Unnatural

Alan of Lilly is very depressed about homosexuality. At least, that is what we as modern readers would say. The text, however, never uses this word, since it was coined long after Alan was writing. Instead he chooses to compare this perversion of nature as a perversion of grammar. Why does he do this? It would seem, in his mind, that the issue is to do with fruitfulness. Just as “proper” (by which I mean heterosexual) sex can produce children, so too does proper grammar beget language. “Gay” sex is not reproductive, so in Alan’s way of thinking, it is unnatural, because, according to him, it is natural that sex results in offspring. This is how it is with the long catalogue of creatures and plants that appear on Nature’s garments. Nature is fruitful, so anything that is not fruitful, or barren, is unnatural. Grammar, too, must produce language, so if grammar is perverted in the same way sex is, it will be sterile. This is why Alan (and other people) are afraid of homosexuality. For them, it works against the fecundity of nature. If plants, animals, and people do not reproduce, what will happen to the world? It is a depressing thought. This is why Nature makes her plea or plaint. Her whole existence is based on reproduction. Nature is all the living things that inhabit the world (as represented on her robe). They are both producers and products of her. If they die out, she will die out, and vice versa. That is why it is so important for her and Alan to stamp out anything unnatural. It will destroy everything.