Come February and you know that it is the month of love. Heart-shaped decorations and merchandise adorn window-shops to beckon lovebirds. Valentines Day is celebrated on the 14th of February and over time it has become linked with romantic love. The legends believed that birds’ mating season started on the day and it was the advent of spring. We also find numerous accounts of martyrdom associated with Saint Valentine’s Day.
On this day, the classic way of expressing love to one’s beloved is by offering chocolates, flowers, and love cards. However, now we find thousands of unique Valentine’s Day gift ideas thronging the market. To make the day special and show their deep love some dig deep in their pockets.
Poems and plays about Valentine’s Day
Geoffrey’s Chaucer, the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, wrote the poem Parlement of Foules (1382) which is the first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love. This poem was written to honour the first-anniversary engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.
It is considered that, the first-ever Valentine’s Day card was written by French King Charles in 1415 after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt. He was held prisoner in the Tower of London and from there wrote to his wife.
Shakespear’s longest play and one of the most popular works during his lifetime was Hamlet (1600-1601). In this powerful and influential work he has mentioned Valentine’s Day.
To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
And dupp’d the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
— William Shakespeare,Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
The Anglo- Saxon tradition of celebrating love has only grown popular among young people. This tradition has evolved and now celebrated the world over on different days and in interesting ways. Whether you have recently fallen in love or have been in love for years, you could mark the festival with fun and laughter and make it the most memorable Valentine’s Day!