Blog Post 10

You’ve Asked, My Lords, for Song- Bernart de Ventadorn

You’ve asked, my lords, for song:

I sing for my reply

Yet never sing for long—

I’ve lost the heart to try.

How should a troubadour

Sing when his luck’s run dry?

Has love, then, gone awry?

No; better than before.

Then why feel so heartsore?

With gifts beyond compare

The Lord has honored me;

I love a lady, fair,

Who loves me faithfully.

Yet while I languish here

I can’t so much as tell

If she fares ill or well

Which fills my thoughts with care

Since I dare not go there.

Through her, such joys I find

That if men shout or call

While she invests my mind,

I’d never hear at all.

So subtly does she snare

The heart out of my breast

That men swear and attest

That they all see me here

Though my best part’s still there.

Oh Love, what shall I do?

Shall we two live in strife?

The griefs that must ensue

Would surely end my life.

Unless my Lady might

Receive me in that place

She lies in, to embrace

And press against me, tight,

Her body, smooth and white.

I’ll not renounce my love

For troubles or love’s pains.

When God who reigns above

Gave much, I took my gains;

Now when his gifts abate,

I’ll suffer that as much,

Seeing the times are such

Those far apart must wait

To overcome their fate.

Good Lady, thank you for

Your love so true and fine;

I swear I love you more

Than all past loves of mine.

I bow and join my hands

Yielding myself to you;

The one thing you might do

Is give me one sweet glance

If sometime you’ve the chance.

May God give heart and mind

To Escudor and me

Wandering endlessly.

He’ll bring what he can find

To keep him company;

My Magnet goes with me.

Stanza 1:

·         “my lords”- the lord of Ventadorn; the reader knows this because it is in lower case and refers to his patrons who ask him for song.

·         “I sing in my reply”- Bernart sings when he is asked because it is his job.

·         “Yet never sing for long”- Bernart sings but does not put in a lot of effort into very long works. Drawing on the poetic correlation between length and cost, the live-in poet of a castle is generally expected to always sing at length because their lord is the patron of not only their poetry but provides room and board.

·         “I’ve lost the heart to try”- Heart, here, can be related to willingness (i.e. ‘you’ve gotta have heart’ in Damn Yankees) or heart as in his love. The latter interpretation draws on Bernart’s poem The Skylark, where Bernart accuses his love of stealing his heart and his entire being. Heart, in this sense, refers to the emotional and biological functions of the heart. Emotional, in that when our emotions fluctuate, our heart rate changes to reflect the fluctuations. Biological, in that by losing his heart Bernart has lost his entire heartbeat through the loss of his emotional life.

·         “luck’s run dry”- ‘Luck’ in the troubadour sense refers to luck with women, as this is always what they pursue. ‘Runn[ing] dry’ is potentially a sexual innuendo, but it is far more likely Bernart is invoking water (a well running dry) or simply using the colloquialism.

·         “Has love, then, gone awry?”- Love itself ‘going awry’ gives love a sort of procedural quality that can be set off course. It is not a human quality, as it is not love actually GOING somewhere, but instead the process of love being carried out incorrectly. This assumes that there is a correct process for love. This process could refer to the legal process of betrothal. However, as Bernart’s love is actually adultery, it is more likely that he refers to the troubadouric/courtly love that has no set process, simply players who can take the game wherever they so choose. It is perhaps this uncertainty in the way Bernart views love that causes him to ask this as a question, and later answer it in the negative, as he believes that his love loves him as well and it is only others that separate them.

Stanza 2:

·         “Lord”- God. Uppercase, the Lord gave him the lord’s wife. This is the “gift beyond compare” to which Bernart references, illustrated by the fact that his next lines address that a fair lady loves him faithfully.

·         “while I languish here”- The use of languish has a connotation of extreme pain and discomfort. The reader is aware that Bernart doesn’t want to be singing because he has previously stated that he lost the heart to sing. While the duality of sweetbitter love is a possible reading of this text, the fact that he is forced to sing by a force that is not his love eliminates the idea that the languish is due to his love.

·         “I can’t so much as tell/If she fares ill or well/Which fills my thoughts with care/Since I dare not go there”- Presumably, ‘there’ is either the dungeon in which the lady of Ventadorn is kept after their affair is discovered or the idea of discussing whether or not she is happy. The latter is possible if they have not been discovered yet, because any small contact with one another would allow the gossipy court to ask questions about their relationship. ‘Care’ is used here in place of what modernly would be something along the lines of ‘worry’. It is significant because care connotes a protective relationship and a much deeper connection, where worry connotes a sense of nervousness that could relate to worry for himself rather than worry about his love. Care does not offer this potential self-serving interpretation.

Stanza 3:

·         “Through her, such joys I find”- This can be interpreted sexually, emotionally, or both. In either case, it is when he spends time with her that he finds joy. It could also be in a semi-religious type of ‘through’, much like finding love and joy through seeking God and the process of developing a deeper personal relationship. This would also support the ideas in The Skylark that they are one and the same and he cannot live without her, because she is a connected part of him through which he derives joy.

·         “invests my mind”- Given that the troubadours were not particularly economics-savvy (or so it would seem), it is more likely that Bernart is saying that she has a stake in his thoughts and again, become a part of him, rather than that he is saying that she has bought him in any way.

·         “So subtly does she snare/The heart out of my breast/That men swear and attest/That they all see me here/Though my best part’s still there.”- Snare is another reference to thievery of the heart. This is somewhat of the physical dimension of bitter Eros because it is done by his love. The subtlety is illustrated by the idea that while Bernart appears to other men to be standing in his place, singing as he should be, his “best part” (his love and his heart, who have become a part of him) is in his love (“there”) and not where he stands.

Stanza 4:

·         “Oh Love, what shall I do?”- The capitalization of ‘Love’ in this question allows for literal interpretation of his love, the lady of Ventadorn, religious interpretation of God, and introversion interpretation of looking into his own heart that is now himself and his love to find the answer of what the new ‘he’ (who is actually a combination of him and her) should do.

·         “Shall we two live in strife?”- The use of “we two” illustrates the idea of a separation of the we into two that would cause them each strife the way it causes him strife even being apart from her.

·         “end my life”- Given that he loves her very much, it is a possibility that he is being serious. Given that humans value their own lives and fear death, this is more likely an overstatement. However, his metaphorical, temporal life in Ventadorn is going to end, which is possibly what he mentions here; the loss of his life as he knows it.

·         “my Lady”- The new capitalization of “Lady” gives her increased meaning and power for him above the “lord” and closer to the “Lord”.

·         “Receive me in that place/She lies in, to embrace/And press against me, tight,/Her body, smooth and white.”- Use of “receive” has religious connotations of God receiving people into Heaven and people receiving Host at communion. “That place” is her bedroom and/or the dungeon, depending on whether their affair has been discovered. The final two lines are indefinitely a sexual reference.

Stanza 5:

·         “Troubles or love’s pains”- Either a use of the Eros love or the pains of others keeping him from his love. More likely the latter refers to the troubles and former refers to the pains.

·         “When God who reigns above/Gave much, I took my gains;/Now when his gifts abate,/I’ll suffer that as much”- It is evident here that the gifts and gains God gave are the lady of Ventadorn, his love, because ‘now’ he is losing the gifts he formerly received and suffering for it.

·         “Those far apart must wait/To overcome their fate”- Using the trope of distance and the form of a moral to state that he will wait until he can overcome the fact that they are having an affair and currently being kept apart. It is a negative use of fate not to mean their fated love but the fate that they be found out and separated or else that she be married to another man.

Stanza 6:

·         “Good Lady”- Again, the use of uppercase letters allows his love to be put on higher ground than he. In context, the use of ‘Good’ is similar to common introductions to a Catholic prayer (Good Lord).

·         “Thank you for/ your love so true and fine”- Again, utilizes similar language to that of a prayer to God.

·         “I swear I love you more/Than all past loves of mine”- Strange that he would mention other loves; it somewhat diminishes his point regardless of the fact that he says he loves her more. Simply the idea that they were, in fact, loves allows them equal footing.

·         “I bow and join my hands/Yielding myself to you;”- Prostrating and putting one’s hands together are also Catholic practice as a sign of yielding to God.

·         “The one thing you might do/Is give me one sweet glance/If sometime you’ve the chance”- The sheepish, indefinite tone of these three lines indicate his burning desire yet slight fear to ask for something that might be a very large inconvenience to her. A glance would be yet another very large indication of relationship that might reveal their affair.

Stanza 7:

·         Here, he is asking God to help give him a heart and mind, potentially anew rather than his own, because his own is now meshed with that of his love. ‘Escudor’ (and ‘Mon Escudar’) has no translation into anything more modern or relatable. From context, I would have to guess that he is referring to his love or his soul because he will be separate from both and both parties would have a fate of endless wandering.

Stanza 8:

·         This stanza suggests that the Escudor is ‘he’, the ‘Magnet’. It is more likely, then, that he refers to his own soul rather than his love, or else an alternate figure that travels with him.

Blog Post#9

In Book II, Horace writes about many topics such as war, wealth, aging, love, and death. These are themes by poems:

1. War

2. Greed

3. Aging

4. Love, War

5. Love, Aging

6. Aging

7. War, Friendship

8. Love

9. Love, Aging

10. Love

11. Aging

12. War

13. Death

14. Aging

15. Modesty

16. Modesty

17. Death

18. Modesty

19. Bacchus(wine)

20. Death

The book II is like a lesson book. He shows the themes that a human has to pursue in order to fully understand a life, and these important themes are arranged in a periodical order of a human’s life. For the first ten poems, he talks about war, greed, aging, love and friendship. These themes are very important to think about when a person is in young age. The first poem is about the Rome and war, second poem indicates wealth and greed.  These topics are necessary for young people to think about their personal values such as patriotism, loyalty, and wealth. After poem three, he talks about love and friendship. Love and friendship have to deal with other people, not alone. He emphasizes the relationship with people, especially friends and lovers. After first ten poems, the last ten poems are dealing with deeper and heavier topics. He conveys his opinions of modesty, wine, and death.  He says that a human cannot avoid getting older and eventually faces death as a human nature. So he advises readers to take advantages while they are alive. Especially he recommends how a person has to be modest and why he should enjoy wines in their life. The book II seems like a guideline how a person should live his life in periodical order. Horace puts all of his opinions about war, wealth, love, aging, friendship, modesty, wine, and death by arranging them with progression of life.

Horace Book II

The arrangement of Odes Book II is remarkable compared to the other books of Horace’s odes because he draws a life of a human being and what he or she should pursue in order to fully enjoy life. Horace’s broad range of themes includes war, Rome, love, Gods, friendship, maturity, Gods, wine, death and modesty. By beginning the Odes with the theme of war, in Poem I and wealth in Poem II, Horace emphasizes the virtues that younger generations are interested in. Horace also includes the theme of love in Poem IV, seduction in Poem VIII and friendship in Poem VII that usually all begin in the youth. Towards the end of Book 2, Horace seems to focus on the theme of death in Poem XIII, XVII, XX and the importance of pursuing modesty in one’s life in Poem XVI, and XVIII. The way Horace arranges these themes is to show the big picture or outline of one’s life. One starts to learn the virtues that attract the minds of youth; however, eventually learns the true meaning of living a “good” life is to be modest and “stop worrying about the needs of life.”

The ongoing image that persists throughout the Odes Book II and other books of odes of Horace is that he frequently describes himself as a rustic man. In Poem II, he writes, “man alone who sees great wealth heaped up and gives it now a backward glance” to set the image of himself being far from wealth. Also in Poem XVI, Horace states, “To me Fate, untreacherous, has a given a small farm and the modest breath” to once again apart himself from “the mob,” whom he criticizes for their greed in terms of achieving wealth.

Horace Book IV

The fourth Book of Horace was the most unique book of his four Books in many aspects. Horace's Book I-III were published in 23 BC when he was 42 years old, whereas he published Book IV 10 years later in 13 BC at the age of 52 years old. The first three books were written consciously to pay tribute to a number of great proper Greek poets, such as Sappho, Alcaeus and Pindar, and meanwhile applying the classical forms of lyric poetry to a Roman context. However, Book IV drew exclusively and explicitly on Pindar. The first three Book were commissioned by Maecenus, while the last Book was commissioned by Augustus. The Odes in the first three books covered a variety of themes, such as love, symposium, morality, and patriotism. The last Book was constrained by a limited number of themes--either the praising of Augustus and his family, or the addressing of the passing of time, or both. The summary and theme of each of the 15 poems are as follows:

1: Horace opens the book with the sad poem mourning about old age and incapability to love. He begs Venice and Cupids to spare him from love, but direct the command of love to a younger friend--Paulus Maximus. Theme: aging, new generation, humbleness as a poet
2: Ths poem addresses Iullus, the poet of the new generation. In the first half of the poem, Horace pays tribute to Pindar's by using his poetic style of leaping from one topic to another to enumerate the legacy of Pindar. In the second half, he encourages Iullus to continue to write great poems for Augustus, while humbling the achievement of himself. Theme: aging, new generation, humbleness as a poet, Augustus
3: Horace thanks the Muse Melpomene for giving him the poetic skills fittingly, which bring him the honor as a great poet. Theme: humbleness
4: Celebrates Drusus, the stepson of Augustus. Theme: Augustus and his family
5: Horace begs that Augustus return to Rome, and praises his many deeds in building a great empire. Theme: Augustus
6: Horace thanks Phoebus for giving him the poetic skills. Theme: humbleness as a poet
7: Even though the nature repeats in cycles, humans are mortal. Even gods are not able to immortalize human beings. Theme: aging and mortality
8: Horaces could not afford to give Marcius Censorinus expensive gifts. Instead he is giving him this poem, which is able to immortalize his great deeds. Theme: humbleness and immortality
9: Similar to 8, Horace gives the immortality of a poem as a gift to Lollius. Theme: humbleness and immortality
10: Horace mourns about being old. Theme: aging
11: Horace invites Phyllis to celebrate Maecenas' birthday at Horace's farm. He tells Phyllis, who is also old, to not seek an unequal and young partner, because both he and Phyllis are too old to love. Theme: aging, respect to Maecenas
12:  Horace invites Virgil, his fellow poet, to his house. Virgil has been dead for six years when the book is published. Horace wrote this poem prior to Virgil's death when they were both young, or wrote this poem imagining that Virgil was still alive and they were both young. In either case, Horace chooses to include his poem in the book to express a nostalgia feeling and the sense of aging. Theme: aging.
13: Horace mocks his early lover Lyce, who was beautiful at once, but was old and ugly now. Theme: aging
14: Horace praises Tiberius, the stepson of Augustus, for his victory in the Raetian Alps. Theme: Augustus and his family
15: Horace celebrates Augustus by enumerating a list of his achievements: agricultural prosperity, Julian Laws, artistic recovery, conquest of the world, ending of the civil war, etc. Theme: Augustus

Horace Book II

As the reader works through the passages of Book II, many different subjects arise; Horace speaks about war, love, poverty, pride, and humility. Initially, it seems that nothing links the subjects except a consistently dark tone. However, upon closer reading, I noticed that a unifying theme indeed exists. Destruction is the prevailing theme in Book II of Horace’s Odes. 

Horace begins book II by explaining destruction through war. In Motum ex Metello Horace details the destruction of cities and men brought about through the influence of a prominent and sinful Roman family. He Describes blood stained battlefields, cities in ashes, and the abandonment of the muses. Through his description, Horace displays both his disdain for destruction, and his belief in its superfluity. The lack of leadership causes the destruction, but with a firmer leader it could have been avoided

 His next few poems center on destruction through love. Unlike the lovesick Greek poets Sappho or Ibycus, Horace does not emphasize his longing for love, but rather reveals its downfalls. His poems examine men too prideful to love those without means, and young and fool hearty women unready to bear the “the weight/of an amorous bull plunging into love” (Horace, 60). Though perhaps not as explicit as corporal destruction experienced in war, these love injustices still causes destruction of the spirit. 

Finally, Horace generally examines destruction through greed. His later poems emphasize the purity one can achieve by living simply. He scoffs at those who wear ” robes of Laconian purple” (Horace, 72), and extolls Romulus and Remus for they had” small private wealth/ but their public wealth was great”(Horace, 69). By contrasting these figures, Horace reveals the destruction brought about through greed. Indeed, these people have fine clothes and houses, but he emphasizes that these things are temporal. Death, comes to everyone, so it is far better to live humbly and nobly than lavishly and sinfully.

            

Horace - Book III

All of the poems in Book III of Horace's Odes are in Alcaic meter, which is named after Alcaeus. It is fitting that he chooses this meter (in the only book so far to have a consistent rhythm) as his first six odes focus mainly on politics. His social commentaries of Romans draw on their use of wealth, their raising of young boys, military matters, Augustus's power, and moral corruption, among other things.
Politics is not necessarily the over-arching theme throughout the book, however. More prevalent are those of moderation and virtue, and, on a similar note, poverty and rural life. Horace attempts to convince the reader of the value of a simple life, and more importantly, that he himself lives it. Horace's idea of moderation is shown as early as poem 1;
"...But soothing sleep does not despise
the humble homes of country people...
The man who wants enough and no more
is not disturbed by stormy seas...
Why should I give up my Sabine valley
for riches which bring more labor?"
In these fragments of Ode 1, we see that Horace thinks of a life in moderation as a life of peace, which is not "disturbed" or laborious. He also views country people as exemplifying the values of the Roman people (such as humility) and imagines their lives as this peaceful, poor one. (Clearly he has never actually been around poor people in the country, nor has he lived that life, or he would not say it was peaceful.) Similarly in poem 16:
"The more a man denies himself, the more
he will receive from the gods. Naked, I go to join
the camp of those who desire nothing, and long
to desert the ranks of the rich."
Here Horace claims that those who allow themselves to be poor, and are happy in that poverty, will be given many good things by the gods. Again, this does not seem to be the case for the majority of the lower class in the Roman Empire, but it works for Horace. Likewise, poem 24 discusses how greed can grow, and that once a person looses his virtues, he always wants more riches and more wealth no matter what he has already.
The intent of these poems seems to be largely to provide a lesson for the Roman people and teach them to be good citizens. Also on that note, he focuses highly on virtue, as in poem 2 where he instructs a youth to seek the army and desire to "die for one's native land" (a line which so many poems have been based on). He says that:
"Virtue opens a way to heaven for those who deserve
not to die. She dares to take the forbidden path,
spurning the vulgar throng and the dank earth
with soaring wing."
Again, this idea of reward for good behavior - by  being just, being virtuous, living in moderation, you will be the perfect citizen and be loved by the gods. Punishment can also be a good motivator, however, as he warns in poem 24 that
"Infidelity
is a sin against the gods. Its price is death."
Horace also says that someone who is truly virtuous will "rein back our wild licence" and reminds us again that the Roman people are full of vices - they must focus on moderation and virtue.

Book II

Horace’s Book II of Odes is more self- reflective than Book I. It offers tons of advice to its readers throughout each poem. He starts the book, writing about the political corruption of Rome under a certain family while also shaming war caused by this political family. This first poem, introduces his major concern, the wellbeing of the Roman Republic. However, this is not a topic that he will discuss, opting to write about lighter topics:

“But come my naughty Muse, do not leave

Your cheerful ways to take to the duties of Cean dirges.

Stay with me in Dione’s daughter’s cave

And look for measures for a lighter plectrum”

(Poem 1, Lines37-40)

He goes on to advise against greed, (Poem II) allow slave love (IV), but only love of women who are old enough and ready for it. (V) He urges for mediation (X) discusses the short breadth of life (XI) the inevitability of aging and death (XIV), using one’s wealth for the advancement of the city (XV) and ends with references to gaining fame in his death.

It seems that Horace’s Book II realizes the mortality of man as it progresses. It starts with poems about war and love, giving advice to the people. As we reach the middle of the Book, the poems focus more on the shortness of life and offer advice much like the advice offered in poem XVI: “The mind which finds delight in the present moment / should not worry about what is to come…” (Lines 25-6) This line implies that people should not be concerned with the far future but instead should enjoy the present. Horace ends the book talking about his own fame, which will turn him into a bird. In his death, his fame will be so large that he will not have a body to bury or to lament over. Thus, he will have no need for a funeral, which implies that he believes his fame will immortalize him.