WHO IS LOVEBIRD DE BACCHUS?

Our first meeting with Lovebird takes place in Book 2 of The Tsunami Project. 

If one would like to describe her, it would probably sound like this: 

“The parrot Lovebird has plenty of energy and can be a loyal friend if interacted with regularly.”

Okey, if we make a search on the net we’ll find following:

“Lovebirds are a chatty bunch, singing and whistling all day long, and they are especially vocal at dawn and dusk. No animal represents the sentiment of Valentine’s Day more than the lovebird. Lovebirds have inspired scientists and poets alike.”

More net search and we got this:  

“Scholars typically cite a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer as the first evidence of the connection between the religious celebration of Saint Valentine’s day and romantic love. The poem, ”Parliament of Fowles”, happens to feature two birds which exhibit all the markings of human love.”

”PARLIAMENT OF FOWLES” BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER

You can find this poem on the net, and probably on this web site as well.




This is an interesting article, have a look below.

FROM PENN STATE NEWS

February 14, 2011, By Grace Warren
Research/Penn State

”The earliest evidence of an association between Saint Valentine’s Day and celebrating romantic love is in a 14th-century poem by Chaucer,” said Caroline Eckhardt, head of Penn State’s Department of Comparative Literature. 

”The title of the poem is the ’Parliament of Fowls,’ and the events described in it occur on St. Valentine’s Day. The poem tells a story about birds who come to an assemblage or parliament to choose their mates.”

Most of the birds, who speak as if they were human, find partners, but the leading female bird is desired by three male suitors, and the poem ends with a year’s postponement in deciding the outcome of this romantic quadrangle.

Yet no earlier texts have yet been found that mention St. Valentine’s Day as an occasion to celebrate romantic love.

”His poem does not represent a mid-February setting,” Eckhardt said. ”Instead, it depicts a springtime scene. The narrator sees a garden full of blossoms – white, blue, yellow and red flowers – there are small fish in the stream, and there is a lot of birdsong.” The season could be as late as May.

Eckhardt points out what she considers an even bigger mystery.

”What interests me is why certain medieval literary and cultural traditions are durable across times and places, while others fade away and are lost.”

I don’t have an answer to why this one not only survived but became distributed worldwide.”

Indeed, Valentine’s Day has expanded almost exponentially, from poetry in medieval England to the Victorian-era obsession over lace and ribbon cards, to a twenty-first century holiday celebrated in places as far-flung as Singapore, Guatemala, and South Africa.

LOVEBIRDS (sort of) inspired Valentine’s Day

Chaucer is buried in Westminster Abbey, where he became the first to be buried in what would become known as Poet’s Corner.

POETS’S CORNER? 

Over the centuries a tradition has grown up of interring or memorializing people there in recognition of their contribution of British culture. In the majority of cases, the honor is awarded to writers.

The Poet’s corner is not the corner for every poet. With a poet’s fate comes the spirit of martyrdom, expressed differently.

The poet’s fate,
he asks for bread,
he receives a stone

As seen here

While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive,

No generous patron would a dinner give;

See him, when starv’d to death, and turn’d to dust,

Presented with a monumental bust.

The poet’s fate is here in emblem shown,

He ask’d for bread, and he received a stone.