JOURNAL ARTICLE

Bird-Catching as a Love Allegory: A Comparison of Greco-Roman and Early Modern English Literature.

  • Published In: Parergon, 2023, v. 40, n. 1. P. 181 1 of 3

  • Database: Humanities Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Green, Ashleigh 3 of 3

Abstract

In the literature of early modern England, particularly Lyly, Shakespeare, and Spenser, love and sexual desire are commonly allegorised in terms of luring, trapping, and shooting birds. This paper investigates the classical origins of this symbolism, revealing how authors used Greek and Roman metaphors of love-as-fowling to inform their own works, with Cupid himself often imagined as a bird. It reconstructs technical and terminological aspects of fowling, arguing that we can only understand why bird-catching was used to express desire once we have answered fundamental questions of how, when, and by whom birds were traditionally caught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Parergon. 2023/01, Vol. 40, Issue 1, p181
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:03136221
  • DOI:10.1353/pgn.2023.a905419
  • Accession Number:170907307
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Parergon is the property of Australian & New Zealand Association for Medieval & Early Modern Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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