Who was Saint Valentine, the saint who gave his name to the festival of lovers? Where do red hearts and roses fit in? Or do they? This volume addresses these questions, but focuses more specifically on the previously unpublished Welsh poetry written over the centuries on the feast day of Saint Valentine in mid- February, the one saint’s day in the Christian calendar of saints that does not depend on the Church for its celebration. Far from resembling anything else on offer in any other part of the UK, these Welsh songs are lyrical, expressive, and often in cynghanedd. This volume analyses this rich collection of extant Welsh Saint Valentine’s Day poems, and advances a new understanding of societal propriety in settings where citizens paid great attention to tradition. In so doing, it offers new insights into the tradition of observing Saint Valentine’s Day in Wales and, indeed, argues that although it is the fifth-century Dwynwen who is today considered to be the patron saint of Welsh lovers, Saint Valentine also handed out aid and sympathy to lovers in Wales over many centuries.
To read Rhiannon Ifans article on her volume, visit Parallel.Cymru website https://parallel.cymru/rhiannon-ifans-red-hearts-and-roses/
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This volume presents the story of the saint who gave his name to the festival of lovers, Saint Valentine, known in Wales as Sant Ffolant, focusing specifically on the Welsh poetry written over the centuries on the feast day of Saint Valentine in mid-February.
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Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Who was Saint Valentine?
The seventeenth century
The eighteenth century
The nineteenth century
Post-1900
Conclusions
Tunes:
Welsh Valentine Songs and Poems 1–69
Bibliography
Verse forms
Index to first lines
Index to poets
Index to tunes
General Index
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Dr Rhiannon Ifans is Dyson Fellow in the Faculty of Humanities and Performing Arts, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her main field of research is medieval Welsh literature. Other research interests include Welsh folk life and folk culture, carols, ballads, and Welsh theatre (with special reference to the eighteenth-century interludes). An award-winning children’s author, she is a regular participant at international conferences, festivals, in schools, and in higher education institutions. She is General Secretary of the Welsh Folk Song Society, organiser of the Society’s Annual Conference, and editor of the annual journal Canu Gwerin / Folk Song.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781786833716
Publisert
2019-01-09
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Wales Press
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
138 mm
Aldersnivå
U, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Forfatter
Biographical note
Within the academic community the book can be expected to have broad appeal. It should be of particular interest to those concerned with folk life studies taught widely at the undergraduate and graduate levels at universities within the UK, in countries across the EU, and in several markets further afield. It will be accessible and of interest to an audience drawn from historians, musicologists, linguists, museum professionals, students of Celtic Studies, and those involved with comparative folk life studies worldwide; it will also have significant appeal for readers with a more general interest in Welsh life and culture.