10/15 Medieval Lyrics (#7b)

Religion
The poem, "A Hymn to Holy Women," is about Christ's offer of redemption to those who choose his way of righteousness. The devil, or the Ethiop, guards a ladder to keep people from leaving the place of sin. Christ, with his great love, makes a way for people to leave and lead a holy life. The women, in particular, mock the devil by doing good deeds and raising children to do good deeds. The poem uses the idea that women were essentially corrupt through the sin of Eve in the garden of Eden and then purified by the deed done by Mary, the virgin who "brought forth God incarnate, only begotten of the Father" (1387). This son was Christ, who opened the gates of hell for mankind to leave. Women, who were seen to be wiley temptresses, could be pure and virtuous as a wife and mother to knights and nobles. The poem uses the symbol of the ladder to show Christ helping sinners out of hell, the domain of the serpent, or the devil (1387). The phrases "vessels," "burnished temple," refer to human souls that are made pure by the love of Christ (1388). The form of half-sentences separates the ideas allows the reader to flow from the the doom of mankind to salvation of it.
Love
In "A Lover's Prize," love is seen as a passionate thing associated with sex and is an excuse for betrayal of one's marriage. The woman was "betrayed, [her husband] calims [she] did not give him love" (1403). Therefore, she feels open to give her heart and her body to her lover instead her husband. This supports the fact that having lovers in the Medieval era was commonplace as the husband and wife were apart a lot with the wife at home and the husband out fighting and hunting.