Getty Images
If Chaucer makes a comeback in the proposed English curriculum rewrite, we shouldn’t dismiss what his work tells us about human nature – and contemporary New Zealand.
We have always wondered what was up there.
Wikimedia
Humans have always been fascinated by the moon and before we could really get there we travelled to it in our stories.
Wikimedia
A poem about birds meeting in February to pick their mates is the first known example of Valentine’s day being connected with love.
IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
How Chaucer’s medieval Wife of Bath continues to make her voice heard
a drawing of the Italian poet and court writer Christine de Pizan writing.
BNF Archives
Tiny drawings, such as knights riding snails, and random lines and squiggles were common in medieval books.
A24/Eric Zachanowich
The hero of The Green Knight, played brilliantly by Dev Patel, is flawed and less than honorable. The film is a deliberately unromantic exploration of the world of King Arthur and his court.
Was Chaucer a toxic misogynist, or a staunch women’s ally?
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Chaucer’s career as a secret agent helped him assume different disguises in his writing. Some scholars interpret this role-playing as Chaucer being sexist and anti-Semitic.
Roses are red, thieving birds are blue. My neck is aching, are you uncomfortable too?
Universitatbibliothek Heidelberg
The view of Valentine’s Day as a day for lovers can be traced back to two medieval poets who stood up for romance and the freedom to choose.
Chaucer at the Court of Edward III by Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Wikiart
When we feel under siege, Chaucer’s doomed love story during the battle for Troy might be just the distraction we need.
Christine in her study with the three virtuous ladies as the construction of the city begins.
London, British Library, Harley MS 4431, fol. 290r
Christine de Pizan’s 15th-century feminist narrative has particular resonance today.
Chaucer commended those who followed their societal roles and condemned those who didn’t.
Morphart Creation/Shutterstock
Poets and the wealthy were angered by those who saw their opportunity to rise above their station after the plague.
The Black Death inspired medieval writers to document their era of plague. Their anxieties and fears are starkly reminiscent of our own even if their solutions differ.
(Shutterstock)
During the Black Death of the 1300s, medieval writers struggled to make sense of the disease just as we are now during the COVID-19 pandemic
Alexander Gold/Shutterstock
From speaking out over domestic abuse in medieval times to telling the realities of war, these female poets present a very different version of Welsh life.
Alexander Maksimov/Shutterstock.com
Male monks were not the sole producers of books throughout the Middle Ages.
Comet in the sky, 1340. Wellcome Collection
Science fiction has been around for centuries.
The Achievement of the Grail / Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Is the Grail the chalice from the Last Supper – or the Crucifixion? Does it contain the elixir of life? Or is it Mary Magdalene’s womb?
US President Donald Trump.
Mark Reinstein/Shutterstock
Old habits die hard.