Songs of a Friend: Love Lyrics of Medieval Portugal

by Barbara Hughes Fowler (Translator)

Overview

Portugal enjoyed one of the richest and most sophisticated cultures of the Middle Ages, in part because of its vibrant secular literature. One popular literary genre of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was the cantigas de amigo, love songs in which male poets wrote from a female perspective. More than five hundred of these mysterious poems depicting a young girl's love for an absent lover survive today. Until now, however, they have remained inaccessible except to a small circle of scholars. In her translation of nearly one hundred representative examples of the cantigas de amigo, Barbara Hughes Fowler recovers the beauty of these poems for the modern reader. Her accurate and elegant renderings capture the charming spontaneity of the lyrics and show them to be a uniquely appealing form of medieval literature. (excerpt of one of the poems) Lovely mother, I saw my friend but did not speak with him and so I lost him, but now I'm dying of love for him. I did not speak because of my disdain; I'm dying, mother, for love of him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807876008
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/12/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Barbara Hughes Fowler, a well-known classicist, translator, and poet, is author of The Seeds Inside a Green Pepper, a volume of original poems. Her translations include Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt, Hellenistic Poetry, and Archaic Greek Poetry. She is John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Barbara Fowler's masterful translations offer a panoramic view of the thematic concerns expressed in the cantigas de amigo and convey the haunting and lovely lyrical nature of the original songs as well. Songs of a Friend will not only be of interest to medievalists, but also to those in the fields of women's studies and comparative literature.—Linda M. A. Rodrigues, New School for Social Research



Songs of a Friend places before the English-language reader, finally, a careful selection of medieval Galician-Portuguese songpoems that literally bubble with the fear and trembling, the wonder and excitement, and the anguish and frustration a young girl feels when she cannot account for her lover's absence or predict his return. Her yearning and desire, eternal experiences of young love, are here beautifully rendered in Barbara Fowler's lucid English versions. Galician-Portuguese is fortunate to have a translator with the touch of the poet. The reader will be enchanted.—Joseph T. Snow, Michigan State University

Editorial Reviews

Galician-Portuguese is fortunate to have a translator with the touch of the poet. The reader will be enchanted.

Joseph T. Snow, Michigan State University

"Galician-Portuguese is fortunate to have a translator with the touch of the poet. The reader will be enchanted.

Joseph T. Snow, Michigan State University"

From the Publisher