From Poetry to Prose in Old Provencal: The Emergence of the Vidas, the Razos, and Razos De Trobar

In this highly technical study, Elizabeth Poe explores the development of both 'vidas' or troubadour biographies, and the lyric 'razos' as outgrowths of the preexisting troubadour poetry. Her study discusses the relationship of these new prose forms to the grammar manuals that appeared at the same time. Although most of the authors of the vidas and razos are unknown to the modern reader, it is routinely assumed that they were either the jongleurs who presented the lyrics in peformance or the scribes who copied the lyrics into the chansonniers. Since the vidas and razos probably do not represent the persepctive of the poety, but rather the perspective of an audience who was increasingly removed from the circumstances of composition, Elizabeth Poe looks to contemporary prose poetics for an additional perspective on the theme of her work. Of particular interest is the concluding chapter on the relationship between Provencal poetry and Dante's Vita Nuova.