- Laisse
A laisse is a type of
stanza , of varying length, found inmedieval French literature , specifically medieval Frenchepic poetry (the "chanson de geste "), such as "The Song of Roland ". In early works, each laisse was made up of (mono)assonance d verses, although the appearance of (mono)rhyme d laisses was increasingly common in later poems. [Princeton.] Within a poem, the length of each separate laisse is variable (whereas the metric length of the verses is invariable, each verse having the same syllable length, typicallydecasyllable s or, occasionally,alexandrine s).The laisse is characterized by stereotyped phrases and formulas and frequently repeated themes and motifs [Jean Rychner, 1955. Quoted in Brault, I. Introduction, 8.] , including repetitions of material from one laisse to another. Such repetitions and formulaic structures are common of
orality andOral-Formulaic Composition . When medieval poets repeated content (with different wording or assonance/rhyme) from one laisse to another; such "similar" laisses are called "laisses similaires" in French. [Princeton.]References
* "Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics". Alex Preminger, ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965, 1974. "Laisse", pp. 436.
* Gerard J. Brault, ed. "The Song of Roland: An Analytical Edition". (Pennsylvania Sate University, 1978). ISBN 0-271-00516-5
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