Culture: Art and Literature

Danse Macabre or The Dance of Death, was an artistic genre of allegory that represented how the living lived side by side with death. This theme likely occurred during the 14^th century and it was a way to express how society lived by a way of paintings, but also through music and literature. . These paintings represented how life is short and death can happen to anyone. These painting were depicted with skeletons that led their victims to their death. They are often carrying musical instruments, which they play the tune to their mock dance of the living.

In order to understand the changes that took place within art during the time of the black death, one must understand what art was like before it all began. 13^th Century art produced nothing too significant, there are very few well known painters that emerged during this time and many of their works are not nearly as valuable as those from the 17^th century Vermeer’s, Rembrandt’s, or El Greco’s. Medieval paintings were simple, often portraying something of religious importance. Paintings of Madonna and Child or of a Saint were among the most common paintings during this time period.

It is important to recognize the shift in paintings as the Black Death creeps along Europe, killing one third the population. Artists who see first-hand the death and destruction the plague has caused have every reason to believe that their god has abandoned them and has left them to die. During the years of the plague, there are very few religious paintings, and an abundance of paintings depicting death and skeletons and hell-like situations. Demons are often seen as well, often eating their victims. This is how artists and others see the plague. They feel like they are being eaten alive by demons sent by god as a punishment, and these pictures can tell an entire story.

In reality, there are not many pictures that can accurately depict what the plague was actually like during the time it was raging throughout Europe. This is mostly because the disease killed one third of Europe, so the people who could paint these pictures were either dead, almost dead, or in fear of catching the disease by being around someone who has it and trying to draw them. However, the very few paintings that survived that accurately depict and describe what the plague was like help historians imagine what was going on during that time and they can put together pieces of how horrendous this disease actually was.

The Canterbury Tales is a medieval literary work by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), which was a collection of 24 tales that discussed different subject ranging from love, marriage, pride and death. Each tales is narrated by the character and who are on pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. 30 pilgrims are mentioned in the general prologue and these pilgrims engaged in a contest by a way of storytelling. Unfortunately, Chaucer did not complete the book and only 24 tales were mentioned. He uses the tales to represent the English society at that time, mainly the Church. These character are fictional, but it still represents the customs and practices of that time.

The Canterbury tales is one of the best loved work in history. Chaucer is so important because he wrote the book in English and not French. The Canterbury tales was one of the first major works in literature written in English. The Canterbury Tales was also important because it provide an overview of life in the Middle Ages.