26 pages • 52 minutes read
Marie De FranceLe Lai de Lanval
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
As indicated in the title, Le Lai de Lanval is a lai. According to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics:
In Old French, the oldest narrative lais, almost always written in octosyllables, are [...] short romantic tales originated by Marie de France in the late twelfth century. Most of them have Breton themes, chiefly love but also the supernatural. (p. 780)
In the original French, Marie de France’s lais have eight-syllable lines and rhyming couplets (pairs of rhyming lines). Lais are short narratives compared to more contemporary narrative poetry. Some English translations of the lais attempt to mimic the meter and/or rhyme of the French, but others do not, given how romance languages—like French and Italian—are more suited to rhyming than English.
Allusion
Arthurian—or chivalric—romances are filled with allusions: references to other notable works. In the Le Lai de Lanval, Marie de France alludes to older Latin and British works. The knights “Gwain” (Line 225) and “Yvain” (Line 226) originally appear in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. Marie de France includes them alongside Lanval—a new knight she invents—to place him in the Arthurian canon. Marie de France also alludes to Latin works by Ovid and Tacitus in her inclusion of “Octavian” (Line 85), also known as Caesar Augustus: the wealthy Roman emperor.
The Narrator’s Presence and Orality
Another literary device used in Le Lai de Lanval, as well as most other Arthurian romances, is the presence of a narrator and their audience. The first and last lines include the narrator’s first-person pronoun “I.” The poem begins, “I shall relate to you the story of another lay” (Lines 1-2) and ends with “nor can I relate any more” (Line 646). These lines argue that the poem is a retelling of an older tale.
Furthermore, the narrator mentions an audience. During the story, the narrator addresses unnamed “lords”: “Lords, do not be surprised” (Line 35). This adds an orality, or spoken quality, to the poem. The orality of the chivalric romance comes from its roots in the songs of the troubadours, as well as the fact that many medieval poets worked in courts, reciting poetry aloud for their patrons.
Blazon
Le Lai de Lanval employs a literary device called a blazon. This is a list, or catalog, of a woman’s beautiful features: “bodies, faces, and complexions” (Line 530). Lanval’s beloved is given the most extensive blazon in the poem when she comes to Carlisle to defend him during his trial. Laces in her outfit reveal her sides, and “her body was comely, her hips low, her neck whiter than snow on a branch; [...] her hair curly and rather blond. A golden thread does not shine as brightly as the rays reflected in the light from her hair” (Lines 561-71). This blazon includes similes emphasizing her fairness and brightness, both of which are considered extremely positive qualities in Arthurian romance. The beauty of Lanval’s fairy mistress arouses positive feelings in all those she encounters: “No one who had looked at her could have failed to be inspired with real joy” (Lines 583-84). This develops the theme of courtly love—especially in how it advocates for the worship of beautiful women.
