Verse translations of three lays of Marie de France Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Rhodes, Lulu Hess, 1907- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 11:20:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553240 Verse Translation of Three Lays of Marie de France by Lulu Hess Rhodes Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate College, University of Arizona 19 3 5 Approved: JF9?9/ / 9 3 S' 33 Z CONTENTS Introduction ....... 1 Guif-emar ............ 9 L ’Aiistic..................... 79 Mllun ........................... 93 9 9 * 9 9 ISflGDUCTIOI The earliest and most mysterious French poetess lived in the twelfth century, a cent wry dominated fcy the feudal system with its powerful lords and their nofele chevaliers. Much of the pomp, heraldry, movement, and color of the trad­ ition® of chivalry appeared in the chanson® de geste, stories of Idealized national heroes. The knight® of the chansons, noble, valorous men, flawless in their devotion to king, God, and the cause of right,— those chevaliers whose deed® were sung and celebrated wherever a jongleur presided in the great hall of a chateau, were admirable types of a tradition of French glory and power. The age of chivalry was presented in yet another manner in the twelfth century. Chretien de Troyes introduced the element of love and reverence for womanhood in his stories of knightly exploits. His ladies, beautiful and proud, sup­ ply the stimulus for deeds of valor, which the chevaliers undertake with no thought in mind except the approbation of the revered one, whose smile is worth all the effort® he M e put forth. One suspects, although that form of love on a high plane sounds well in a story, that the actual emotional life of the age was much more elemental. For proof, turn to the Immortal Lais of Marie de France. Here we find that love is all— it is the reason for be- X ing, the only adequate stimulus for brave deeds, yet a 2 stimulus for brave deeds, yet a stimulus great enough to im­ pel the lover to feats of valor against all odds, Marie says of Guigemar - De tant 1 eat mespria nature Que uno de mile araur n ’out sure (Nevertheless he seemed nature In that he paid no heed to love) And later * Pur oeo le tienent a peri . o li estrange et el ami, (For that reason he was regarded - .V* me a lost man - " ■ . Both by strangers and friends.) Here we find the love story with an earthiness to it that seems more genuine than the courtsous devotion shown in the stories of Chretien de Troyes. Marie moralises about love In the lal of Guigemar, and we see that her conception of it is not entirely sensual, not completely earthy. Aaurs est plaie dedens cors e si ne piert nlent, defers; oeo est uns male ki lunges tient, pur ceo quo de nature,vient. Plusur le tienent a gabels, si cumoeil vilain ourteis, ki Jolivent par tut le mund, : puis s ’avantent de oeo que funt; n ’est pas amurs, elnz est folie . e malvaistiez e lecherie. Ki un en puet lelal trover, mult ledeit servir,earner e estre a sun oomandament. (Love is a wound within the body And it is not apparent from without. It is an ailment which endureth long Beeause it comes of nature Itself. Some regard It as a laughing matter. Like these common ordinary folk 0 .> . Who find frivolous pleasures over all the world. Then boast of what they have done. .That is not love, it is folly. And wickedness and debauchery. He who can find a true love Ought to serve and revere it greatly •; And be at its command.)- j ‘ - .... As for Marie herself, who was she? We cannot say, for only her work is left to us. Including almost one hundred fables, a poem called "The Purgatory of St. Patrick," and the twelve Breton:Lais. All these writings are in French, and all in verse• In one of her stories she says, "Marie al num, si sul de France." . It is from this line that the name of Marie de France has been manufactured. Numerous conjectures, some plausible and many quite improbable, have been made as to who she was. The most scholarly opinions seem to indicate that she was born in Hormandy, that she wrote in England dur­ ing the second half of the twelfth century, and that the king to whom she dedicated her lais was Henri II Plantagenet, a sovereign with a court entirely French in customs and lang­ uage. Undoubtedly Marie de France was well acquainted with court life. She was familiar with both England and the French mainland, for she adds reality to her lais by naming places in both regions. She often has her heroes and heroines sail across the channel as nonchalantly as if that crossing were a very common voyage In her day. The lais had their origin in the stories sung by the jongleurs. Mario reduced thorn to order and rhyme, and put twelve of them into written form. This she did with a charm 4 characterised hy three eatstanding qualities; an element of ever-present freshness, an oven, smooth manner of relating her tales, and a dreamlike, evanescent quality which makes even the most unbelievable of ovente seem quaint and enjoy­ able# - - - " . ■ ; * • lie Paul Tuff ram has said in the int rod notion to his modernised French translation of the Lais, that Marie shows little imagination, limiting herself too often to a placid transcription of the jongleur1s tales.; It is my opinion that Marie shows a great deal of imagaination in at least one field. She has the ability to see in.her stories a succession of lovely ploturos, which oho paints with striking skill. In "Guigemar" there is a picture of a peaceful harbor below a white cliff. One envisions a.blue sky and white clouds. In the harbor lies a black vessel with fittings of ebony, com­ pletely rigged, with its white silken sails unfurled. When Guigemar has boarded the ship, he finds a couch of gold with rich.coverings; two golden candelabra with lighted tapers stand at the prow. Beauty of conception and a highly imaginative pictorial ability are certainly in evidence throughout the lais. I would call the reader*s attention in the lai of Guigemar to the deeoi lptlon of tho white doo, and also of the lady * a room within tho garden's green marble walls. In the lai, "L*Austin," note the description of the coming of the springtime, and the picture of the lovely lady standing by her window in the 5 moonlight, to listen to the nightingale singing in the flowering orchard below* Kario loves to describe rich, costly things* Notice how many times in these three late alone she mentions silks of all the deep colors, golden articles, fine linens, jewels, lovely rooms and painting®. She is a woman true to her age, however, in the naievete with whieh she brings a homely el­ ement into the richest of scenes* When Guigemar stands In the lovely room of his lady, facing his noble adversaries, he seises,— of all things to find in a rich apartment— , a long birch polo on which the clothes were hung to dryi Marie was acquainted with the ancients, one will nottee* It is still more interesting to see that it is when one char­ acter, a jealous husband, let us say, goes beyond the bounds of knightly "mosure" that the trouble usually begins, Guige- mar's lack of "mosure" in regard to matters of love is the spring of action of his entire story* I have chosen the lai of Guigemar because it is truly a love story from beginning to end, typical of many of the other Isis* I ohooo LMustlc because of its gem-like clear­ ness; one idea alone is presented, and the tale is exquisite as a finely-cut cameo is exquisite, Milan gives a picture of the tournament, the customs of knighthood, and some of the principles and standards involved, Each lai differs from the others, making a choice difficult. All are quaint and lovely. Goethe said of Marie, "The mists of time, which hang dimly between her and us, render her poems dearer and 6 more eharming*" With the aone14erate help of Dean Otis, I have trans­ lated the lals from the norman dialect to English, line by line, using Karl Warnke's book, "Die Lais der Marie de France." (Halle-1925), later, I put my translation into verse form. I have taken the liberty of varying from the original when the moaning or the meter seemed to demand such a variation. I found that it was well-nigh impossible to "eome by Caesar's spirit, and not dismembor Caesar." I have endeavored to retain in part at least, the charm of the orig­ inal, and in doing Justice to her quaintness of idea and ex­ pression, I may have wandered too far from an exact word for word translation* faking that into consideration, I shall present Marie's story with mine, that the reader may compare, and choose whichever version please® him better* In verso form and manner, I have tried to follow the ex­ ample of Mr.