irina and Mary analyse several of these short, fleeting verses, probably set to music, and consider their possible origins and purpose, their delicious ambiguity, and their equivocal relationship to the sacred manuscripts in which they've been found.
Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers.
Subscribe to Close Readings:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq
In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings
Further reading in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n10/barbara-newman/i-was-such-a-lovely-girl
Listen to 'Sumer is icumen in' sung by The Hilliard Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo
Some of the lyrics discussed in this episode can be found online:
Sumer is icumen in:
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/cuckou.php
I Have a Yong Suster
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/suster.php
Maiden in the mor
https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/maideninthemoor.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_in_the_mor_lay
I have a gentil cock
https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/i-have-gentil-cook
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
102 episodes
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