Description
About the Author
MICHAEL J. WARREN is currently Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway University, where he gained his PhD.
Reviews
In his soaring exploration of the avian, Warren urges us to look beyond the human preoccupations of medieval poetry to see how writers have persistently attempted to...bridge the gap between human and bird, at least temporarily, by inviting us to listen more closely to the melody those 'smale foweles' make all around us. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
Warren's handling of medieval material in a way that reminds us of both the innate value of the species we run the risk of destroying and the dangers of human exceptionalism is a welcome and, moreover, a significant contribution to the field. * MEDIUM AEVUM *
[I]t is not a bad thing for a book to leave readers wanting more when the readings are this perspicacious. ...Birds in Middle English Poetry contributes significantly to ecocritical, literary, and medieval studies. It shows that asking new questions of familiar texts reveals exciting insights into how medieval people understood their natural environment and how allegory operates. It invites us to remember the dynamic importance of birds in the Anthropocene and concludes with a generous glossary of bird names that will facilitate further study. * STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER *
Combining ornithological and literary history, this book is an important contribution to environmental history and ecocriticism, unpacking the complex relationships between human and other creatures and their shared environments. * PARERGON *
Birds in Medieval English Poetry is a valiant attempt at focussing exclusively on the birds and their special role within the medieval discourse on animals and recommended reading for all interested in matters animal. * ANGLIA *
[B]y thinking with actual birds-by suggesting that the birds in these texts might be every bit as real and variable as the human characters-Warren complicates our sense of both the real and the textual. Each is ambiguous, paradoxical, and strange, each interacting unpredictably to tell us something new about the shared world of humans and birds. * Speculum *
Book Information
ISBN 9781843845089
Author Michael J. Warren
Format Hardback
Page Count 269
Imprint D.S. Brewer
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd