The Beginnings of Love: Religious Love

Love Through the Ages

This course explores the theme of love from the earliest English literature to the present day – from authors that you have likely heard of, such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron and Keats, to authors that are perhaps less well-known. This is a course that celebrates love in all it forms and between all kinds of people.

The Beginnings of Love: Religious Love

The course begins with a look at the earliest literature in the English language. In the early Middle Ages, expressions of love tend to be religious in nature – such as ‘Sweet Jesus, King of Bliss’ and ‘I Syng of the Mayden”. However, it is worth exploring the imagery used when describing women, even when the woman in question is the Virgin Mary – since it is imagery that we will see again. This period also saw some discussion of the nature of love, as we see in the poem: ‘What Love is Like’.