Chanson dc Roland. 117 



to be found everywhere.^ It is obtained by the use of balance, or 

 b}' repetition, or by parallelism, or by what Professor F. M. Warren 

 has called ' transposed parallelism.' 2 All these devices were common 

 in Old French poetry. We wish to insist, not on their presence 

 in the Oxford text, but on the skiUful manner in which they are 

 used. 3 Whoever has read the Roland will acknowledge the artistry 

 of the balances : for example, the first strophe and the last strophe 

 deal, not with Roland at all, but with Charles, thus forming a frame 

 for the story ; twelve Paynim Peers threaten Roland before the 

 battle — in the battle they are humbled in corresponding sequence-^; 

 l^efore the battle Oliver begs Roland to wind his horn — later he up- 

 braids Roland for desiring to wind his horn.^ No less artistically are 

 handled the devices of repetition, parallelism, and transposed paral- 

 lelism. They are used to emphasize some important fact,^ or remark ; '' 

 to interlink successive strophes or strophe-groups ^ ; to make, as it were, 

 a setting for some stage of the action ; ^ to accentuate the balance 



^ Cf. Taveriiier, Zur Vorgeschichie dcs altfrauzosischen RolandsUedes (Berlin, 

 1903), p. 217. 



•>■ Modern Philology (October, 1905), pp. 1-3; (April, 1906), p. 8. 



^ Craston Paris, Histoirc Poctique dc Charlemagne (Paris, 1905), p. 24, 

 coiitends that repetition in Old Prencli epic poetry " n'est pas un artifice 

 vouln." This is perhaps true of a great deal of Old French epic poetry, 

 but not, in my opinion, of the Roland. 



* 860-993 = 1188-1337. 



5 1049-1081 = 1702-173G. 



« 617 = 627 = 634 ; 661 = 669 ; 702 = 706 ; 717 = 737 ; 917 = 932 ; 1169 

 = 1187 ; 1448 = 1450 = 1630 ; 1967 = 2057 = 2070 = 2129 ; 2184 = 2200 ; 

 2357 = 2375 ; 2358 = 2876 ; 2475 = 2487 ; 3870 = 3882. Especially clever 

 is the correspondence between v. 1244 and v. 1642 ; thereby the intrans- 

 igence of the Church is emphasized. 



' 249 = 261 ; 299 = 288 ; 370 and 375 = 377 and 381 = 392 and 396 

 (notice the equidistance between the members of these three pairs). Especi- 

 ally notable is the correspondence between v. 308 and v. 314 ; how 

 effective it is, yet how simple and natural ! 



* To enumerate the lines forming such links would be futile, for their 

 name is legion ; the first instance is vv. 6 and 7 = 10. Because of them 

 the poem possesses the consistency of a hauberk — it is sti'ong. though 

 flexible. Note especially 2906-2908 and 2930-2932, which bind together 

 two sets of ' laisses similaires.' 



9 365 = 660, setting off Ganelon's embassy ; 841 =^ 1404, setting off the 

 beginning of the battle. The latter correspondence is still more effective 

 if we consider 1406—1411 to be an interpolation (cf. supra., pp. 115—116). 



