Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

“The Poetics of Nullity: ‘Nonsense’ Verses of William of Aquitaine, Jaufre Rudel, and Raimbaut D’Orange.” William of Aquitaine’s riddle poem “Farai un vers de dreit nien” opens the Old Occitan lyric tradition with the provocative concept of a poem about nothing at all. William’s vers invites metapoetic discussion, and in fact inspires a series of poetic replies, including Jaufre Rudel’s “No sap chantar qui so non di” and Raimbaut d’Orange’s “Escotatz, mas no sai que s’es.” In their responses to William’s vers, Jaufre and Raimbaut express their own opinions on the art of trobar. Jaufre privileges the musical component of the troubadour’s art, while Raimbaut exaggerates its formal aspects. Jaufre and Raimbaut’s compositions form part of a new tradition of metapoetic debate that reflects the still fluid parameters of troubadour poetry during the first three generations of troubadour poets. Their compositions thus constitute a canon as paradoxical as William’s originating vers de dreit nien, managing to render canonical the very question of poetic canon.