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Romance of the Rose

Romance of the Rose. John de Meun and Guillaume de Lorris. Courtly Love. Courtly love Not “Courtney Love” Remarkable literary innovation: lots of poetry, romances, written in the vernacular tongues of Europe Poets called “troubadours” Poems meant to be sung to music

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Romance of the Rose

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  1. Romance of the Rose John de Meun and Guillaume de Lorris

  2. Courtly Love • Courtly love • Not “Courtney Love” • Remarkable literary innovation: lots of poetry, romances, written in the vernacular tongues of Europe • Poets called “troubadours” • Poems meant to be sung to music • Focus on the relationship of men and women, a new sensibility: chivalry

  3. Courtly Love • Courtly love • Influences from Arabic love poetry and Muslim mystical literature • Soul=feminine / God/lover=masculine • Troubadours secularize this mystical tradition and love becomes something honorable and dignified • Popularizes romantic love  THIS is the innovation, a notion in the West that we take for granted!

  4. Courtly Love • Courtly love • Ideal male: knight-errant, warrior searching for adventure • Free but virtuous • Virtue leads him to take a vow in his lady’s name • Chivalric virtue: self-denial, self-sacrifice (damsel in distress, slay the dragon and save the lady or the village) • Chrétien de Troyes (Arthur romances): women are elevated; men are the “love-vassals” of the women • Spreads from southern France (Provençal) to Germany and throughout Europe

  5. Romance of the Rose • The Romance of the rose • Five [-and-a-half] things: • Author • Guillaume de Lorris (1190's?-1240's?) and Jean de Meun (1250's-1305) • Title • The Romance of the Rose; Roman de la Rose • Date • 1225-1230 and 1269-1278 • Location • France • Language • French

  6. Romance of the Rose • [textual tradition/edition] • One of the most influential of all the medieval texts; 200 mss have survived; popular from 13th century - mid-17th century • Also, this is a book with two authors. You're reading the Guillame de Lorris original; you're missing out on the expansion of Jean de Meun (Reason, Academic, Philosophy, and an answer to the despair of the end of Guillame de Lorris)

  7. Romance of the Rose • Major literary concerns: • Allegory • Didactic • Locus amoenus • Courtly love • Fablieaux • The text: • Setting: 13th century: a dream

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