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This is a collection of essays on the subject of lament in the medieval period, with a particular emphasis on parental grief. The analysis of texts about pain and grief is an increasingly important area in medieval studies, offering as it does a means of exploring the ways in which cultural meanings arise from loss and processes of mourning. The international scholars who come together to produce this volume discuss subjects as diverse as lament psalms in Old and Middle English, medieval Latin laments, mourning in Anglo-Saxon literature, mourning through objects, medieval art and archaeology, Old French poetic elegy, skaldic poetry, medieval women’s writing, Old Polish drama, English massacre plays, and Middle English nativity lyrics.
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L AMENTS FOR THE L OST IN M EDIEVAL L ITERATURE
MEDIEVAL TEXTS AND CULTURES OF NORTHERN EUROPE Editorial Board under the auspices of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Hull Wendy Scase, Chair, University of Birmingham Adrian P. Tudor, Secretary, University of Hull John H. Arnold, Birkbeck College, University of London Julia Barrow, University of Nottingham Lesley A. Coote, University of Hull David Crouch, University of Hull Paul Hardwick, Leeds Trinity and All Saints Alan Hindley, University of Hull Advisory Board Andrew Ayton, University of Hull David Bagchi, University of Hull Keith Busby, University of Wisconsin–Madison Olle Ferm, Stockholms universitet W im Hüsken, Stedelijke Musea Mechelen Gerhard Jaritz, Central European University, Budapest Peter Meredith, University of Leeds Veronica O’Mara, University of Hull Nigel F. Palmer, St Edmund Hall, Oxford Brigitte Schludermann, University of Hull Michel Zink, Collège de France, Membre de l’Institut
Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of this book V O LU M E 19
L AMENTS FOR THE L OST IN M EDIEVAL L ITERATURE
Edited by
Jane Tolmie and M. J. Toswell
H F
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Laments for the lost in medieval literature. – (Medieval texts and cultures of Northern Europe ; v. 19) 1. Bereavement in literature. 2. Laments – History and criticism. 3. Literature, Medieval – History and criticism. I. Series II. Tolmie, Jane. III. Toswell, M. J. 809.9'3353'0902-dc22 ISBN-13: 9782503528588
© 2010, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2010/0095/51 ISBN: 978-2-503-52858-8 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgements
vii
List of Contributors
ix
Singing a Song of Sorrow: Tropes of Lament ANNE L. KLINCK
1
Structures of Sorrow: The Lament Psalms in Medieval England M. J. TOSWELL
21
Dustsceawung: Texting the Dead in the Old English Elegies MARY K. RAMSEY
45
The Grave, the Sword, and the Lament: Mourning for the Future in Beowulf
67
ANNE SAVAGE
Laments for Lost Children: Latin Traditions JAN M. ZIOLKOWSKI The Language of Philomena’s Lament
81 109
SUSAN SMALL
Mary, Motherhood, and Theatricality in the Old Polish Listen, Dear Brothers and Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale ANNA CZARNOWUS
129
‘Myth to Live By’ in Sonatorrek
149
JOSEPH HARRIS
‘Non enim possum plorare nec lamenta fundere’: Sonatorrek in a Tenth-Century Context til minningar um Stefán Karlsson
173
RUSSELL POOLE
Lullaby as Lament: Learning to Mourn in Middle English Nativity Lyrics AMY N. VINES
201
Natural Feeling and Unnatural Mothers: He