Sunday, May 11, 2008

Welcome to Provence

Per Robert Kehew (in Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadours), "Bernart de Ventadorn occupies a special niche in the troubadour pantheon as the maker of songs who appears to have been most sincere about love":

When tender grass and leaves appear
While buds along the branches throng,
The nightingale so high and clear
Uplifts his voice to spill his song;

Joy to the bird and full joy in the flower,
Joy in myself and my Lady much more,
Joy quite surrounds me; I live joy-possessed
Yet here’s one joy that outjoys all the rest.


Can l’erba fresch’e•lh folha par
A la flors boton’ el verjan,
E•l rossinhols autet e clar
Leva sa votz e mou so chan,

Joi ai de lui, e joli ai de la flor
E joi de me e de midons major;
Daus totas partz sui de joi clau e sens
Mass el es jois que totz autres jois vens.

--Bernart de Ventadorn, "Can l'erba fresch"("When Tender Grass and Leaves Appear")
(W.D. Snodgrass trans.) in Robert Kehew ed., Lark in the Morning:
The Verses of the Troubadours
(U Chi Press 2005)

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