In this essay I will focus primarily on the subject of the owl in order to illustrate how bestiary imagery was modified and developed in late medieval public church decoration, primarily in the form of the sculpted choir-seats known as misericords. The owl provides a good case study of this process as it was an especially popular misericord motif and its artistic and literary characterizations are largely informed by—but not limited to—the bestiaries.

It did not occur to him to be afraid of the vivid fork lightning or the loud thunder that reverberated down the valley.

The purpose of the anecdote is to show the bold recklessness of the warrior, who could amuse himself with his song-craft in the very face of the enemy.

Although certain reorganizational processes have long been recognized by scholars of child language, the phenomenon has until recently attracted only limited interest.