Anonymous, Wooing Group, Wohunge Group

Sarah Salih (King's College London)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1210

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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The Wohunge (Wooing) Group consists of four meditations, “An Orison of God Almighty”, “A Lovesong of our Lord”, “A Lovesong of our Lady” and “The Wooing of our Lord”, written in Middle English in the early thirteenth century. They share the dialect and provenance of

Ancrene Wisse

and the Katherine Group, to which they are connected by thematic and verbal similarities. They were thus probably intended for the same audience of anchoresses. The “Lovesong of our Lady” is based on a Latin original, but sources of the others are unknown.

The texts are written in a dense, rhythmic, alliterative, poetic prose which shows the influence both of the native English tradition and of French and Latin verse. They are variations on the Christian topos of God's marriage to the soul or

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487 words

Citation: Salih, Sarah. "Wooing Group, Wohunge Group". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8864, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Anonymous, Wooing Group, Wohunge Group

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