Old Provencal Versification

The major portion of this study is devoted to the lyric poems of the 12th & 13th century which constitute Southern France’s greatest contribution to world literature. Nevertheless, chronology requires that this study begins by glancing briefly at two narrative pieces, the oldest Provencal poems of which we have any knowledge. Contents: The Earliest Provencal Verse: “Boeci,” & the “Chanson de Sainte Foy”; Guilhem VII, Comte de Peitieu (or Peiteus); Marcabru; Marcabru’s Contemporaries; “Trobar clus”; “Trobar leu”; The Generation of ‘80; Thematic Genres in the 13th Century; Genres Based on Form; Non-lyric Genres; & Bibliography.