But Valentine’s Day only became associated with romantic love during the late fourteenth century, when Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400), author of The Canterbury Tales, made the association in his poem ‘The Parlement of Foules’, written some time in the 1380s, possibly in 1382. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Fowls,” writing, “For this was sent on Seynt It contains a well-known Valentine’s Day poem that is still echoed by many to this day, containing the words ‘Roses are Red, Violets are Blue.’ (Gammer Gurton’s Garland (London, 1784) in I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 375.) “Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowls” is one of the earliest known Valentine poems.” “Parliament of Fowls”, a 699-line poem about birds choosing their mates, might seem like an unlikely source for what is now a $20 billion holiday industry. Turn of the 19th Century Valentine’s Day Trends. An 1899 Valentine’s Day trend was to send a valentine with a small object attached. One such Valentine’s Day card had an artificial violet and featured this poem: Roses are red, violets are blue; Sugar is sweet and so are you. So please accept this small bouquet That I have picked for you The oldest poem written in the spirit of St Valentine dates back to the 15th century. Yet surprisingly, the circumstances surrounding its creation were pretty bleak. This tale of romance and intrigue centres on Charles, duc d’Orléans (Duke of Orléans, a city in north-central France). In his 1382 poem Parlement of Foules, Chaucer wrote: “For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.”During Chaucer's time, birds began pairing off and mating around mid-February, and soon the European nobility started sending love notes around this time of year. In the 1370s or 1380s, he wrote a poem called "Parliament of Fowls" that contains this line: “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.” Valentine’s Day may have been invented by medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer in a poem written around 1375. In the poem, Chaucer refers to February 14 as the day birds come together to find their mate. Medieval symbols like “lovebirds,” “winged cupids,” and “hearts” are still associated with Valentine’s Day. 1 History.com Editors The satirical poem, which features a symbolic assembly of birds debating over their choice of a mate, is often considered one of the earliest works to explicitly link Valentine's Day to the idea of love and courtship. While the association of February 14th with romantic love predates Chaucer, it is his poem that, for many, solidifies the This poem, from Duffy’s 1993 collection Mean Time, centres on the speaker’s gift to her Valentine, not of a red rose or a cute card but an onion, of all things – because it cuts through the clichéd conventions of Valentine’s Day and, oddly, captures what true love is far more accurately, because it will induce tears but its memory will St. Valentine, a name that is synonymous with love and romance across the globe, lived at a time when the Roman Empire was at its zenith. He is often best remembered for the act of marrying couples in secret defiance of the Roman Emperor's bans. However, the truth about St. Valentine is far more complex, woven from a mixture of historical fragments, religious tradition, and folklore. This has Discover the essence of Valentine's Day: delve into its true meaning, explore its rich history and origins. By: History.com Editors Updated: February 14, 2024 | Original: October 27, 2009 Chaucer’s depiction of Valentine’s Day as the moment when birds united in pursuit of love, serves as the reference point that has linked Valentine’s Day to romance in the present. Parliament of Fowls, it turns out, sparked a tradition. A Brief History of the Valentine’s Day Card An ornate Victorian-era Valentine’s Day card (1860-1880). The exact history of Valentine's Day is a bit "Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules Valentine’s Day Quotes, Wishes, and Messages for 2025 Short Valentine Quotes for Every Heart Heartfelt Valentine Blessings for Family and Friends Adorable Valentine’s Day Quotes for Kids Heartwarming Valentine’s Day to Remember Your Departed Loved Ones Baby’s First Valentine’s Day Captions & Quotes Funny Valentine’s Day Poems The first written connection between love and Valentine’s Day appears in his poem, Parlement of Foules, written in the late 14th century. Chaucer appears to have invented the correlation that Valentine’s Day equals love and chalked it up to poetic license. The history of Valentine’s Day is a bit blurry, but it’s also possible that he The next milestone in the history of Valentine’s Day came in 1382, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his poem Parlement of Foules. This poem contains what is widely reported to be the first recorded instance of St Valentine’s Day being linked to romantic love. This reference can be found in the lines: First Valentine’s Day poem Valentine’s greetings appeared as far back as the Middle Ages. History Channel experts say the oldest known Valentine still in existence today was “a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |