Class Notes: Marie De France

•  Courtly love - some say it was a myth created by the stories in that time, much debate remains on what it was actually like during the 12th c. 
• The poem of Lanval begins during the Pentecost (a spring religious festival)
• Some consider France to be a feminist of her time
• France says in the prologue that her stories trace back to oral tradition and that she translated many of them from  other stories but there is little to no record supporting that so there is a possibility her poems are original. 
• The Nightingale and Lanval contrast each other in a way. The poem of Lanval ends with a happy ending with Lanval and his love together and The Nightingale ends in a tragedy.  
• Avalun - land of the blessed dead
• Lanval's love - fairy lover 
• People truly believed in fairies in that time in some cultures. 
• Fine amour - noble or fine love (French)
• Day of Pentecost represents new beginnings/rebirth. Relates to Lanval when he meets the fairy and has a "new start"
• Conflicting themes in text - Fairies and Christianity 
• The themes of lust and love affairs is not portrayed negatively which you would expect from a Christian nun. 
• Court in Lanval - new practice compared to the story of Beowulf