Times, they are a-switchin' (and spaces, too)

Phoenix, 2004

French Studies: A Quarterly Review, 2007

What follows is not a comprehensive e´tat pre´sent of studies in French versification; that would require an account of a completely different order of magnitude. Instead, I wish to use a briefer and selective survey of writing on French metrico-rhythmics, predominantly since 1990, to highlight some of the issues which seem most pressingly to deserve further reflection. However much analysts would wish it otherwise, metrics, or metricorhythmics, is not an exact science, but an unstable critical discipline, subject to ideological conflict and cultural fluctuations. Voice and music One noticeable feature of syllabist 'orthodoxy' is the continuing resistance to the admission of paralinguistic and experimental phonetic evidence into metrico-rhythmic assessment. Even though the 'crisis' in French verse of the latter half of the nineteenth century has as much to do with the repossession of the voice (Verlaine, Rimbaud, Corbie`re, Laforgue), as with repossessing music, what Tenint tried to do for the perception of French versification on the basis of Hugolian drama has fallen on stony ground. The 'Platonic' cast of much French metrism means that the voice is simply disqualified. Benoıˆt de Cornulier (La The´orie du vers: Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarme´(Paris, Seuil, 1982)) makes these three statements in the course of his argument against the admissibility of experimental phonetic evidence: 'La personne la mieux qualifie´e pour dire ses vers est naturellement [?] le poe`te lui-meˆme'; 'rien ne nous garantit que le poe`te retrouve, en les [quelques-uns de ses propres vers] lisant, l'e´tat d'inspiration dans lequel il les a cre´e´s, peut-eˆtre les recre´e-t-il'; 'Mais que cette diction est parfaite, comment le saurait-il [notre de´monstrateur] ?' (pp. 128-29). More recently, Vale´rie Beaudouin (Me`tres et rythmes du vers classique: Corneille et Racine (Paris, Champion, 2002)) argues that we do not know how lines were read/declaimed at the time of their composition-but nor do we know with what metrico-rhythmic understandings they were composed either-and that there are a high number of inter-and intra-individual vocal variables ('Comment se fier, en effet, a`un seul ou a`un nombre limite´de re´citants pour construire un mode`le de vers?', p. 21). These arguments are not persuasive, confusing, as they do, transcription and transdiction, orality in verse and the recitation of verse, historicism and the assimilation of verse into our own reading community. We are

2021

This thesis presents my analysis of the Bankes Homer papyrus with the intent to gain insights into aspects of Homeric performance. Over the past century, scholars have largely reconstructed the performance tradition of the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, their social context, meter and composition, and dissemination, yet the sound of Homeric song remains shrouded in mystery. What little we know has come largely from the study of the songs depicted in the poems themselves, from the descriptions of Homeric performances in other ancient authors, and through comparison with living traditions of oral composition. Another rare and underappreciated source of information, however, are the surviving, material texts of the Homeric poems themselves which scholars have hypothesized could provide us possibly with a more direct understanding of some elements of the performance practices of the Homeric epic performance traditions. An example of this sort of text, one that may contain clues to the history of Homeric epic performance, is the "Bankes Homer" (= P. Lond. Lit. 28). This papyrus, dating from the 2nd century CE, is among the best preserved and longest Homeric papyri, preserving approximately 677 verses from Book 24 of the Iliad (lines 127-804). One of its unique features, besides its length, is the markings that are present above nearly every line of text. These contain diacritical markings (accents, breathings, and diaereses), markings of quantity, punctuation, and various scholia, which serve to organize the text. The research presented in this thesis, based on the systematic iv examination of these markings, argues that they reflect features of the performance of Book 24 of the Iliad. Through a process called melodization, I use the ancient markings in the Bankes Homer papyrus to attempt a reconstruction of the melody of the lines that could have been sung by the performer/singer of the epic. In particular, I focused on the laments for Hector in lines 719-745 and considered how the content of the lines could affect how the melody sounds. Throughout my whole analysis, I have found that the Bankes Homer papyrus appears to be a unique document that opens for us a remarkable window into Homeric song. v

This essay takes Christopher Logue‟s adaptation of the Iliad, War Music as a lens to consider the performative nature of the Homeric poem. By analysing Logue‟s version as a critical reading of the poem, I explore how his adaptation pinpoints the performative potential of the poem, whereas offering a challenging interpretation of key questions that cannot quite be detached of the notion of characters as performers. I focus mostly on Il. 1 and on the first instalment of War Music, Kings.

The Medieval Review, 2012

Review of the translation.

2023

DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2021

This paper engages with the problematical representation of Roland, the hero in The Song of Roland, which is one of the finest examples of the chanson de geste. A chanson de geste or an Old French epic is a medieval French genre that narrates the heroic deeds. Thus, The Song of Roland, the oldest extant French poem, recounts the feats of prowess of Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne. Chanson de geste, meaning song of deeds, is a genre that emerged between epic and romance; thus, it contains the characteristics of both genres. In the same line, the hero of The Song, Roland is constructed as a hero, including the characteristics of both the epic hero and the romance knight. In addition to these characteristics, Roland's identity as a hero is permeated with the motifs of Christianity and feudalism. In this regard, this paper analyzes The Song of Roland by discussing the problematical representation of Roland, the leader of the rear guard in Charlemagne's army, in The Song of Roland.

Comparative Literature, 1991

FROM SONG TO BOOK 1. See Crosby; Zumthor, Poesie et La voix. 2. See the study by Saenger. 3. For some works that have provided broad historical and conceptual bases for the present study, see Chaytor, Clanchy, Ong, Stock, and Zumthor in the Bibliography. } 5. This prologue is printed by Delisle in his "Anciennes traductions fran<;aises"; I quote from p. 294. I am grateful to Peter Dembowski of the University of Chicago for drawing this passage to my attention. 6. Segre ed., p. 5. References to editions of works discussed are to those listed in the Editions section of the Bibliography. The first citation of a work gives the editor's last name, "ed." to indicate that the reference is to an edition, and the line or page numbers. Except where ambiguity would result, later references to the work give only line or page numbers. All translations are mine. 7. See Woolf, pp. 85-101. 5. See Alfred Foulet and Vitti; Hult, Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, pp. 95-97• The Book in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries I turn now to a second example of thematic organization, the codex Bibl. Nat. fro 1 2786, which dates from the early fourteenth century. The collection comprises an assortment of lyrical, allegorical, and didactic texts.6 Although they are not arranged as systematically as the contents of MS 24428, there are evident groupings of allegorical, lyric, didactic, and religious poems. The contents are Le Roman de la poire, by Tibaut, an imitation of the Roman de La rose that employs personification allegory, lyric insertions (copied with space for mu sic, which was never filled in), and a series of allusions to exemplary lovers of vernacular and classical tradition (see below, Chapter 6) Le Livre des pierres, an anonymous prose treatise enumerating the properties and allegorical significance of precious stones (Pannier ed., Lapidaires fr an �ais, pp. 291-97) Li Bestiaire d'amours, by Richard de Fournival, in which the traditional besti ary animals become allegories of love (see below, Chapter 5) "Son poitevin" (Poitevin song), the first stanza of a song attributed else where to Gautier d'Espinal, copied without space for music Le Roman de la rose of Guillaume de Lorris, with only the short anonymous continuation A series of motets, copied with space for musical notation that was never provided "Les Prophecies que Ezechiel Ii prophetes fist," a series of predictions con cerning weather patterns and the behavior that is thereby indicated, based on which day of the week Christmas falls Explication des songes, an anonymous prose treatise explaining the prophetic significance of a long series of dream images L'Ordre de l'amors, a dit describing a monastic order of faithful lovers, possi bly by Nicole de MargivaF La Trinitez N ostre Dame Les. IX. ] oies N ostre Dame Le Dit d'Aristote, probably by Rutebeuf Le Lunaire de Salomon, a treatise predicting the traits to be expected In children born on each day of the lunar cycle.

Seriality Across Narrations, Languages and Mass Consumption: To Be Continued, 2019

Robert de Reims : Songs and Motets, 2020

Robert de Reims, also known as “La Chievre de Rains,” was among the earliest trouvères—poet-composers who were contemporaries of the troubadours but who wrote in the dialects of northern France. This critical edition provides new translations into English and modern French of all the songs and motets ascribed to him, along with the original texts, the extant music, and a substantive introduction. Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras. Thirteen compositions set to music are here attributed to him, including nine chansons and four polyphonic motets that were broadly disseminated in the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert’s work is exceptional on a number of fronts. He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliest trouvère known to have composed a parodic sotte chanson contre Amours (silly song against Love). Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert’s corpus also poses the intriguing question of trouvère participation in the development of the polyphonic repertory. The case of Robert de Reims jostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet. Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequential trouvère available in one volume for the first time.