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The Structural Arrangement of the Old French

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The Structural Arrangement of the Old French THE STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE OLD FRENCH NARRATIVE LAYS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in French in the University of Canterbury by Silvie Sasková University of Canterbury 2009 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 1 Abstract 3 Introduction 5 The Old French narrative lays 5 Manuscripts, editions and dates of the lays analyzed within this thesis 20 Past research on the structure of the lays 23 Theoretical approach and context 24 The unity of the narrative 28 Thesis outline 32 Chapter One: Beginning and End 37 Medieval beginning: natural order 37 Medieval beginning: artificial order 44 Rhetorical beginning 63 End 75 Chapter Two: Abbreviation and Emphasis 84 Abbreviation: Emphasis and Metonymy 88 Ornamentation figure Emphasis 89 Emphasis: Ambiguity 91 Emphasis: Consequence 93 Emphasis: Analogy 100 Emphasis: Hyperbole 103 Emphasis: Understatement 117 Emphasis: Aposiopesis 117 Abbreviation: Implication 120 Abbreviation: Articulus 126 Abbreviation: Asyndeton 127 Abbreviation: Conciseness 129 Chapter Three: Amplification 135 Description 137 Comparison 159 Opposition 171 Personification 172 Apostrophe 173 Periphrasis 179 Chapter Four: Digression and Refining 186 Digression 186 Refining 200 Chapter Five: Repetition and Parallels 235 Repetition of the same or similar words: Reduplication, Transplacement and Paronomasia 235 Repetition of the same word at a specific place: Epanaphora, Antistrophe and Interlacement 255 Repetition of a motif 260 Parallel sections and Antithesis 264 Varied repetition of episodes: Transplacement and Paronomasia 270 Chastoiement 275 Chapter Six: the Recounting of Episodes 279 Refining through recounting 280 Summary and foreshadowing 295 The Refining of an idea through recounting 304 Chapter Seven: Argumentation, Reasoning and Persuasion 319 Judicial speeches 319 Premises and reasons: epicheireme 325 Premises and reasons: rhetorical argument 329 Premises and reasons: chria 331 Exemplum 332 Arguments from Analogy and contrary 335 Premises and reasons: two-sided arguments 338 Reasoning by Question and Answer 340 Appeal to Pity and rhetorical Amplification 342 Conclusion 346 Appendix 1: Brief Summaries of the Structure of the Lays Studied 351 Appendix 2: Rhetorical and Poetic Terms 370 Bibliography 374 Primary sources 374 Secondary sources 376 2 Acknowledgements I owe many thanks to my supervisor Margaret Burrell for introducing me to various aspects of academic life, offering her advice and prompt assistance whenever necessary, for her help with the translations of the Old French texts, for reading my numerous final drafts, and for general support, whether in the matters related to my research or independent of it. I have been fortunate to have made the acquaintance of Glyn S. Burgess whose research on the Old French lays has been invaluable for my study and who has given me a broader understanding of the field. I thank Glyn for his positive encouragement, for revealing to me the issues surrounding the edition of final drafts, and for the generosity with which he provided me with books and other materials relevant to my study. I am thankful to Alison Holcroft, who introduced me to the world of the rhetorical figures, advised me in matters of rhetorical reasoning and arguments, and gave me access to some important books and articles on rhetorical and poetic theory. Furthermore, I appreciate the research material kindly forwarded to me by Prudence Tobin. I would like to express my thanks to the School of Languages and Cultures and its staff for providing me with a quiet study space, friendly support, help with administrative and other tasks, and the financial assistance for conference travel and some research- related expenses. I acknowledge the important role that the staff of the Academic Skills Centre (WASS), namely Stephanie Day and the late Sam Gill, have played throughout my university studies by instructing me on how to structure my academic research, by persistently commenting on the correct use of articles and on other grammatical challenges that I was presented with, and by helping me to improve both my verbal expression and my presentation skills. I give my thanks to the organizations that have greatly facilitated my doctoral research and enabled me to attend conferences through various scholarships and grants: the 1 University of Canterbury for the Doctoral Scholarship (and specifically to the Scholarships Office for their helpful service); Education New Zealand for covering the cost of my travel to the 41 st International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo; and the McCarthy Fellowship for enabling me to attend the 2007 ANZAMEMS Conference in Adelaide and for contributing towards my travel to the Sydney Arthurian Colloquium. Justin and Judy Cook deserve my thanks for allowing me to share their home and their solar power for the final weeks of my writing. And finally, I would like my husband Marcus Pedersen to know that I very much appreciate his patience and support during the last three years, and that I am grateful for his invaluable input on the editing of my thesis. 2 Abstract When the Old French narrative lays were composed in the second half of the twelfth and during the thirteenth century, the authors had access to the theory of classical rhetoric and medieval poetics. This thesis investigates the correspondences between the relevant theoretical concepts and the arrangement of the lays, and reveals in what manner the authors of the lays employed certain techniques and figures in order to achieve the unity of their works. The research is centred on Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria nova and the Documentum de modo et arte dictandi et versificandi, Matthew of Vendôme's Ars versificatoria , and takes into consideration works of the classical origin, namely the Rhetorica ad Herennium and the Ars poetica of Horace. The analysis comprises the lays Aristote , Conseil , Cor , Desiré , Doon , Espervier , Espine , Graelent , Guingamor , Haveloc , Ignaure , Lecheor , Mantel , Melion , Nabaret , Oiselet , Ombre , Trot , Tydorel and Tyolet . The first four chapters discuss the theory on arrangement, assess the unity of the beginning and end with the body of the texts, and examine to what extent the techniques of abbreviation and amplification emphasize or amplify the overall idea. The remaining three chapters demonstrate important structural features typical of the lay narratives which use various rhetorical and poetic methods. Chapter Five analyzes the lay narratives from the perspective of the figures of wordplay, as well as small and large-scale repetition and parallels. Chapter Six examines the recounting of episodes, which coincides with the amplification technique Refining. Chapter Seven exposes the persuasion and reasoning techniques that the characters employ in order to prove or decide something. 3 4 Introduction The Old French lays are brief narratives about love and knightly adventures, which were written in the second half of the twelfth and during the thirteenth century. Although they are not very long or complex, they were skilfully structured in order to depict an adventure, and, in many cases, to convey a meaning or a lesson. The authors' ability to write indicates that they had some education, and therefore were likely to have had knowledge of the trivium . The authors of the lays had access during their education to several key works on classical rhetoric, namely the Rhetorica ad Herennium , Cicero's De inventione , and also to another classical work, the Ars poetica by Horace. 1 In addition, they would have been aware of the contemporary treatises on poetics inspired by the classical works. The best known among the early works on the poetics are Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria nova and Matthew of Vendôme's Ars versificatoria . When the Old French lays are examined in light of the concepts expressed in the theoretical treatises, it is clear that the authors of the lays were using these concepts in order to carefully arrange their narratives and so achieve the unity of their works. This examination of the Old French lays not only confirms that their authors used the rhetorical and poetic techniques to a great extent, but also indicates that they were skilled in using them. The authors' application of the techniques surpasses the theoretical advice presented in the treatises, and I expose the inventiveness and imagination with which the authors composed their works. My analysis of the structural arrangement of the lays in the context of the rhetorical and poetic theory reveals the inner binding of individual narratives, and indicates that these seeemingly simple works are carefully designed and more complex than generally acknowledged. The Old French narrative lays In my examination of the lays, there will not be an analysis of Marie de France and the lays of classical origin. These texts have already been widely studied, and their 1 For full bibliographical details of the works mentioned in this thesis please refer to the bibliography. Note that throughout the references to the works on rhetoric and poetics indicate both the relevant section of the original work, and the page number of its translation. 5 inclusion would make the current study extensive and beyond the scope of a doctoral thesis. I do, however, note the secondary materials on Marie's lays that relate to the topic of structure, especially from the rhetorical perspective. Rather than focusing on the lays of Marie de France, I analyze twenty lesser known
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