Arnaut Daniel, "Amors e iois e luecs e temps" (BdT 29.1)

Abstract

The basic intenet of this paper is that the song by Arnaut Daniel under discussion is an ironic and polemic, or perhaps a sarcastic and polemic hymn to the masochism of fin’amor of the hard and fast kind, the kind that involves impossible love leading to endless suffering caused by constant, insatiable desire for satisfaction. Bearing this in mind, the paper argues that up to the end of the sixth cobla, the lyric voice is both masochistic lover, a dedicated follower of fin’amor, and disillusioned censurer of this form of love, which borders on pathological deviance and mania: thus, at the same time it is both the patient and the illness’s conscience.

Keywords

• Old Occitan
• Troubadour Lyric
• Arnaut Daniel