
Interpreting Nightingales
Gender, Class and Histories
Jeni Williams(Author)
Sheffield Academic Press
Published on 1. July 1997
Book
Hardback
299 pages
978-1-85075-808-2 (ISBN)
Description
The poetic nightingale is so familiar it seems hardly to merit serious attention. Yet its ubiquity is significant, suggesting associations with erotic love, pathos and art that cross culture and history. This book examines the different nightingales of European literature, starting with the Greek myth of Philomela, the raped girl, silenced by having her tongue cut out, and then transformed into the bird whose name means poet, poetry and nightingale simultaneously. Moving from the classical to the Christian worlds, Jeni Williams discusses nightingales and nature in the early church and sees the emergence of the figure as an emotive emblem of the aristocracy in mediaeval vernacular debate poetry. Her final chapters use the nightingale and the myth to examine Elizabeth Barrett Browning's struggle for an active female voice in Victorian poetry.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
619 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85075-808-2 (9781850758082)
DOI
CBID116823
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/1997
1st Edition
Sheffield Academic Press
€250.99
Available for download
Person
Jeni Williams lectures in the English Department, Swansea University, the English Department, Swansea Institute and the School of English Communications and Philosophy, Cardiff University.
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Reflecting on the Nightingale.
1. Sorrowful Weaving: Nightingales in Greek and Latin texts
2. Christian Nightingales: Transforming the Classical to the Christian; the Sacred to the Erotic
3. Debating Class and Gender: Medieval English Nightingales
4. Fragmentation and Alienation: Victorian Nightingales
5. Bitter Confusions: Barrett Browning among the Nightingales
Appendix 1. Nightingales in Classical Literature
Appendix 2. Christian Latin Poems
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names and Titles
Introduction. Reflecting on the Nightingale.
1. Sorrowful Weaving: Nightingales in Greek and Latin texts
2. Christian Nightingales: Transforming the Classical to the Christian; the Sacred to the Erotic
3. Debating Class and Gender: Medieval English Nightingales
4. Fragmentation and Alienation: Victorian Nightingales
5. Bitter Confusions: Barrett Browning among the Nightingales
Appendix 1. Nightingales in Classical Literature
Appendix 2. Christian Latin Poems
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names and Titles