Trobador Poets: Selections from The Poems of Eight Trobadors

by Barbara Smythe (Translator and Editor)

A compilation of poems from eight prominent trobadors and one anonymous one, translated from the Provençal into English by Barbara Smythe. These are the trobadors:

The Count of Poitou
Jaufre Rudel
Bernart of Ventadorn
Bertran de Born
Arnaut Daniel
Guiraut de Bornelh
Piere Vidal
Guilhem de Cabestanh

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1911

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a few troubadour anthologies I’ve been reading over the last few weeks, and it is probably the best place to start for those wanting a nice number of songs in English from the essential poets. The introduction is brief but adequate, giving basic historical context for those with little or no knowledge of the topic.

Instead of compiling an anthology with only one or two poems from each of thirty-something obscure troubadours, Smythe opts to focus on arguably the most famous eight, providing a good number of poems from each troubadour. The introductions for each poet quote from their surviving medieval biographies and attempt to clarify/correct/add to those narratives with more historically accurate information. Some poems are given in prose translation, while others are given in verse form, which is the strength of this collection. (Some other anthologies I’ve been reading give mostly prose translations and don’t even attempt verse.)

For every poem, Smythe gives endnotes detailing the original metrical organizations and rhyme schemes, which might be a little too in-depth for non-scholarly readers. The notes clarify some names, locations, and allusions in the songs, but are not as wide-ranging as some other editions. On the plus side, one can enjoy the songs without being too distracted by large numbers of endnotes. On the downside, there wasn’t much discussion of music and no examples of musical notation provided for those songs for which the music survives.

I was most impressed with Smythe’s discussion of rhyming and verse arrangement, as well as the verse translations, which offered versions of these songs that were a little different than in other anthologies (Bonner's Songs of the Troubadours, for example). Overall, a solid place to start exploring the troubadour poets.

[Marti Martinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice selection of poets and their poems. In my unqualified opinion, some of the translations into English from the medieval Provencal are quite clever. A good choice if you do NOT want a treatise on the subject of troubadour poetry.