In this article, I focus on the intertextual dimension of Franc¸ois Villon’s poems: Lais and Testament. The ‘intertextual library’ is the internal knowledge that is used by the poet. I analyse intertextual references that appear as directly mentioned names or book titles and literary allusions easily identified by the reader. The principle behind their selection and juxtaposition in particular verses is the starting point for examining the function of their use from the perspective of the supposed author’s intention.
The subject matter of the present article is a comparative analysis of two pieces dating back to the turn of the 13th century: a short novel Robert the Devil and a short story Chevalier au barisel. They both belong to the category of the so called “pious stories,” which provided believers with a certain model to follow.What is more, they were a lesson that even the worst sinner may obtain God’s mercy and the grace of salvation. The theme of repentance is an essential narrative and ideological element. The protagonists of the stories in question are: Robert − a knight and Devil’s son; and a knight possessed with the Devil. They both undergo a complete metamorphosis reaching sanctity which results from genuine repentance. Nevertheless, their paths are completely different, as unalike are their initial attitudes towards the possibility of penitence. The theme of metamorphosis in both texts consists of the same elements, which are however put in different narrative order. Two models of Christian metamorphosis emerge from these stories: from devilment to sanctity and from bad life to good death.
In the Middle Ages, allegory is a way of perceiving the world. Allegory is also an important figure of speech in late medieval lyric poetry. The subject of the analysis is the psychological aspect of the use of allegory of Melancholy in rondeaux by French poet of the fifteenth century, Charles d'Orléans. In the allegorical descriptions of depression, one may extract five types of reaction of persona: 1. Revolt – decision not to give up, 2. Search for consolation, 3. Total submission to melancholy, 4. Complaint, 5. Specification of an objective impact of Melancholy on human beings.
A motif of tomb appears in lais of Marie de France, a writer-poet of the 12th century, in two categories: as a description of tomb really existing or under construction and as the idea of a planned tomb. It seems that for the author the connotation of tomb is of fundamental importance. As this motif occurs in the context of an inseparable triad of love, death and memory, the tomb becomes not only a place-mark of the union of lovers, but also a place-mark of a commemoration of the terrestrial position of the deceased refl ected in constant prayers. The attitude the author takes toward the motif seems to necessitate an active approach of the reader, inviting the reader to look for an adequate interpretation.
The absence of decision making is one of the aspects of the issues of will and choices in short French court narratives of the XII and XIII centuries. The paper focuses on two executions that present this motif. Protagonists facing numerous options – or, on the contrary, being faced with dramatic turning points in the plot that restrict their choices – feel a kind of decision deadlock. In the analysed texts, the absence of decision – short or long term – is shown in the narratives with ‘ne set que faire’ formula (“does not know, what to do”) and a reference to advice needed by the indecisive protagonist.
In the Breton lais, we encounter a brilliant marriage of the Celtic and Christian « marvel » (merveilleux), which is revealed on various semiotic levels. The zones of sacrum and profanum interpenetrate and provoke the reader’s afterthoughts with abundant and profound imagery. In Yonec by Marie de France, at the moment when the coming from Autre Monde protagonist is receiving the Eucharist, he con-stitutes one body with his beloved. In this paper, I attempt to uncover a spiritual meaning/message underlying the text, characters-symbols. The clue to this analysis is the idea of transition: from one status to another, from one figure to another, or from one meaning to another.
FR
In the Breton lais, we encounter a brilliant marriage of the Celtic and Christian « marvel » (merveilleux), which is revealed on various semiotic levels. The zones of sacrum and profanum interpenetrate and provoke the reader’s afterthoughts with abundant and profound imagery. In Yonec by Marie de France, at the moment when the coming from Autre Monde protagonist is receiving the Eucharist, he con-stitutes one body with his beloved. In this paper, I attempt to uncover a spiritual meaning/message underlying the text, characters-symbols. The clue to this analysis is the idea of transition: from one status to another, from one figure to another, or from one meaning to another.
Poem Le passe-temps by Michault Taillevent entered the important movement of poetic output of Late Middle Ages, focusing on the theme of time elapse, as seen from the perspective of a confronting it individual. This paper tries to answer the following questions: in what way does Michault Taillevent articulate the idea of passing of time? Is, according to the author, the appreciation of that process a longstanding value in human life, or does the perception of time evolve with advancing years? Does Passe Temps poem offer any way of protecting against a total breakdown in the view of passing of somebody’s life? Eponymous time reveals intriguing functions and countenances in the work. The paper starts with talking over the objective dimension of time taken as an object under observation of the writing about it poet, and then come the subjective descriptions that distinguish the past and anticipated time, as well as, realised and beyond realisation periods, and finally, well used and wasted time. The poem by Taillevent, puts also forward different ways of standing up to inevitable process of passing, where especially effective and recommended remedy would be a literary work.
PL
Poemat Le passe-temps Michała Tailleventa wpisuje się w ważny nurt twórczości poetyckiej późnego średniowiecza, koncentrujący się na temacie upływu czasu postrzeganego z perspektywy konfrontującej się z nim jednostki. Pytania, na jakie niniejszy artykuł próbuje dać odpowiedź, brzmią: w jaki sposób Michał Taillevent przedstawia problem upływu czasu? Czy uświadomienie sobie tego procesu stanowi według poety wartość stałą w ludzkim życiu, czy też sposób postrzegania czasu ewoluuje w miarę starzenia się człowieka? Czy poemat Passe Temps proponuje jakąś drogę uchronienia się przed całkowitym załamaniem w obliczu własnego przemijania? Eponimiczny czas objawia w utworze ciekawe funkcje i oblicza. W artykule najpierw omówiony został obiektywny wymiar czasu potraktowanego jako przedmiot obserwacji piszącego o nim poety, a następnie wymiar subiektywny, w którym wyodrębniony został nie tylko czas miniony i czas antycypowany, ale także czas nieuświadomiony i czas uświadomiony, wreszcie czas wykorzystany dobrze i czas zmarnowany. Poemat Tailleventa proponuje także różne sposoby stawienia czoła nieuchronnemu procesowi przemijania, pośród których szczególnie skutecznym i zalecanym remedium byłby literacki akt twórczy.
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