Lent in Middle English

Save the date for a discussion with Dr. Jessica Ward!

Lentun-dayes, þei ben longe,
And nou weor good tyme to amende
Þat we be-foren han do wronge.

Excerpt from A song of Love to the Blessed Virgin in the Vernon MS (ca. 1400 AD)

Welcome! Whether you’re a longtime friend or a new kindred spirit here (I recommend visiting the Village Green to get your bearings), I’m delighted to be a companion to you through the liturgical year.

One of the sweetest traditions we’ve formed here has been gathering together to seek more depth, enjoying live conversations with historians, writers, educators, creators, and each other.

If you’d like to enjoy previous discussions, please head over to the archive of posts for paid members! The support paid members is what makes it possible for me to welcome so many wonderful guest speakers into our discussions.

Pax+bonum, Kristin.

Lent is a challenging season - a springtime opportunity to re-set our habits and re-align our posture, though it’s never a pretty process. In these seasons, I often find that it’s especially helpful to widen my perspective and see how others have wrestled through the tradition of Lenten pruning across time and geography.

So, I’m delighted to learn from early English literature scholar Dr. Jessica D. Ward - she’ll be joining us for a live discussion about Lent in Middle English texts!

Grace Hamman introduced me to Jessica’s work, and I was immediately struck by how accessible and illuminating her writing is. For my own part, I developed a love for the Middle Ages when I was long out of school…so, getting to go beyond the books I read and actually learn first-hand from these generous-minded academics is an utter delight!

Dr. Jessica D. Ward is an early English literature scholar. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on medieval and early modern literature, culture, and language and has written for various academic journals and collections on these topics. She has served as a dramaturg for professional Shakespeare productions in New York as well as in Texas, where she now lives with her husband, toddler son, and their spunky little lion dog, Oscar, the shih tzu. She enjoys delighting in Middle English and its muses and legacies on Substack in her newsletter Middle English Delights.

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SAVE THE DATE:

» Friday, March 28 at 5 pm PST

A Zoom link will be sent out a few days before we gather.

This discussion is open to all paid HF members!

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If you need a boost in your Lenten journey (I sure do!), I hope you can join Jessica & I for a fascinating chat.

Pax et bonum,
Kristin