HUMA-215

Troubadour poems began during the Second Crusade in the Middle East. As women, especially those of noble birth, were becoming increasingly literate began a time in which the great oral poems of the first millennium were first written down (Sayre, 2013 p. 166). A trobairitz was a love poem that a man would write about the love he felt for a woman (usually unattainable because married or of a higher status) (Sayre, 2013 p. 166). Many of these lyrics or poems were of great intensity and not used much if at all in today’s society. This type of language was used politically. Troubadour and trobairitz would use this style to express their support or disapproval of the political system at that time. Some common characteristics of these poems were that both men and women used them in everyday life. Men generally expressed their love for another woman in these poems and women wrote about more personal inter-self-issues. They were more intimate and more sensual in their love poems. I think the beauty and truthfulness that these poems poses is the most beautiful and so full of pure love. The feelings that are presented in these poems are amazing when you consider the literacy standards of the time. Many people were not well educated unless they were of a higher status in society. The sensuality that women wrote about seems to be the only way they were able to express themselves intimately without persecution. This is the contrast since women from this time period were portrayed to be pure virgins and wholly dedicated to their husband or the church if not married. After reading Comtessa de Dia’s poem, it gives me the sense that women of that time were able to rebel against the standards that were expected of them. If gave them an opportunity to express themselves in a way that gave them control and power and a way to disregard the gender and