Medieval poetry
Medieval poetry is often religious, such as the poem Christ by Cynewulf, written in Old English. They were meant to support the rising religions of the time, and express their beliefs. Little can be said, however, of Medieval poetry. Much of it was set to tune, and was spread by traveling minstrels, or bards, across Europe. Thus, the few poems written eventually became ballads or lays, and never made it to being recited without song or other music.See also: Medieval literature
Mediæval Latin literature
In mediæval Latin, while verse in the old quantitative metres continued to be written, a new more popular form called the sequence arose, which was based on accentual metres in which metrical feet were based on stressed syllables rather than vowel length. These metres were associated with Christian hymnody.
Topics
Medieval Latin poets
- St Ambrose
- St Thomas Aquinas
- The Archpoet
- St Bernard of Cluny
- St Bonaventure
- St Columba
- Dante Alighieri
- St Hildegard of Bingen
- Hrabanus Maurus
- Paul the Deacon
- Petrarch
- Peter of Blois
- Thomas of Celaeno
- Walafrid Strabo
- Walter
of Chatillon
Romance languages
Old French
The Matter of France
- chanson de geste
- paladin
- Charlemagne
- Charles Martel
- Saracen
- Chanson de Roland
- Garin de Monglane
- Doon de Mayence
- Huon de Bordeaux
- Renaud
de Montauban
The Matter of Britain
Provençal
Italian
Spanish
Authors
Germanic languages
Alliterative verse
Medieval English poetry
- Middle English
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- William Langland
- Everyman
- Sir Orfeo
- The Pearl Poet
Medieval German poetry
Medieval Celtic poetry
Welsh
- Taliesin
- The Mabinogion
Irish
- see: Irish poetry