• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: The Lady and the Unicorn

Noah’s Ark: the Unicorn Song

06 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Bestiaries, the Bible

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Christ, Noah's Ark, Shel Silverstein, the Irish Rovers, The Lady and the Unicorn, the Unicorn, the Unicorn as Symbol, the Unicorn Song

Edward_Hicks,_American_-_Noah's_Ark_-_Google_Art_Project

Noah’s Ark (1846), a painting by the American folk painter Edward Hicks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I knew there was a song about the Unicorn missing the boat, Noah’s Ark. I had not retrieved the song, but our WordPress colleague Gallivanta sent me the link. The Unicorn is an important legendary and zoomorphic, creature. Zoomorphic animals combine the features of many animals, including humans. (See Legendary animals, Wikipedia.)

The Bible, the Book of Genesis in particular, is an etiological text, or the pourquoi story of children’s literature, the preeminent example being Rudyard Kipling‘s (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) Just So Stories, in which he describes the origins of a certain animal’s characteristic. How the Camel got its Hump is an example of Rudyard Kipling‘s Just So Stories, published in 1902. Kipling’s book is not restricted to the origin of animal features.

The Dove and the Unicorn resemble one another. For instance, both the dove and the Unicorn are white, and, in Christianity, the Unicorn can only be tamed by a maiden, representing the Virgin Mary, and it stands for the Incarnation.[1] As for the white dove, it represents the Holy Spirit and is also a messenger. In this respect, we must examine doves more closely. Messengers are frequent in the Abrahamic religions, Islam especially. However, the Unicorn is transcultural and the product of man’s imagination.

The medieval bestiary is abundant and it includes several legendary animals many of which are allegorical. The Middle Ages, which ended after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans (1453),[2] was the Golden Age of Bestiaries. Bestiaries are home to several allegorical animals that may be real animals, or fantastical. The Unicorn is featured in the Bible. (See Daniel 8:5, NIV.)

1024px-Stom,_Matthias_-_Christ_Crowned_with_Thorns_-_c._1633-1639

Jesus Christ in his Passion as the Lord of Patience or Lord of Contemplation as offered with the crown of thorns, the scepter reed and mocked by Roman soldiers. Oil on canvas by Matthias Stom.

As we have seen, the Unicorn is featured in the six tapestries known as Dame à la licorne and housed in the Cluny museum, in Paris.

I thank Gallivanta for forwarding the link to the Unicorn song. It was composed by Shel Silverstein, in 1968, and made popular by the Irish Rovers.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • A Tapestry: The Lady & the Unicorn (16 February 2012)
  • The Lady and the Unicorn: the Six Senses (16 February 2012)
  • The Phœnix: on the Importance of Sympols & Myths (1 February 2012)

Sources and Resources

  • Unicorn, Wikipedia
  • The Unicorn Song, Wikipedia
  • Bestiary.ca (Animals in the Middle Ages)
  • The Just so Stories are Gutenberg project’s [EBook #2781]


Love to everyone
♥
____________________

[1] Boria Sax, The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature (Santa Barbara, US; Denver, US; Oxford, UK: ABC-CLIO, 2001).
[2] See The Fall of Constantinople, Wikipedia

The Unicorn Song by Shel Silverstein, 1968

Of the Unicorn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
5 July 2018
WordPress

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Lady & the Unicorn: the Six Senses

16 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Courtly Love, Literature, Myths

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

millefleurs, music by John Dowland, The Lady and the Unicorn, the Six Senses

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Desire

À mon seul désir

Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Touch

Touch

The lady stands with one hand touching the unicorn’s horn, and the other holding up the pennant. The lion sits to the side and looks on.

The_lady_and_the_unicorn_Taste

Taste

The lady is taking sweets from a dish held by a maidservant. Her eyes are on a parakeet on her upheld left hand. The lion and the unicorn are both standing on their hind legs reaching up to pennants that frame the lady on either side. The monkey is at her feet, eating one of the sweetmeats.

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Smell

Smell

The lady stands, making a wreath of flowers. Her maidservant holds a basket of flowers within her easy reach. Again, the lion and unicorn frame the lady while holding on to the pennants. The monkey has stolen a flower which he is smelling, providing the key to the allegory.

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Hearing.jpg

Hearing

The lady plays a portative organ on top of a table covered with an Oriental rug. Her maidservant stands to the opposite side and operates the bellows. The lion and unicorn once again frame the scene holding up the pennants. Just as on all the other tapestries, the unicorn is to the lady’s left and the lion to her right – a common denominator to all the tapestries.

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Sight

Sight

The lady is seated, holding a mirror up in her right hand. The unicorn kneels on the ground, with his front legs in the lady’s lap, from which he gazes at his reflection in the mirror. The lion on the left holds up a pennant.

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Desire

À mon seul désir

This tapestry is wider than the others, and has a somewhat different style. The lady stands in front of a tent, across the top of which is written “À mon seul désir”, an obscure motto, variously interpretable as “my one/sole desire”, “according to my desire alone”; “by my will alone”, “love desires only beauty of soul”, “to calm passion”. Her maidservant stands to the right, holding open a chest. The lady is placing the necklace she wears in the other tapestries into the chest. To her left is a low bench with bags of coins on it. The unicorn and the lion stand in their normal spots framing the lady while holding onto the pennants.

—ooo—

 

This tapestry has elicited a number of interpretations. One interpretation sees the lady putting the necklace into the chest as a renunciation of the passions aroused by the other senses, and as an assertion of her free will. Another sees the tapestry as representing a sixth sense of understanding (derived from the sermons of Jean Gerson of the University of Paris, c. 1420). Various other interpretations see the tapestry as representing love or virginity. It is also debated whether the lady in “À mon seul désir” is picking up or setting aside the necklace.

Also notable is the mille-fleurs (thousand flowers) design which exerted an influence on further tapestries and rugs. Flowers and animals are also featured on oriental rugs.

The_Lady_and_the_unicorn_Desire

© Micheline Walker
16 February 2012
WordPress
 
 
 
0.000000 0.000000

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,544 other followers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Recent Posts

  • A Strange Experience …
  • The Bible of Saint Louis, Toledo
  • God the Architect
  • October 1837
  • Le Vent du Nord: Celtic Roots
  • C’est dans Paris …
  • The Ishtar Gate in Babylon
  • From Candlemas to Valentine’s Day
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • February, Février…

Archives

Categories

Calendar

February 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
« Jan    

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

A WordPress.com Website.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: