This edition compiles seven obscure Middle English lyrics which each illustrate how Christian doctrine can channel high emotion. Susanna Fein argues that these lyrics were meant to be meditated over as devotional objects, which would help readers unlock a heartfelt response to God, through contemplation of the Incarnation or Passion. Dating from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries, these poems explore various kinds of love: eroticized attraction to Christ, Mary's maternal compassion for her suffering son, the Incarnation as a sign of God's love for mankind, and divine mercy. Highlights include "cross-poems" like Thomas of Hales' Love Rune, The Four Leaves of the Truelove, and The Dispute between Mary and the Cross, in which the crucifix becomes an enigma for readers to decipher. Fein ends with a newly discovered version of the penitential poem, The Sinner's Lament. Taken together, these poems make the signs of God's love visible, palpable, and affectively moving to the receptive soul.



Susanna Fein is Professor of English and Coordinator of the A&S Minor in Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies (AMRS). She has served terms as English Department Chair, Undergraduate Studies Coordinator, and Chair of the Ph.D. Program in Literature.



Acknowledgments



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Abbreviations



List of Plates







Thomas of Hales, Love Rune



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In a Valley of This Restless Mind



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The Dispute Between Mary and the Cross



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The Four Leaves of the Truelove



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The Bird with Four Feathers



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Pety Job



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The Sinner's Lament



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Glossary