EN 2250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Chivalric Romance, Jane Austen, Lanval
Document Summary
Lecture 2: troubador (or troubadour) / trobairitz tradition in the medieval court. A court entertainer in the mid to late medieval periods. Read love poems to the bored kings. The courtly entertainer is aristocratic, not just a court jester. Tropes, or figures of speech were more noticeable than the story line. Over time the narrative started to take greater importance. Marie de france specialized in the lai; what we know of her comes from her book called lais. We believe the tradition originated in the french courts, the later 11th century: the lai (plural = lais) Has elements of lyric poetry, but is becoming more narrative. In marie"s hands it becomes more narrative than lyric. The lai is both lyric and narrative; tends to be a poem in which courtly romance becomes some of the subject matter; however not a romance.
