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“For this was on Seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh theere to chese his make [mate]…”
(Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowles, circa 1380)
Geoffrey Chaucer (1342/43–1400) brought together the imagery
of blooming spring and the tradition that birds choose their mates
in spring to describe the courtship of Richard II and Anne of
Bohemia. In The Parliament of Fowles Chaucer also chose
Saint Valentine as a patron for that marriage, which is the first
mention of Saint Valentine in a love poem. Also in the poem are
other symbols of love which came to be associated with Saint Valentine's
Day: Cupid and Venus. Chaucer thus began a tradition of composing
love poetry on Saint Valentine's Day.
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Geoffrey Chaucer
Engraving.
In Arthur Gilman, ed., The
Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin,
188–): frontispiece.
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