Bernart de Ventadorn’s When Tender Grass and Leaves
Appear
When tender grass and leaves appear
While buds along the branches throng,
The nightingale so high and clear
Uplifts his voice to spill his song;
Joy in the bird and full joy in the flower,
(1)Joy in myself and my lady much more.
Joy quite
surrounds me; I live joy-posessed
Yet here’s one joy
that outjoys all the rest.
(2)Alas, half dead with love’s dismay,
Sometimes my sad
thoughts fret me so
That thieves could
carry me away
And I would be the
last to know.
(3)Love, in God’s name, I have no least defense,
No other lord and
but very few friends;
You should go torment my Lady this way;
Otherwise (4)love’s pain might waste me away.
I marvel how I still endure
To never let my longing show;
(5)At any time I look at her
Her lovely eyes adorn her so,
(6)All my keen urges run straight toward her there,
Where I’d have
turned first, if not for this fear.
None that I’ve seen is so trim and well made,
Formed for love’s role though hard to persuade.
I fear and cherish her so well
And (7)passionately love her so,
Yet of this love I
dare not tell
Nor ask the gifts she might bestow.
She, knowing all of my sorrow and pains,
(8)Treats me with honor and grace when she deigns;
Yet when she deigns it, (9)I make do with less
Lest blame should
fall on her chaste guiltlessness.
I wish that I could cast a spell;
I’d turn each new foe into a child
So none of them could hear or tell
The tales by which our love’s defiled.
Then I could see her, most lovely and dear,
Those beauteous eyes and that color so clear,
Swiftly I’d kiss her sweet mouth, left and right;
We’d leave the marks a whole month in plain sight.
If I could find her all alone,
Sleeping or playing so for fun,
I’d steal the sweetest kiss I’ve known—
I lack the worth to ask for one.
(10)Lady, by God, our love’s getting nowhere;
Time flies away while we lose the best share
We must speak only with signs or by slight;
(11)Boldness won’t help us, but slyness just might.
(12)Messenger, go seek my Lady so fair,
Scorning me not
that I dare not go there.
Elements of Dante’s story arc seen in Bertran de Ventadorn’s poem:
1. The
final three lines of the first stanza of Bertran’s poem indicate the joy that possesses
him through his lady, illustrating the courtly love principle of idealization.
These lines are similar to Dante’s repeated idea that all of his joy comes from
Beatrice, however Bertran has many other joys yet this one joy of his love “outjoys
all the rest”.
2. The
first four lines of the second stanza of Bertran’s poem explain the effect of
Bertran’s thoughts of his love on him. The image of being “half dead” relates
to the pain of courtly love and to Dante’s vision of his personal death in the
face of Love. The way Bertran cannot move and would not notice if “thieves
[stole] [him] away” is similar to the way Dante is so transfixed when he sees
his love that he zones our and does not notice anything else. The reader
understands the impact of seeing Beatrice on Dante when other women make fun of
the way he looks possessed.
3. The
characterization of Love as a lord working “in God’s name” and the idea that
Bertran has “very few friends” and little with which to defend himself is
highly similar to the way that Dante has his first friend and his second
friend, but doesn’t seem to have relations with many others in the town. He has
his screens, yet the reader is unsure as to whether or not he ever truly knows
his screens. The image of Love as a God and lord over Bertran is nearly
identical to Dante’s relationship with Love.
4. Again,
Bertran characterizes love as a bringer of pain and a controlling force,
similar to the way Love makes Dante cry when he is at a distance from Beatrice
and controls him at all times.
5. The
importance of vision and the impact of looking at one’s love is emphasized here
by Bertran, where he describes the impact looking at her has on him. Dante’s whole
relationship with Beatrice comes from her greetings and his visual perception
of her.
6. The
urges and fear elements that Bertran discusses in this section of the poem are completely
dissimilar from the way that Dante feels for Beatrice. Dante insists that he
receives joy from only her greeting and wants nothing else, where Bertran
blatantly –here and later in the poem- insinuates his sexual desires for his
love.
7. The
idea that love must be kept secret, however passionate, is an element not
always seen in courtly love. The association of courtly love with affairs is
the closest aspect that creates a need for secrecy. Dante also must keep his
love for Beatrice a secret, in order to protect their reputations, primarily
hers. This is why Love makes Dante use screens for much of his life.
8. The
graciousness of Bertran’s lady is altogether identical to the name Dante gives
Beatrice: the very gracious lady. However, the interactions of Bertran and his
lady are markedly more intimate than simple formal greetings; according to
Bertran’s vida, the lady of which he speaks is his Lord’s wife, so they know
one another well.
9. The
idea that Bertran should not interact with his lady in an attempt to not hurt
her reputation is exemplary of the distance of Courtly Love and the nature of
love as an affair from the formal, rational relationship of marriage. In Dante’s
story arc, this parallels the fact that Love tells Dante to stay away from
Beatrice and gives him screen loves such that Dante does not hurt Beatrice’s
reputation.
10. The
“by God” in this line, could be interpreted to be a simple exclamation of
dissatisfaction, or else an indication that it was God’s design for their love
to not progress. If the latter is the case, this would parallel Dante’s story
arc where Love is a sort of lord over Dante with godly resonance (i.e. when
Love appears in white robes) and keeps Dante from interacting directly with
Beatrice such that he does not harm her reputation. In addition, this distance
is one of the tropes of courtly love.
11. Bertran
again indicates a need for secrecy to attain the relationship he desires with his
love. This is similar to Dante’s need for screens to keep his love secret, yet
the familiarity and use of “us” indicates a communal effort by Bertran and his
love to keep their love a secret affair, where Dante’s relationship is
one-sided. Dante works to keep his love for Beatrice a secret, but the reader has
no indication that Beatrice returns his love and is also keeping it a secret.
12. The
use of a messenger to sing a song of love to one’s love is another trope of
courtly love. In Dante’s case, this parallels his ballad telling his ballad
what to say within itself to Beatrice. The idea that there must be a medium
through which love is expressed is demonstrative of the distance of courtly
love.
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