Song of Roland

163 Pages. It has been said that French literature began with The Song of Roland. This great narrative poem of the late eleventh century shares with its epic predecesssors by Homer and Virgil a heroic vision of war and warriors. The historic battle of Rencesvals in A. D. 778 was a thwarted enterprise ending in a painful loss, the death of Charlemagne's greatest knight, Roland. In the poem, however, this story of betrayal, defeat, and futile death is transfigured into an idealization of chivalry and valor. The vigor and simplicitdy of the poem --- it uses a vocabulary of fewer than 2000 words in its 4000 lines --- are recreated in Frederick Goldin's fluent, idiomatic line-by-line translation into verse that retains the rhythm of the original. HIs introduction is an absorbing description of the historical, cultural, and literary contexts of the poem. Contents: Acknowledgments, Synopsis, Introduction (On Meter and Style) by the Translator, Bibliography and Notes, A Note on the Translation, and The Song of Roland.…