Sept 19th, 2023

Literature and Love 3

Courtly Love
(Amour Courtois) is a term popularised by French philologist Gaston Paris during the
19th century, to refer to a concept of romantic love that emerged throughout Europe and the
United Kingdom during the Middle Ages.
between the 11th and 13th centuries, travelling poet-musicians often referred to as
“troubadours”, performed in the royal courts of various European countries, including France,
Italy, Spain, Germany, and England
Many of the poems and songs of these travelling poet-musicians dealt with the
intertwined themes of courtly love and chivalry.
As expressed in medieval poetry, courtly love often describes an intense but
unconsummated love of a male suitor for a woman.
Many poems by the Troubadours involve a knight describing the passion he feels for a
high-status woman whom he cannot have because she is married, imprisoned, or for some other
reason unattainable.
The knight in question had to embody the values of chivalry.
Chivalry, which was a medieval code of conduct for knights and gentlemen that
emphasized, amongst other things, the importance of being courteous, compassionate

Ars Amatoria – The art of love

Poets working in the courtly love tradition drew on the Roman poet Ovid’s ars Amatoria
Ars Amatoria builds on Plato’s ideas regarding eros and offers advice on the art of
seduction.
Courtly love was further defined and codified by Andreas Capellanus’s widely read and
immensely influential 12th-century work, De Amore (about/concerning love)

Few rules of love according to Capellanus

1. He who is not jealous cannot love.
2. It is not good for one lover to take anything against the will of the other.
3. The true lover never desires the embrace of any save his lover
4. An easy attainment makes love contemptible; a difficult one makes it more dear.
5. Every lover turns pale in the presence of his beloved
6. When a lover suddenly has sight in his beloved, his heart beats wildly
7. True jealousy always increases the effects of love
8. If a lover suspects another, jealousy and the effects of love increase
9. He who is vexed by the thoughts of love eats little and seldom sleeps
10. Every action of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved
11. The true lover believes only that which he thinks will please his beloved
12. The true lover believes only that which
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Chretien de Troyes and the motifs of courtly love poetry

Chretien de Troyes created some of the central motifs of courtly love poetry.
A motif is a literary device that is repeated throughout a literary work and can take the
form of images, symbols, concepts, words and plot elements.
Motifs form networks or patterns that In turn support and express themes. The themes of
courtly love, for example, is expressed via the following motifs.
- A beautiful but inaccessible woman, she might be married, imprisoned, or for
some other reason unattainable.
- A knight who is sworn to serve and love her
- A passionate but forbidden love between the knight and the lady
- The forbidden, and therefore dangerous nature of the love, which cannot be
consummated without a risk to either or both lovers

The romantic period and romanticism during the Victorian period

The romantic period in English literature is generally believed to have begub in 1789, the
year during which the French revolution began.
Some literary historians insist that the romantic period was launched in 1798, when
William wordsworth and Samuel taylor Coleridge – two leading poets of the romantic period –
published their book of poetry, lyrical ballads
The romantic period In English literature was part of the pan-european cultural
movement known as ‘romanticism’
Originitating in France and Germany during the late 18th century, romanticism spread
throughout

The Arthurian legend and ‘The lady of Shalott’

The Arthurian legend emerged from Celtic mythology (the celts were the indigenous
people of the British isles, from at least the iron age until the middle ages), and was developed in
the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth (historia regum brittanniae), Robert de boron (Merlin and
the grail) Chretien de Troyes (Erec, cliges, yvain, and lanceleot)
Although there are many variations and additions to the original myth, the story that has
evolved over the centuries tells of Arthur, the illegitimate son of Cornish duke (or king) Uther
Pendragon, who pulls the magical sword named ‘Excalibur’ from a stone, thus becoming king of
all Britain.
The lady of shalott (1832/42) is set in the realms of the Arthurian legend focusing on one
particular story about a woman who falls in love with sir lancealot, but dies of unrequited love.

Love and Sorrow

Sept 19th, 2023

Tennyson explores the intimate relationship between love and sollow in ‘the lady of
shalott’, one of his most famous poems, which engages with the pain of unrequited love – loving
another who does not love you – even while it draws on concepts of romance developed
throughout the middle ages, including the courtly love tradition.
With its roots firmly planted in medieval European romance literature, Tennysons poem
is both an homage to a lost and mythological era in history, and a reimagining of some of the
central images, characters, and themes of the courtly love tradition.