Medieval Lyrics (Volume B)

Elements of Medieval Lyric Poetry

• music• social classes• lyrical poetry

Courtly Love

• Ovid, Ars Amatoria• Capellanus, Treatise

on Courtly Love• ludic (playful)• etymology of love

(amar)• ennoblement

Courtly Love: Rules and Symptoms

Beatriz de DiaFair, gentle lover, gracious knight, if once I held you as my prize and lay with you a single night and gave you a love-laden kiss—my greatest longing is for you to lie there in my husband’s place, but only if you promise this: to do all I’d want to do” (p. 339).

Christine de Pizan

All alone, weighed down by doubt and fear.

All alone—and nothing suits me quite so well.

All alone, shut up in my quiet cell.

All alone, left behind without a friend” (p. 367).

Boethius

William IX and Alfonso X

Bertran de Born

“Barons, pawn your castles, and your villages, and your cities before you stop making war on one another. Papiols, gladly go fast to my Lord Yes-and-No and tell him he has lived in peace too long” (p. 341).

Hildegard of Bingen

“Her virgin gate opened to none. But the Holy One flooded her with warmth until a flower sprang in her womb and the Son of God came forth from her secret chamber like dawn” (331).

Divan

My heart is filled with suffering; And all my doctor says is,

“Sugar from him, and nothing else, will lessen your heart’s pain” (365).

Devotional Poetry

“Whoever strays within your street, it is your eyebrows’ curve that he will pray before” (p. 365)

How are nature and artisan or craftsman’s terms incorporated in medieval poetry, and what purpose do they serve?

Discussion Questions

How does the ideal beauty of medieval lyric compare to your culture’s appreciation for certain physical qualities and types?

Discussion Questions

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