{"id":490,"date":"2020-02-14T10:30:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T15:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/?p=490"},"modified":"2024-05-02T16:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T21:23:14","slug":"only-foules-rush-in-the-love-poem-behind-saint-valentines-day-by-amanda-hays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/2020\/02\/14\/only-foules-rush-in-the-love-poem-behind-saint-valentines-day-by-amanda-hays\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Foules Rush In: The Love Poem Behind Saint Valentine\u2019s Day By Amanda Hays"},"content":{"rendered":"

That time of year has come again. February– a time of love, bad weather, and a hope that spring is just around the corner. Don\u2019t the silvery, frosty days just make you want to cuddle up next to your crush and sip hot chocolate? I know, some of you are rolling your eyes and imitating a gag. You may ask, why is February so closely affiliated with Valentine\u2019s day? Why do we even have a holiday celebrating love in the form of red hearts and candy chocolates? Valentine\u2019s day was turned into such a commercial holiday that you might wonder if it has always been that way, or is there something more to it? Well, you all can thank Chaucer for this one. Interestingly enough, Chaucer wrote the first Valentine\u2019s day love poem entitled, <\/span>Parlement of Foules. <\/span><\/i>This nearly 700 line-poem is what helped give Valentine\u2019s day the association of romantic love and human bonding.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Chaucer and his fourteenth-century friends John Gower, Sir John Clanvowe, and Oton de Grandson all wrote poems to celebrate St. Valentine, the patron saint of birds and human lovers. Of all the poems that were written, Chaucer\u2019s <\/span>Parlement of Foules<\/span><\/i> is the most popular.\u00a0 Many popular accounts of the holiday assert that his poem is but one of many medieval Valentine\u2019s Day poems; however, contrary to that popular belief, there is no evidence indicating that there was ever a \u201cValentine\u201d tradition prior to Chaucer. While some scholars, such as John M. Manly, claim that a \u201ccult of St. Valentine appears to have existed as a folk custom from very remote antiquity,\u201d others are not so sure. Not enough evidence has been uncovered to prove one way or the other. However, most scholars agree that Chaucer\u2019s <\/span>Parlement of Foules<\/span><\/i> was not influenced by any contemporaries before or during his time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only are the origins of the poem mysterious, but the origins of Valentine\u2019s day\u2019s association with birds and lovers alike is in itself a mystery. In Chaucer\u2019s time St. Valentine, like saints, was seen as another miracle worker. A miracle worker is definitely different from being someone who is linked to birds and lovers. The first challenge is that there were many Valentines in the Roman empire, including several emperors and popes. About thirty Valentines and Valentinas gained sainthood after they were martyred. \"\"To complicate matters further, some of the saints\u2019 remains were exhumed and given a name after the fact. Because so much time had passed between when the saint died to when the remains were named, it is practically impossible to know who was the St. Valentine that has the holiday named after him. So, one must find the correct St. Valentine. One can look back at church papers and indexes of saints to find the life story of St. Valentine, but they tend to be more fictional rather than historically accurate. Records from the time of the Roman empire that would provide the most help have almost certainly been destroyed during the Great Persecution of the fourth century. The most popular belief today is that St. Valentine performed illegal marriages in the Roman empire between Christians, which might explain why he is closely associated with the ideas of love and courtship. A second challenge is accounting for the date of the holiday.\u00a0 Most think that February 14th was chosen because that was when St. Valentine was martyred.<\/span> Like with other saints, a cult worship developed around his story. Around Europe, churches, shrines, and basilicas we dedicated to him. His relics were dispersed to various Catholic churches to be viewed<\/span> (If you\u2019re ever in Rome, look for his flower crowned skull, which can be seen today<\/span> in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The shift from seeing St. Valentine as a stoic martyr to viewing him as a saint of love is seen in Chaucer\u2019s poem. Chaucer writes, \u201cFor this was on seynt Valentynes day,\/ Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make.\u201d He compares birds and humans as they come and decide who they will mate with. He goes on to link the saint with springtime and floral rebirth as well. Considering that Valentine\u2019s day is in February, a month notorious for wintery weather, this is an odd choice on Chaucer\u2019s part!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some think that these connections of love, spring, and birds to St. Valentine are surprisingly innovative. But the motive behind it remains unclear. Medievalist Henry Ansgar Kelly went as far as to say that Chaucer was referring to a entirely different Valentine! Another Valentine, a local saint in Genoa, was celebrated in early May and was linked to Maytime festivals and the coming of spring. Kelly goes on to suggest that Chaucer may have known the Genoese saint through Italian connections. In his creativity, Chaucer may have been combining this Valentine with springtime in May. It could be that his contemporaries read his poem, and with no knowledge of Genoa\u2019s own St. Valentine, and wrote their own love poems in association with February 14th\u2019s saint. Others, in a less complicated theory, attribute the spring imagery to the medieval dating of the seasons– putting spring in February. Regardless of the true root of the poem, most scholars agree that it was <\/span>Parlement of Foules <\/span><\/i>that helped to transform St. Valentine\u2019s day into a holiday of love and matchmaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Britain, Valentine\u2019s day gained popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Aristocrats would have drawings of \u201cvalentines\u201d made to create favorable omens. Men and women alike would put their names into a pouch and pick a name out. Whoever\u2019s name they picked would become their valentine, and it was said that the likelihood of their marriage was favorable. Young women in particular turned to these drawings in hopes of securing a good marriage in their future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the holiday became more associated with lovers, other poets, such as Robert Herrick, followed Chaucer\u2019s tradition of comparing human lovers to birds: \u201cOft have heard both youths and virgins say,\/ Birds choose their mates, and couples too, this day.\u201d<\/span> Even in America, poets were drawing from the same imagery. A poem from 1811 used the springtime coupling of robins, blackbirds, wrens, hedge-sparrows, starlings, and jays.<\/span> Why was the imagery of mating birds so popular? Migrating birds, which return in spring, might well become associated with the revitalization of spring. February 14th, in ancient calendars, was not too long after the first day of spring, when birds start to sing and mate.<\/span>Also, terms such as \u201clove birds\u201d instantly conjures the image of two birds nesting together, something that humans can relate to. Though we don\u2019t build literal nests, we form loving connections with one another and share our living spaces. Maybe we aren\u2019t so different from birds afterall!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are centuries of tradition surrounding St Valentine going back to antiquity, it may be that Chaucer\u2019s <\/span>Parlement of Foules<\/span><\/i> is where it all began. Are we ourselves \u201cfoules\u201d who rush in to believe that Valentine\u2019s day has always been about birds, spring, and love? Well, I suggest you think about what kind of love bird you are — a majestic hawk, a graceful swan, a quick swallow, a wise owl — and find the love bird in your life to help you celebrate this age-old holiday with cards, chocolate, and Chaucer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catholic Online. \u201cSt. Valentine.\u201d Accessed February 6, 2020. <\/span>https:\/\/www.catholic.org\/saints\/saint.php?saint_id=159<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oruch, Jack B. \u201cSt. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February.\u201d <\/span>Speculum <\/span><\/i>56, no. 3 (July, 1981): 534-565.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schmidt, Leigh Eric. \u201cThe Fashioning of a Modern Holiday: St. Valentine\u2019s Day, 1840-1870.\u201d <\/span>Winterthur Portfolio <\/span><\/i>28, no. 4 (Winter, 1993): 209-245.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That time of year has come again. February– a time of love, bad weather, and a hope that spring is just around the corner. Don\u2019t the silvery, frosty days just make you want to cuddle up next to your crush and sip hot chocolate? I know, some of you are rolling your eyes and imitating… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1713,"featured_media":503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[19,23],"class_list":["post-490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-hi-res","tag-features","tag-hi-res"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1713"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2445,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/2445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/trident\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}