Marie (de France)

The Lais of Marie de France

Marie de France

Marie de France's beautiful poems of courtly love, enchantment, and mystery are now available in a Norton Critical Edition.

Marie de France Poetry

"Marie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and who lived in England during the twelfth century. Prominent among the earliest poets writing in the French vernacular, Marie de France helped shape the style and genres of later medieval poetry. This Norton Critical Edition includes all of Marie's lais (short narrative verse poems); selected fables; and a generous excerpt from Saint Patrick's Purgatory, a long poem based on a well-known medieval legend. Each text is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. For comparative reading, two lais, "Bisclavret" and "Yonec," are accompanied by Marie's facing-page originals. "Contexts" is thematically organized to provide readers with a clear sense of Marie's Inspirations. Topics include "The Supernatural," "Love and Romance," "Medical Traditions," "Fable Sources and Analogues: Similar Themes," and "Purgatory and the Afterlife." Ovid, St. Augustine, King Cnut, Chaucer, Andreas Capellanus, Boccaccio, Aristotle, and Bede are among the authors included. From the wealth of scholarly work published on Marie de France, Dorothy Gilbert has chosen eight essays that address issues of history and authorship as well as major themes in the lais, fables, and Saint Patrick's Purgatory. The contributions are Thomas Warton, Abbe Gervais de la Rue, Joseph Bedier, Leo Spitzer, R. Howard Bloch, E.A. Francis, Jill Mann, and Jacques LeGoff"--

Poetry, New Translations, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism

Though little is known about her today, the poetry of Marie de France was incredibly popular during her time. This book contains three of her lays translated into English.

Three Lays of Marie de France

Jane Tozer

Marie de France's lais are song-stories, passionate and playful, understanding of the vagaries of the human heart. Jane Tozer's translations of the original medieval lais introduce a blend of the magical, the courtly and the ironic. Tozer also provides commentaries to the lais.

Knights of Love

Die fabeln der Marie de France

Today, much of the life of Marie de France is shrouded in mystery. Scholars have very little information on the woman behind countless medieval poems, lays and songs. Even her real name remains unknown to scholars. Nevertheless, we do know that Marie de France lived at the end of the 12th century and was commissioned to write for a royal court (probably the court of Henry II of England). She lived in both England and France and wrote in Anglo-Norman, a dialect that was spoken in Northern France. Marie de France's poetry and lays deal with themes of love, eroticism, the knightly code and good and evil. She is most famous for her works Lais of Marie de France, her translation of Aesop's Fables and various other collections of poetry. This handsome book contains a selection of Marie de France's lays, including "Guigemar," "The Ash Tree," "Two Lovers" and more.

Marie (de France)

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