The Medieval Green Age: Environmentalism and English Literature in the Middle Ages

Abstract

In my dissertation I challenge standing views of the Middle Ages by forging a connection between current ecocritical theory and the representation of the environment in Medieval literature. Grounding my argument with historical texts on wildlife and land management, I explore perspectives toward property, man's role as God's designated guardian over nature in former ages, and the relationships pre-modern writers constructed between society and nature. My project takes a broad view: beginning with the earliest documented English concerns about land in Beowulf, and then focusing on The Canterbury Tales, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I trace the extent to which medieval attitudes toward land use, landscape beautification, and woodland delineation developed within the emerging English nation. I conclude the project by arguing that these medieval perspectives shaped modern views on nature. Such a transhistorical framework allows me to challenge the still-dominant assumption that environmental awareness is a relatively recent development. I argue instead that medieval attitudes constitute a crucially important pre-history to our modern views regarding the use, exploitation, and sustainability of the environment.