A Short History of French Literature. Saintsbury George

      qui beveient a un rossel:

      li lox a lo sorse beveit

      e li aigniaus aval esteit.

      irieement parla li lus

      ki mult esteit cuntralïus;

      par mautalent palla a lui:

      'tu m'as,' dist il, 'fet grant anui.'

      li aignez li ad respundu

      'sire, eh quei?' 'dunc ne veis tu?

      tu m'as ci ceste aigue tourblee:

      n'en puis beivre ma saolee.

      autresi m'en irai, ce crei,

      cum jeo ving, tut murant de sei.'

      li aignelez adunc respunt

      'sire, ja bevez vus amunt:

      de vus me vient kankes j'ai beu.'

      'qoi,' fist li lox, 'maldis me tu?'

      l'aigneus respunt 'n'en ai voleir.'

      lous li dit 'jeo sai de veir:

      ce meïsme me fist tes pere

      a ceste surce u od lui ere,

      or ad sis meis, si cum jeo crei.'

      'qu'en retraiez,' feit il, 'sor mei?

      n'ere pas nez, si cum jeo cuit.'

      'e cei pur ce,' li lus a dit:

      'ja me fais tu ore cuntraire

      e chose ke tu ne deiz faire.'

      dunc prist li lox l'engnel petit,

      as denz l'estrangle, si l'ocit.

      CHAPTER VI

      EARLY LYRICS

      The lyric poetry of the middle ages in France divides itself naturally into two periods, distinguished by very strongly marked characteristics. The end of the thirteenth century is the dividing point in this as in many other branches of literature. After that we get the extremely interesting, if artificial, forms of the Rondeau and Ballade, with their many varieties and congeners. With these we shall not busy ourselves in the present chapter. But the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are provided with a lyric growth, less perfect indeed in form than that which occupied French singers from Machault to Marot, but more spontaneous, fuller of individuality, variety, and vigour, and scarcely less abundant in amount.

      Before the twelfth century we find no traces of genuine lyrical work in France. The ubiquitous Cantilenae indeed again make their appearance in the speculations of literary historians, but here as elsewhere they have no demonstrable historical existence. Except a few sacred songs, sometimes, as in the case of Saint Eulalie, in early Romance language, sometimes in what the French call langue farcie, that is to say, a mixture of French and Latin, nothing regularly lyrical is found up to the end of the eleventh century. But soon afterwards lyric work becomes exceedingly abundant. This is what forms the contents of Herr Karl Bartsch's delightful volume of Romanzen und Pastourellen67. These are the two earliest forms of French lyric poetry. They are recognised by the Troubadour Raimon Vidal as the special property of the Northern tongue, and no reasonable pretence has been put forward to show that they are other than indigenous. The tendency of both is towards iambic rhythm, but it is not exclusively manifested as in later verse. It is one of the most interesting things in French literary history to see how early the estrangement of the language from the anapaestic and dactylic measures natural to Teutonic speech began to declare itself68. These early poems bubble over with natural gaiety, their refrains, musical though semi-articulate as they are, are sweet and manifold in cadence, but the main body of the versification is either iambic or trochaic (it was long before the latter measure became infrequent), and the freedom of the ballad-metres of England and Germany is seldom present. The Romance differs in form and still more in subject from the Pastourelle, and both differ very remarkably from the form and manner of Provençal poetry. It has been observed by nearly all students, that the love-poems of the latter language are almost always at once personal and abstract in subject. The Romance and the Pastourelle, on the contrary, are almost always dramatic. They tell a story, and often (though not always in the case of the Pastourelle) they tell it of some one other than the singer. The most common form of the Romance is that of a poem varying from twenty lines long to ten times that length and divided into stanzas. These stanzas consist of a certain number (not usually less than three or more than eight) of lines of equal length capped with a refrain in a different metre. By far the best, though by no means the earliest, of them are those of Audefroy le Bastard, who, according to the late M. Paulin Paris, may be fixed at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Audefroy's poems are very much alike in plan, telling for the most part how the course of some impeded true love at last ran smooth. They rank with the very best mediaeval poetry in colour, in lively painting of manners and feelings, and in grace of versification. Unfortunately they are one and all rather too long for quotation here. The anonymous Romance of 'Bele Erembors' will represent the class well enough. The rhyme still bears traces of assonance, which is thought to have prevailed till Audefroy's time: —