Hey who wants to talk about epic French
poetry? That's right – you; here's why.
The Song of Roland is an epic poem describing a battle between the forces of Charlemagne
and Muslim invaders in Spain, and takes place in AD 778. It was
written some time between AD 1040 and 1115 and was recited by bards
to big audiences for a long time. This was a popular work in its day
and it is easy to understand why.
Can't wait to dive in? Download The Song of Roland from Librivox and listen to an English translation that works well in poetic form.
The audio files I link to are less than four hours in total length
and the recitation is well done.
This poem has it all; a demigod emperor
Charlemagne who has lived for centuries, legendary weapons powered by
relics, badass knights, traitors, and doomed infidels feeling their
mortality. This was French from when the French were scary.
The poem opens with the Muslim king
Marsile of Spain seeking an escape from defeat at the hands of
Emperor Charlemagne. He offers to convert to Christianity if the
Franks will return to France.
The messenger chosen to give
Charlemagne's message of acceptance believes himself set up to be
murdered by the Muslims and so lies to King Marsile, offering help to
kill his own personal rival, Roland, whom he frames as the Emperor's primary
councilor for the continuation of war.
The ambush & resulting battle, and
the consequences for those involved consume the rest of the poem.
For details read the Infogalactic entry.
I know that epic French poetry sounds
like a waste of time. This is not. If the idea of listening to
bards sing about the heroes of yore, listen to this. If you are
interested in medieval history, listen to this. If you want to
listen to an earnest story of courage & conflict that earned the
interest of audiences for centuries, listen to this.
Not convinced? Give it a listen and
tell me why I'm wrong.
Again, you can download The Song of Roland from Librivox.
Try it.
Comments
Post a Comment