scholarly journals Graveside Singing: Medieval Debate Poetry and the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne M. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Enrique Jiménez

AbstractContenders in Akkadian disputation poems make use of a large array of arguments to build their cases. The most common ones are material arguments, which rely on the benefits that they offer to humans. A second type of argument, termed here philological, is predicated on the alleged superiority of a litigant’s name or title over its rival’s. This superiority is demonstrated by means of the same set of hermeneutical techniques that are found in Mesopotamian exegesis and Mesopotamian literature at large. The present paper collects the philological arguments that can be found in debate poetry, discusses their discursive role and studies their parallels in Sumerian and Akkadian literature. Particular attention is given to the phrase mu-ni|bi-gin₇ || kīma šumīšū-ma, “like its name,” which is argued to be a technical term for introducing such philological discussions. Akkadian debate poems are lighthearted texts, but elucubrations of this type are common in serious texts as well. This fact suggests we should take these arguments seriously, however unpalatable from a modern etymological point of view they might be, just like the fanciful etymologies of Plato’s Cratylus.


Speculum ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 925-926
Author(s):  
Jan M. Ziolkowski
Keyword(s):  

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-44
Author(s):  
Victor Emmanuel Carmelo D. Nadera Jr ◽  
Chris Mooney Singh
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Lewis Beer

This chapter aims to illustrate three simple points: first, that medieval love-debate poetry is centrally concerned with a conflict between idealism and pragmatism; second, that Machaut’s Jugement du roy de Behaigne foregrounds this aspect of the love-debate genre and explores its implications; and third, that Gower’s Confessio Amantis is also structured around the juxtaposition of idealistic and pragmatic views of love. While the two narrative poems may seem to distinguish themselves from earlier love-debates by “settling” the conflict presented with a conclusive judgment, they also retain the fundamental ambivalence of the un-concluded jeux-partis. Machaut and Gower invest sympathetically in the idea that worldly pleasures, and specifically the pleasures of love, can be idealized and given enduring value, and the energy and persistence of this fantasy constitute a significant part of these poems’ appeal. It is a fantasy nonetheless, because both poets also figure the attempt to align love with virtue as essentially futile.


Author(s):  
Patricia E. Black
Keyword(s):  

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