MetaFilter posts tagged with chaucer

Love is a lottery

asok — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:57:01 -0800

Lupercalia is a festival that probably pre-dates Rome, and which later became known as St. Valentine's day. It had everything; sacrifice, cake, nudity, spanking and a love lottery. What do we get? A card. If we are lucky. But, who was Valentine? Did Chaucer make the whole thing up? Lupercalia was held in a month which became known as February after the strips of goat meat (februa) used to stike people to bring good luck, banish bad spirits and promote fertility and easier childbirth. February used to be later in the year, so running about Rome wearing nothing but a goat skin would not have been such a freezing experience. Since the development of sweet chocolate, this particular tradition has declined in popularity somewhat. j/k Valentine was removed from the liturgical calendar in 1969 as the Catholic church decided there wasn't enough certainty about the 'real' St. Valentine (!?!). As seen on Metafilter.

Grandmaster Gregory in da hizzouse

madamjujujive — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:33:15 -0800

The Pardoner's Tale - adapted to rap by Baba Brinkman, who has been rapping Chaucer tales for a few years now. He's also released The Rap Canterbury Tales, a book that presents raps side by side with Chaucer's original Middle English. Both video and book are illustrated graffiti-style by his brother Erik. Discussed in a previous post by fatllama on hip hop classics.

Whatte the swyve?

monju_bosatsu — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 12:30:49 -0800

Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog. Take thatte, Gower! Some favorite entries: top search engine referrers, abbreviaciouns, and Aske Chaucere, parte the firste.

"Shaft" in Chaucerian English

swift — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 06:12:20 -0800

Wha be tha blake prevy lawe
That bene wantoun too alle tha feres?
SHAFT!
Ya damne righte!

(Obligatory secondary links).

Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy

jeffmshaw — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:26:59 -0800

Boethius is one of history's most overlooked philosophers. While imprisoned and awaiting execution at the hands of Theodoric, Boethius illustrated the medieval Christian worldview through his most famous work, The Consolation of Philosophy. Though he also wrote essays on music, science, and logic, engaging with Porphyry [pdf] Plato and Aristotle, the Consolation reached widest. In style and content, Boethius' work had a profound influence on Geoffrey Chaucer (as the Chaucer Review makes very clear). Dante, reading Boethius for solace after Beatrice's death, called Boethius "[t]he blessed soul who exposes the deceptive world to anyone who gives ear to him." [MI]

Caxton's Canterbury Tales

liam — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 18:27:32 -0800

Early eBook designs. William Caxton's first two editions of The Canterbury Tales, probably published in 1476 and 1483, have been put online by the British Library.

MiguelCardoso — Fri, 25 Oct 2002 00:34:20 -0800

A Year Of Days In Poetry: Today is the day Chaucer died. James Beattie, Macaulay and John Berryman were born on this same day. This is just one of the ways of entering Ian Lancashire's magnificent, monumental Representative Poetry Online. The timeline, the glossary of poetical terms and the fascinating collection of poets' writings on poetry are equally rich and generous. In a word, bliss.