Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, "Savis e fols, humils et orgoillos" (BdT 392.28)

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to investigate the rhetorical devices involved in the building of the opposita which, from the first cobla onwards, continue over the next stanzas — with special attention to the pairs of antonyms savis ~ fols, humils ~ orgoillos, cobes ~ larcs, volpills ~ arditz. In particular, the analysis focuses on the strategies of inventio which set up a relationship between cardinal virtues (Prudentia ~ Stultitia, Fortitudo ~ Inconstantia), capital vices (Superbia ~ Humilitas, Avaritia ~ Liberalitas), courtly values (gauzens ~ marritz, plazens ~ enojos, vils ~ cars, vilans ~ cortes) with their relative opposites. The articulation of the opposita is then regulated on the level of dispositio with balanced criteria of distributional symmetry which recall, through a centrifugal movement, Curtius’ Summationsschema.

Keywords

• old occitan
• troubadour lyric