This collection focuses on a womans point of view in love poetry andjuxtaposes poems by women and poems about women to raise questions about howfemininity is co... » 

This collection focuses on a womans point of view in love poetry andjuxtaposes poems by women and poems about women to raise questions about howfemininity is constructed. Although most medieval womans songs are eitheranonymous or maleauthored lyrics in a popular style the term can usefully beexpanded to cover poetry composed by women and poetry that is aristocratic orlearned rather than popular. Poetry from ancient Greece and Rome that resonateswith the medieval poems is also included here. Readers will find a range ofvoices often echoing similar themes as women rejoice or lament praise orcondemn plead or curse speak in jest or in earnest to men and to each otherabout love. «