Blog Post 12

Compared to Greek and Latin lyric poetry, Troubadour poetry offers its own unique characteristics of writing style concerning the theme of love. In my opinion, Troubadour poetry is considered as lyrics because the poets convey personal emotions and rhythmical rhyme schemes.       

Troubadour poets depict the theme of courtly love by emphasizing the distance and unattainability of the beloved. As Bernart de Venadorn states in “You’ve Asked, My Lords, for Song,” he shows “the griefs that must ensure / Would surely end my life” and writes “Seeing the times are such / Those far apart must wait / To overcome their fate” in order to describe  the current situation of being “far apart” and feelings of near death caused by the unattainability of the beloved. Through underlining the two main characteristic of Troubadour poetry, Ventadorn wishes the readers to empathize with his physical and emotional circumstances. The personal connection from the lyric poets to the readers has always been a notable aspect for both Greek and Latin lyric poetry. Therefore, Troubadour poetry sharing the same perspective fits well into the genre of lyric poetry.

Moreover, compared to other lyric poetry, the rhyme scheme of Troubadour poets is exceptionally well structured and creates rhythms at the same time. In “A New Song for New Days” by Guilldem de Peiteus, he strictly follows A, A, B, C, B, C rhyme scheme throughout the poem. “Day, raise, kind, song, find, long”, “spring, ring, exult, stand, result, demands” are the examples of ending words of two stanzas from the poem. Using such rhyme scheme, Guilldem de Peiteus is able to create a rhythm for those who are reading the poem out loud. In fact, majority of Troubadour poetry follow the rhyme structure. Therefore, performing the Troubadour poetry allows the readers or the performers to create an atmosphere of singing the words of a song, or also known as a lyric.