• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Mad Beppo

  • Home
  • All Things French
    • French for Reading Knowledge
    • French Texts
    • French Songs
    • French Language
  • Courses
    • French for Reading Knowledge
    • King Arthur in Europe
  • Blog
Glossary > Prosody

Laisse

A laisse (f.) is the basic unit of the medieval French chansons de geste. It is made up of a varying number of lines, all of the same length (usually ten syllables1) and all assonating in the last accented syllable.

Blancandrins fut des plus saives paiEns ;
De vasselage fut asez chevalEr,
Prozdom i out pur sun seignur aidEr,
E dist al rei : « Ore ne vus esmaiEz !
Mandez Carlun, a l’orguillus e al fiEr,
Fedeilz servises e mult granz amistEz.
Vos li durrez urs e leons e chEns,
Set cenz camelz e mil hosturs muErs,
D’or e d’argent .IIII.C. muls cargEz,
Cinquante carre qu’en ferat cariEr :
Ben en purrat luer ses soldeiErs.

The laisse also normally has a unity of content; as a narrative unit it may be likened to a polaroid. Consult: the English Wikipedia stub on laisse.

  1. But an extra unaccented syllable can occur at the caesura and at the end of the line ↩

Search

Browse All French Language Files

  • Adjectives & Nouns (3 files)
  • Comparisons (1 files)
  • Conjunctions (2 files)
  • Constructions (5 files)
  • Determiners (2 files)
  • Lexicalia (12 files)
  • Negative (5 files)
  • Pronouns (5 files)
  • Pronunciation (6 files)
  • Verbs (31 files)
  • Written French (3 files)
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Glossary
  • Contact
  • RSS

Copyright © 2021 MadBeppo.com | Site Design by Spica Creative