In Poetry Courtly Love, Bernart de Ventadorn was acclaimed as a great troubadour.

Thank you for coming along on our journey through the world of Poetry Courtly Love.

We will now take a look at the famous Bernart de Ventadorn who we have given a brief mention to earlier.

He is one of the better known troubadour poets of the era.

We will see one of his best works "When I See The Lark That Moves" but before then, letus examine briefly the style and focus of his use of the tenets of poetry courtly love:-

Bernart de Ventadorn seemed to despair over his failed attempts to reach out to his beloved in (“Lo tems vai e ven e vire”), but he also insisted that singing about love must come from the heart and that the poet must really believe in the power of love (“Chantars no pot gaire valer”).

Insofar as he knows that he himself is filled with love, he claims to be the best singer of all troubadour poets who dominated the poetry courtly love era,and asks from his lady nothing but to accept him as her servant in (Non es meravelha sieu chan).

Bernart also introduced the motif of spring as the time when love begins to bud in (Can lerba fresch e lh folha par).

When I See The Lark Beating (From the Original Language, Provencal)

When I see the lark beating

Its wings in joy against the rays of the sun

That it forgets itself and lets itself fall

Because of the sweetness that comes to its heart,

Alas! Such great envy then overwhelms me

Of all those whom I see rejoicing,

I wonder that my heart, at that moment,

Does not melt from desire.

Alas! How much I thought I knew

About love, and how little I know,

Because I cannot keep myself from loving

The one from whom I will gain nothing.

She has all my heart, and my soul,

And herself and the whole world;

And when she left, nothing remained

But desire and a longing heart.

I have never had power over myself

Nor been by own man from the very hour

When she let me see into her eyes,

Into a mirror that pleases me so much.

Mirror, since I saw myself in you,

I have been slain by deep sighs,

That I have lost myself just as the handsome

Narcissus did in the fountain.

I despair of ladies;

I will never trust them again;

As I used to defend them

Now I shall abandon them,

Because I see no one who does any good for me

Against her who destroys and confounds me,

I fear and distrust them all,

Because I know very well that they are all alike.

She really shows herself to be a woman in this,

My lady, for which I condemn her;

Because she does not want what she should want,

And what she shouldn't do, she does.

I have fallen on an evil grace,

And I have indeed acted like the fool on the bridge

And I do not know how this happened to me,

Unless I tried to climb too high on the mountain.

Mercy is indeed lost,

And I never knew it,

Because she, who ought to have most of it,

Has none, and where will I look for it?

Ah! It would never seem, when looking at her,

That she would let this love-sick wretch,

Who will never be well without her,

To die, without helping him.

Since these things will never bring me good from my lady,

Neither prayers, pity, nor the rights I have,

Nor is it a pleasure to her

That I love her, I will never tell her again.

Thus I part from her and give her up.

She has slain me, and through death I will respond,

And I go away, since she does not ask me to stay,

Wretched, into exile, I know not where.

Tristan, you will have nothing more from me,

For I go away, wretched, I know not where.

I will withdraw from singing and renounce it,

And I hide myself from joy and love.

I do hope you are happy with my selection of troubadour poetry of the Poetry Courtly Love era. Thank you for coming along on the journey.

Click Here for examples of Troubadour Poetry

If you enjoyed the poetry on this page and would like to see more,Click Here for examples of Courtly Poetry Love

If you would like to see even more examples of poetry on courtly love, Click Here.

If you like Poetry Courtly Love and would like to receive more information directly in your inbox, subscribe to my Love Poetry of The World newsletter

Return from Poetry Courtly Love to Love Poetry of The World