Susan Brigden

unobtainable and that's part of the the attractiveness that you actually can't marry this person you can't be with that person it doesn't mean you can't love them deeply and desire them it's fascinating what that says about aspects of humanity what you can't obtain is almost more valuable than what you can obtain

yeah i think it says quite a lot about male sexuality and the thrill of the chase i mean it's certainly still a thing in the 16th century the courtly love culture and You know, I did an interview the other day with Susan Brigden, who wrote a brilliant book about Sir Thomas Wyatt, one of the most brilliant poets at the court of Henry VIII.

And his poems, many of them do conform to that courtly love convention of the suffering lover and the scornful, dismissive beloved.

And, you know, they're sort of continually moaning and complaining about her not paying him the necessary attention.