BERNARD DE VENTADORN

About Bernard de Ventadour

• ?-1195
• Born in Aquitaine
• Considered the finest trabadour to write in the Provençal language
• 45 surviving love poems, 19 surviving musical pieces.

"I am surrounded by joy on all sides, but she is the joy form which all other joys come."

-Rule XXIV: Every act of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved.
-This rule applies because the man is surrounded by things that bring him joy, but his lady is still his main source of happiness.

Untitled Slide

• "If I knew how to cast spells on people, my enemies would become babes, so that none of them could discover anything that could be turned against us."
• Rule XX: A man in love is always apprehensive
• This rule applies because the man is apprehensive that his enemies will turn his lover against him

Untitled Slide

• "I would like to find her alone, sleeping, or pretending to sleep, so that I could steal a sweet kiss from her, since I am not worth so much that I could ask it of her."
• Rule XII: A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved
• The author desires no other lover than the one he has. He is contempt with his lover.

Untitled Slide

• "Alas! I die from desire. For often, I am so full of yearning that theives could carry me off, and I wouldn't even realize what was happening. By God, Love!"
• Rule XXX: A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.
• The author is so possessed by the thought of his lover that he would not notice if he was kidnapped by theives.