NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... ness and joy, That once I had beyond that very wall, But now is turned to bitterness and gall! Troilus! What are you doing now? she cried, Lord! Do you still give thought to your Criseyde? (V, 105) Besides, it was not merely the great facts of birth, marriage and death which were raised to the rank of mysteries, incidents of less importance, like a journey, a task, a visit were equally attended by a thousand formalities.
In the poem we are told how King S'arpedoun entertains his guests: And all that could be offered on a table And that was dainty, though it cost the earth, He gave them day by day; there was no dearth, So people said, the greatest and the least; The like was never seen at any feast. (V, 63, 3 - 7) And never was a company so fair To look on as the ladies dancing there. (V, 64, 6 - 7) Every order and estate, every rank and profession, was distinguished by its costume. As to the knights, they never moved around without a glorious display of arms and liveries, exciting fear and envy. Let's see how Criseyde and Troilus are described in their clothes: Dressed in her widow's weeds of silken brown, (I, 16, 4) And then to see him in his fighting dress, (II, 91, 5) His helmet, which was hewn in twenty places, Hung by a tissue down behind his back; His shield was battered in by swords and maces, With arrows lodged in it in many a crack That had pierced horn and rind and sinewy pack; (II, 92, 1 - 5) It was usual that the lover wore something that belonged to his lady. The next lines exemplify so: That had been his, she gave to Diomede And, to console his passion, they believe She made him wear a pennon of her sleeve (V, 149, 5 - 7) Courtly Love Origin There are two different theories as regards the origin of courtly love. One of them states that it originated in the Arabian Empire in the second century, when a sort of love called Baghdadi love was practised among the Arabs. In fact, we can find similar motifs in both Provencal courtly poetry and Islamic courtly poetry, especially the exaltation of sexual love and the suffering for the beloved.
Here, it must be pointed out that literature, which copies life, is one of the most important sources from which historians obtain information about those times. Back to courtly poetry, there are those who say that there is not hard evidence to state that courtly love derives from Baghdadi love. They say so because, while in European literature the beloved woman was also the lady whom her lover served, in Western literature, she was also the slave whom her master owned. The other theory, which is the most believable, says that courtly love initiated in southern France. The Hungarian art critic, Arnold Hauser explains in The Social History of Art that it proceeds from the small courts and the people who are by the princes and overlords, not from the royal courts. This modest background gives the chivalrous culture a less solemn character than that of the royal courts.
Courtly Poetry and Some Characteristics of Courtly Love When in the twelfth century unsatisfied desire was placed by the troubadours of Provence in the centre of the poetic conception of love, there was a great change in the history of civilization. Antiquity, too had sung the sufferings of love, but it had never conceived them save as the expectation of happiness or as its pitiful frustration. Courtly poetry makes desire itself the central motif, and so creates a conception of love with a negative ground-note. Without giving up all connection with sensual love, the new poetic ideal was capable of embracing all kinds of ethical aspirations. Love now became the field where all moral and cultural perfection flowered.
Because of this love, the courtly lover is pure and virtuous. The spiritual element dominates more and more, till towards the end of the thirteenth century. Troilus' words reveal he is a pure man: But listen to me, Panda, just a word! I would not have you think me so demented As to desire - in all that you have heard Anything shameful, or to be repented; I'd rather die. So let her be contented, I mean no villain; make it understood That every thought I have is for her good (I, 148) Unlike those times before the twelfth century, when women were regarded as inferior to men, courtly love idealizes women. The lovers are stricken by the beauty and virtues of their respective ladies, and so is Troilus: I never have known one of her position So generous, so happy in her mood, So friendly in her speech and disposition, Or one that had more grace in doing good, And how to do it better understood; And, to cap all, as far as honour stretches, Compared to such as she is, Kings are wretches. (I, 127) There exists a code of courtly love.
Most of the rules were laid down by a monk, Andreas Capellanus by name, in De Arte Honest Amandi late in the twelfth century. Rule No 2 reads "He who is not jealous cannot love." Criseyde's words illustrate so: I cannot think, my darling, how or why This jealousy, this wicked cockatrice, Has crept into your heart so carelessly. (III, 145, 1 - 3) Rule No 9 states that "No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love, " and that is what Pandarus says to Criseyde, in his own words: "That is well said, "he answered; "best for you Would be to love him of your own accord Since love for love's a reasonable reward. (II, 56, 5 - 7) Rule No 23 says that "He whom the thought of love were, eats and sleeps very little, " just as Troilus does: And from then on love robbed him of his sleep And made an enemy of his food; his sorrow (I, 70, 1 - 2) Lastly, I want to exemplify the feudalization of love by means of the following extract: What made him battle-mad was just to seek A single end, namely to win renown And please his lady better; up and down Bibliography -Albert, Edward, A History of English Literature. UK: G. Harry and Co. Ltd. , 1962 -Cuddon, J.
A. , Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. UK: Penguin Books, 1991 -Chaucer, Geoffrey, Troilus and Criseyde. Trans. into Modern English by Neville Coghill. UK: Penguin Books, 1971 -Day, Martin S. , History of English Literature to 1660 USA: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1963. -Grebanier, Bernard, Essentials of English Literature, vol. I USA: Barron's Ed.
Series, Inc. , 1959. -Hauser, Arnold, Historia Social de la Literatura y el Arte, vol. I. Trans. by A. Tovar y F. P.
Varas- Reyes. -Higher, Gilbert, The Classical Tradition. Trans. by G. Higher.
USA, Oxford Univ. Press, 1970. -Huizinga, Johan, The Waning of the Middle Ages. Trans. by F.
Human. USA: Anchor Books ed. , 1954. -Ibn Have de C'ordo ba, El Collar de la Paloma. Trans. by Emilio Game " ia G'one. Espa~na: Alianza Editorial, 1971. -Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 10 th ed.
USA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. , 1994.
Free research essays on topics related to: merriam webster, english literature, de la, twelfth century, courtly love
Research essay sample on Merriam Webster Twelfth Century
