White Rose of Avalon

Love

  • Coleridge’s Gothic Influence

    For today’s post I would like to look at the influence of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge on other writers!   Christabel is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.    This poem was in fact never fully finished, but was nevertheless is one of Coleridge’s masterpieces. This poem was influential to later authors, such…

  • Horns

    For today’s post I would like to discuss the 2010 Joe Hill novel Horns, and the 2013 film based upon it.   The novel and film tell the story of Ig Perrish, who one day wakes up to find that he had begun to grow horns.    Now this man already had much anguish going…

  • Blodeuwedd and Flower Brides

    Blodeuwedd is a faerie bride, and Celtic goddess, who appeared in the fourth branch of the Welsh Mabinogion.   She was also known as “Flower Face” (the meaning of her name), “May Queen”, and “May Bride.”   Since I will soon be a May bride myself, I could not resist doing a post on this…

  • Heathcliff as Byronic Hero

    Anyone who knows me knows that I adore classic literature, and my favorite classic novel is Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights!    In honor of this today’s post is devoted to the character of Heathcliff.   Heathcliff is often named as a Gothic Villain, and he does bare many markers of the term, but he better…

  • Lady Susan

    Lady Susan is an early epistolary novella written by Jane Austen.   This short novel is unique within the Austen canon for being written in this style (epistolary being written entirely in letters) and for having a protagonist who is rather unscrupulous.   Lady Susan Vernon is a woman of means who had lost her…

  • Love in Edgar Allan Poe Work

    Poe is arguably the American Gothic horror master!    He wrote numerous short tales and poetry that continues to inspire us today.   He was also one of the premier literary critics of the Victorian era, often critiquing his contemporaries.   His personal life, though, was littered with utter tragedy. He fell in love with…

  • Orpheus and Eurydice

    The tragic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the great romantic myths of the Greco-Roman pantheon.   Orpheus was the best musician of the ancient world.  He was gifted his lyre by Apollo himself!   When Orpheus fell in love and married Eurydice their happiness was short lived. Eurydice would die not long…

  • Ariadne: Wife of Dionysus

    Ariadne was the wife of Dionysus in the Greek myths.    She was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, and his wife Pasiphae.    Pasiphae was the daughter of the sun god Helios and Oceanid Perse (an Oceanid was a type of water nymph).    This gave Ariadne divine origins through her mother’s side. When…

  • Royal Mistresses

    Monarchs throughout time have taken mistresses to satisfy their desires.   Especially French kings had special places at court for their mistresses.   There was in fact a particular title in the French royal court for a king’s mistress.   The king’s official mistress is known best by the original French term, maitresse-en-titre.    One…

  • Medieval Poetry

    Medieval poetry is a type of literature that was inspired by the legends that were popular at the time.   The medieval period was the time of the epic poem.    The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, and The Romance of the Rose are examples of this poetry.   The Lais of Marie de France was…