Abstract
Building on the creative work of dance scholars, I invite us to consider a more flexible, intergenerational and interactive reading of the Mumming at Bishopswood. I posit that the movement cued in the verses and the poem’s contexts in its extant manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole MS 59 speak across multiple May Day celebrations. I argue that the performance presents two forms of knowledge: literary and kinesthetic. Imagined together, Lydgate crafts a playful piece of intergenerational entertainment Bishopswood, where the embodiments of mythological abstractions create a layer of nuance for those in the literary know and whose imagined motion teaches service through play.
Recommended Citation
Morrison, Clint E. Jr
(2026)
"“To bringe yowe alle to joye”: John Lydgate’s 'The Mumming at Bishopswood' as Children’s Entertainment,"
ROMARD: Vol. 62, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/romard/vol62/iss1/4
