HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

LEGENDARY HISTORY: HISTORIA AND FABULA 393in repetitions and echoes: we have a succession of repetitive laisseswhich differ only in terms of assonance or minute variations withrespect to point of view or content, in accordance with the recourseto ‘parallel laisses’; plus the incessant recurrence of formulaic phrasesoccupying a hemistich or sometimes an entire line.The chanson de geste thus appeals to what might be called the physicaleffects of language: the fascination and near-hypnosis generatedby repetition; the vertiginousness of the same assonance ringing outline after line throughout the laisse and born of a very simple melody,a repeated psalmody which never alters from line to line, with at thevery most a variation in the cadence at the last hemistich of the laisseor in its final, shorter line. 20The melodies in question have not been passed down to us, butZink highlights the rhythmic stylistic effects particular to the chansonsde geste, singling out their:short, neatly turned and often end-stopped phrases, allied to the insistent,regular yet varying pounding of the decasyllabic line marryingthat of the asymmetrical hemistichs: a taste for parataxis and a repugnancefor subordinate clauses. 21He also alludes to the impression of ‘enigmatic terseness’ with whichsome of these poems leave us, a characteristic that “lacks neitherseductive power nor grandeur”, 22 and points out how, in two romansfrom the beginning of the thirteenth century, we encounter charactersenjoying the experience of someone singing to them a laisse ortwo from a chanson de geste—which may perhaps give us some insightinto the appeal that these structural units must have had for theaudiences of that time. As for the general meaning of these poems,it is the human condition and the destiny of the hero that predominate.We shall refer just once more on this matter to D. Poirion,speaking here of the relationship between the chanson de geste and theobjective ‘reality’ of its source materials—and consequently of thehistorical consciousness which must have inspired these poet minstrelsand their audiences:Without doubt the chanteur de geste sees himself as dealing with the truth,eagerly contrasting his art with the fanciful approach of the Bretonstory tellers. He refers back to the geste as the authentic source of hissong. But he magnifies the actions of his characters, the better to give20Zink (1992), 73, 75; my translation.21Zink (1992), 75; my translation.22Zink (1992), 75; my translation.