- Find consolation in Boethius, De consolatione Philosophiae. He, too, wanted his library back.
- Reassure ourselves with Julian of Norwich.
- Use Piers Plowman as a mirror for the commons and a tool for collective action.
- Contemplate Petrarch’s Canzoniere, or Rime sparse, or 365 days of not getting laid.
- Misery bond with the protagonists of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, who are confined inside the city walls.
- Take grim satisfaction in the description of Saturn in Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale.
- Reread the prologue to Boccaccio’s Decameron as a mirror for self-quarantine. Then read the tales as a means of escape.
- Commune with your God, who is also your gay lover, in Ramon Llull’s Llibre d’Amic e Amat. Read a metaphor every day of the year.
- Try the home remedies of Hildegard of Bingen or those enumerated in the Trotula.
- Stay under house arrest with Charles d’Orléans.
- Hope and pray we won’t be grieving with the Pearl Poet.
- Remember, with Deor, “Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg.” This too shall pass.
Samantha Pious 