Medieval Love Poetry

The quest is the essence of medieval romance. Either the Holy Grail or the jewel of Love could be the goal, but love might also be a snare along the path. This richly illustrated book explores the two distinct but related themes of love and romance, comparing their verbal and visual display in the Middle Ages.
A selection of extracts translated from the original texts of poems and chansons are prefaced by brief plot summaries and juxtaposed with contemporaneous images of medieval romances-stories of knightly adventures and quests such as Tristan and Isolde, Gawain and the Green Knight, the Roman del la Rose and La Chatelaine de Vergi. The author's introduction explains the medieval fascination with the quest and its ideas of beauty and chivalry.

Sheilah Egan - Children's Literature

This little gem of a collection of medieval love stories and poems will serve the researcher of the time period as a guide to the sentiments of the times, its jewelry, clothing, architecture, and customs. The introduction covers the historical development of the concept of "courtly love" and gives an explanation for the format of the book which juxtaposes the actual stories/poems with visual images representing romance—explanative narratives placed between each of the sections serving as their own introductions to the specific selections. We are given the stories of Tristan and Isolt, Lancelot, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Games of Love, The Chatelaine of Vergi, and the Romance of the Rose. The back matter includes "Text Sources and Further Reading" as well as "Illustration References." The individual pages also have annotations to aid the reader. The lovely language is decorated with the splendor of the exquisite tokens exchanged or inspired by lovers and their stories. The book contains extraordinary, stunning images of art, tapestries, sculpture, and jewelry of the age from the British Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum, making it a perfect treasure to give as a special token of love itself. (One editorial oversight should not mar this beautiful book's reception: "Ivory, the tusk of elephants, was used to carve the sides of caskets, as well as writing tablets, mirror cases and combs.") 2005, Getty Publications, Ages 12 up.

John Cherry is former keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe in the British Museum. He is the author of Medieval Decorative Art and Goldsmiths and editor of The British Museum Book of Mythical Beasts.