Blog Post 12- What makes troubadour poetry lyric?

               Troubadour poetry differs greatly in theme and writing style from the Greek and Roman lyric poets, though they do share the basic tenants of the lyric form. Lyric poetry conveys the emotions of the author, in first person, with the intention of being sung, and shows off the author’s skill as a poet. Two troubadour poems that illustrate these tenants are Lady by You and Love I am so Swayed and Arnaut Daniel’s sestina.

                In Lady by You and Love I am so Swayed, some of the emotions of the author are concretely stated in the lines, “by you and love I am so swayed…part of me wants to flee, the other remain;/ I am at once courageous and afraid”. The emotions the author is trying to portray are love, fear (his want to flee), and courage. The use of first person pronouns such as ‘I’ are consistent throughout the poem. The author’s intention for the poem to be sung is evident where he says, “since the moment we met, I have been bending/my skills to sing your praises, to ensure that/ men acknowledge your worth both near and far”. Not only is his skill emphasized, but also his intent to sing about his love and portray her ideal form for eternity in song.

                In Arnaut Daniel’s sestina, the skill of the author is shown off by his ability to follow the sestina rhyme scheme and turn such words as enter, uncle, and nail into love poetry images. An example of this is his lines: “I don’t love as much parent, brother or uncle/ and in Paradise will have double joy my soul/ if anyone there for good-loving enters”. Here, Arnaut proclaims his love is deeper than the love he would have for a blood relative, implying a closeness not typically found in troubadour lyric. In addition, his use of Paradise (an allusion to Heaven) allows the love to claim a deeper hold on his soul in a spiritual sense than pure desire. The last of these three lines continues the latter allusion; ‘enters’, refers to entering Heaven, and ‘good-loving’ can be interpreted to mean true or steadfast in their love. Thus, this line can be taken to mean, ‘if anyone can gain access to heaven for loving truly’, again reaffirming the depth and honesty of his love. The majority of Arnaut’s poem is written in first person, as seen though his use of first person pronouns, except for the final stanza which begins in third person with ‘Arnaut’. This is common of Arnaut Daniel, possibly used as a way of signing his work and individualizing himself.