Monday, April 2, 2012

Troubadour/Trobairitz Poetry


            The Troubadour poem #22 tells about how the speaker is just pining away for the woman he loves, and how simply wonderful she is and how his love is so great that nothing can bother him, everything seems bright and joyful and nothing is bad. He also says “There’s still one thing I am sure of: I have conquered nothing less than her beautiful image”. He’s ridiculously happy to love this girl, and to be able to love her as much as he does, even though he’s far away from her; he’s still content just to know how much he adores her. That’s a little different from other impressions we get of people loving others but being away from them. He might not be with this girl all the time, but he knows she’s beautiful and he loves her and that is enough for him. The Trobairitz poem by Azalais de Porcairages has some similar imagery as the previous poem, of ice and snow and mud, nothing singing. However, in her poem, there’s not really any joy; it’s all lamenting and sad. She’s obviously not happy, as opposed to the Troubadour poem where even though it may be cold and windy his heart is still warm and full of love. Azalais says “My heart is so disordered that I’m rude to everyone”. It’s a completely different mood from the first poem, saying how the things around her match her mood, with birds not even wanting to sing. She even says “..I shall never be consoled”.
            There was definitely a difference between both sets of poems—the women authors had sadder poems that were more about losing love than the men’s, which were praising beauty and telling how full their hearts were and how happy they were. 

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