Introduction

Abstract

“I think he’s equal to the gods, that man” (ancient Greece), “I tell this tale of my own sad self” (Anglo-Saxon England), “I am, by God, made for glory!” (Muslim Spain), “I feed on joy and youth” (Provence), “Fie, husband, on your love!” (medieval France), “Under the linden on the heath” (medieval Germany), “Hey nonny! I will love Sir John if I love anyone!” (late medieval England). These quotations are all the beginnings of “woman’s songs”; that is, poems in which spirited women talk about love. Usually these poems express feelings toward men, but the first example quoted above declares a passion for another woman, and the man is just a foil. Starting with early Greece, and continuing with ancient Rome and medieval Europe, this anthology brings together a collection of women’s voices as they speak and sing about love, or, less romantically, about sexual relationships.