The , or (; "complaint, vexation") is a
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
of
lyric poetry
Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.
The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...
practised by the
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''.
The tr ...
s. Somewhat similar to the , the was generally a litany of complaints, few of them connect topically to the others. The word "" appears frequently in such works. The
Monge de Montaudon
The (Lo) Monge de Montaudon (meaning "monk of Montaudon") (fl. 1193–1210Gaunt and Kay, Appendix I, 287.), born Pèire de Vic, was a nobleman, monk, and troubadour from the Auvergne, born at the castle of Vic-sur-Cère near Aurillac, where he ...
was the first master of the .
Raymond Hill defined an as "the enumeration in epigrammatic style of a series of vexatious things". He finds the genre continued in later medieval
Catalan,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
,
French, and
Galician-Portuguese literature. Ernest Wilkins considered
William Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Sonnet LXVI
Sonnet 66 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.
Synopsis
Sonnet 66 is a world-weary, desperate l ...
an example of an
English , citing also example from
Petrarch
Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists.
Petrarch's redis ...
. Richard Levin considers the anonymous English poem beginning "Whear giltles men ar greuously opreste" to be an .
Sources
*Chambers, Frank M. ''An Introduction to Old Provençal Versification''. Diane, 1985. .
*Hill, Raymond Thompson
"The ''Enueg''" ''Periodical of the Modern Languages Association'', 27 (1912), pp. 265–96.
*Hill, Raymond Thompson
"The ''Enueg'' and ''Plazer'' in Medieval French and Italian" ''Periodical of the Modern Languages Association'', 30 (1915), pp. 42–63.
*Levin, Richard. "A Second English ''Enueg''", ''
Philological Quarterly
The ''Philological Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on medieval European and modern literature and culture. It was established in 1922 by Hardin Craig. The inaugural issue of the journal was made available at sixt ...
'', 53:3 (1974:Summer), pp. 428–30.
*Wilkins, Ernest. "The ''Enueg'' in Petrarch and Shakespeare", ''MP'', 13 (1915), pp. 495–96.
{{Western medieval lyric forms
Western medieval lyric forms
Occitan literary genres