The Discourse of Sighs in Medieval English Literature

The very ubiquity of references to sighing in medieval English literary culture has meant that the significance of sighs has remained hidden in plain sight. Yet the introduction of sighs into medieval reimaginings of biblical and other sources underlines how much sighing is part of late medieval aff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Chaucer review 2023-10, Vol.58 (3-4), p.442-455
Main Author: Windeatt, Barry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
breathing
History
Languages
Literature
nonverbal vocalization
sigh
Sighing Dyspnea
Troilus and Criseyde
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Summary:The very ubiquity of references to sighing in medieval English literary culture has meant that the significance of sighs has remained hidden in plain sight. Yet the introduction of sighs into medieval reimaginings of biblical and other sources underlines how much sighing is part of late medieval affect. A dual quality to sighs makes their interpretation depend on context: sighs may express negative or positive responses. As nonverbal vocalizations, sighs constitute a mode of communication, while in devotional tradition the penitent’s sighs may offer a means of bringing into being a desired spiritual state. Chaucer’s poems show him aligning sighs with significant speech, most intensively in Troilus, where Chaucer suggests sighs’ communicative role and their different kinds, while exploring their interconnections with breathing and emotion, and how sighs can powerfully transcend speech with what is left unsaid.
ISSN:0009-2002
1528-4204
DOI:10.5325/chaucerrev.58.3-4.0442