Blog Post #10

You’ve asked, my lords, for song:

I sing for my reply

Yet never sing for long –

I’ve lost the heart to try.

·      From the request of his patrons, Ventadorn writes his songs in return. However, he is not able to sing for a long duration of time, because he has lost his passion to endeavor in singing troubadour poetry.

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?

·      He asks a rhetorical question, which implies the hardship and impossibility of writing love poetry, while the love of the poet is nearly gone.

·      He is asking another question that suspects the presence of love. However, Ventadorn gives clear answers to the questions, including the one above by writing his love is better than the previous ones. However, he raises another question to explain the reason of his heartsick.

With gifts beyond compare

The Lord has honored me;

I love a lady, fair,

Who loves me faithfully.

·      When Ventadorn mentions of the lords in the first line of the poem, he refers to the patrons, who pays him to write poetry. However, the Lord he implies in this specific stanza is the higher authority compared to the humans.

·      Ventadorn thanks the Lord for giving him such great honor to love a women, who is beautiful and faithful to him.

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.

·      It is possible to assume that Ventadorn is physically distant from his beloved, because he is incapable of knowing if she is “ill” or “well” and the phrase “since I dare not go there” implies that for some reason he is not able to visit her. Also, the condition of Ventadorn thinking about her is devastating, because he uses the verb, “languish” to describe himself.

Through her, such joys I find

That if men shout or call

While she invests my mind,

I’d never hear at all.

·      Ventadorn portrays an image of himself finding happiness through his beloved by writing that he is unable to hear “if men shout or call”, while his beloved’s presence strongly exists in his mind.

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.

·      He shows an image of his beloved captured his heart, which he describes as his “best” part. Therefore, when Ventadorn stands among the men to sing, the “best part” is with his beloved and is missing “here.”

Oh Love, what shall I do?

Shall we two live in strife?

The griefs that must ensue

Would surely end my life.

·      Ventadorn capitalizes Love to emphasize the importance of his beloved in his life. He asks for suggestions if these two should continue to live with such conflict caused by being distant. He also describes the conditions of extreme sadness, which could possibly lead him to death.

Unless my Lady might

Receive me in that place

She lies in, to embrace

And press against me, tight,

Her body, smooth and white.

·      Ventadorn states that the only solution that would cure him from this misery is to be physically near his beloved. He describes his sexual desire to grasp her body that is 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.

·      Ventadorn states that he will not give up on his love, even though “troubles” and “pains” do follow. 

·      He also describes that God granted him by giving Ventadorn a chance to be in love with his beloved. However, God now takes her away from Ventadorn, who now suffers.

·      Ventadorn once again presents his desire to wait for this beloved in order to change 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.

·      Similar to his capitalization of Love, Ventadorn capitalized “Lady” in order to put strong emphasis on his beloved. Then, he confirms that his love has never felt this strong, true and fine compared to his previous loves.

I bow and join my hands

Yielding myself to you;

The one thing you might do

Is give me one sweet glance

If sometimes you’ve the chance.

·      By providing descriptions of him “bow[ing]” and “join[ing] [his] hands,” Ventadorn creates an image of almost praying and begging for his love. He also kindly asks for a glimpse of her attention, if she has a “chance.”

May God give heart and mind

To Escudor and me

Wandering endlessly.

·      It is unclear to find what Ventadorn implies by writing Escudor; however, I was able to find in another translation, where Escudor is translated as “Squire,” which is a landowner (Rosenburg, 67).

He’ll bring what he can find

To keep him company;

My magnet goes with me.

·      Referring to the landowner, Ventadorn might be implying that he is indifferent of what the landowner brings to the journey. However, the “magnet” Ventadorn implies might be a reference to his lover in order to finally confirm that he will not give up on his beloved.

Reference

Rosenberg, Samuel N., Margaret Louise. Switten, Gérard Le Vot, Peter Becker, and Robert Eisenstein. "Bernat De Ventadorn." Songs of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology of Poems and Melodies. New York: Garland Pub., 1998. 67. Print.