1 live poem · Old English
In the flickering candlelight of a Northumbrian monastery, a young boy bent over his wax tablet, carefully forming Latin letters under the watchful eye of his monastic teachers. This child, taken from his family at age seven and given to the abbey of Wearmouth, would grow to become one of medieval Europe's most luminous intellects. Bede the Venerable, born around 673 in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and dyin…
“Should history tell of good men, the attentive listener is incited to imitate what is good.”
Neighbourhood:
Classical & Ancient Poets, Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Medieval Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Wonder, Sorrow
Thomas Hoccleve, also spelled Occleve, stands as one of the most intriguingly human voices in fifteenth-century English literature. Born around 1368 or 1369 in what was likely the bustling heart of London, he lived through turbulent times—the waning years of the Hundred Years’ War, the Lancastrian consolidation of power after the deposition of Richard II, and the lingering cultural shadow of Geoffrey Chaucer’s genius…
Neighbourhood:
Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, Medieval Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing