Examines the poetic device in the Old French lyrics of the trouvFre poet and composer, who flourished about 1200. Combines quantitative and qualitative approaches, beginning with a statistical analysis of the poems' structure and rhyme words to establish the rules governing the expression in the poetic system. Then surveys such themes as singing and saying, loyalty and disloyalty, joy and grief, and life and death. Includes translations and the original text of excerpts. Probably a revised Ph.D. dissertation. No subject index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
