Giving Voice to Griselda: Radical Reimaginings of a Medieval Tale.

Description: Examines two poems on the figure of Griselda by Eleanora Louisa Hervey (1811–1903). The first, published in 1850, and apparently intended for children as well as adults, emphasizes the cruelty of the system that enables husbands to exercise total control over their wives and children, "pitting wifehood against motherhood with disastrous results." The second, published in 1869, omits the reunion of Griselda with her children, but ends with the suggestion that she has gained a spiritual perspective on her life and anticipates being "wafted" to heaven. An appendix includes both poems.

Chaucer Subjects: Clerk and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations