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14. Balade: «En grant desduit et en doulce plaisance»

GRANSON, 14. BALADE: «EN GRANT DESDUIT ET EN DOULCE PLAISANCE»: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. fr. 2201; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; 100B: Les Cent Ballades; Basso: “L’envol et l’ancrage”; BD: Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess; Berguerand: Berguerand, Duel; Boulton: Song; Braddy: Braddy, Chaucer and Graunson; Carden: “Le Livre Messire Ode d’Oton de Grandson; CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; DL: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit dou lyon; DLA: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit de l’alerion; FA: La fonteinne amoureuse; FC: Wimsatt, French Contemporaries; GW: Granson, Poésies, ed. Grenier-Winther; LGW: Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; PA: Froissart, Paradis d’Amour; PF: Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls; Piaget: Grandson, Vie et poésies, ed. Piaget; PL: Guillume de Machaut, Poésies Lyriques; Poirion: Poirion, Poète et prince; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; RR: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la rose; VD: Guillaume de Machaut, Le livre dou voir dit.

Though addressed to his lady in the final stanza, this poem more closely resembles the praises of loyalty and the celebrations of the rewards of love that are more common in the “wisdom” poems such as 23.


GRANSON, 14. BALADE: «EN GRANT DESDUIT ET EN DOULCE PLAISANCE»: TEXTUAL NOTES



Abbreviations: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 2201; G: London, Westminster Abbey Library, MS 21; H: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 833, c. 1500; J: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1952; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; L: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Rothschild MS I.I.9; M: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS fr. 390; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; O: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS 410, c. 1430; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; Q: Berne, Burgerbibliothek da la Bourgeoisie, MS 473, 1400–40; R: Turin, Archivio di Stato, MS J. b. IX. 10; S: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24404, 13th century (16th century addition); T: Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 556, 1826; V: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS 411; W: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS IV 541, 1564–81; Y: Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale e Universitaria, MS L.II.12.

For each poem, we provide the following:

Other editions: The location of the poem in the editions of Grenier-Winther (GW) and Piaget.

Base MS: The manuscript from which our text is taken, using the sigla listed on this page.

Other copies: The other manuscripts in which the poem appears, with the line numbers for excerpts.

Selected variants: Most of the notes record the editors’ emendations. A small number (for instance, regarding the titles) record alternative readings when we did not emend the base text. We do not, however, provide a complete list of variants, for which one may consult Grenier-Winther’s edition. Each note consists of a line number, a lemma (the reading from our text), the manuscript source for the reading that we have chosen, selected readings from other manuscripts; and the reading from the base manuscript when it was rejected. If no manuscript source is listed following the lemma, the adopted reading is the editors’ conjecture.

Other comments on the text, as required.

GW53, Piaget p. 345.
Base MS A. Other copies: T.

6 Puet. A, T: Pour.
17 playt. A: play.


 






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14. Balade: «En grant desduit et en doulce plaisance»

Ung vrais amans puet tant de biens trouver
En bien amer, que creature humaine
Ne le pourroit nullement esperer.
Car c’est ainsy que la droite fontainne
Qui tousjours cour et tousjours si est plainne
Puet tous amans mectre, sans variance,
En grant desduit et en doulce plaisance.

Qu’esse de bien et loiaulment amer?
C’est tous solas pour cuerz oster de painne.
Qu’esse a dame foy et honneur porter?
C’est tous deduis en la vie mondainne,
C’est pour venir a joye souverainne,
C’est pour tousjours vivre, sans variance,
En grant deduit et en doulce plaisance.

Dame plaisant, ou il n’a qu’amender,
Belle sans per, de mon cuer chastellaine,
A vous me rens sans moy desordener.
Dame, a vous suis sans pensee vilainne,
Car tant vous aim de bonne amour certainne
Que par vous vis d’amoureuse substance
En grant deduit et en doulce plaisance.
 
14. Ballade: “In great delight and in so sweet a pleasure”

A true lover can find so many rewards
In loving well, that no human being
Could ever hope for it in any way.
For thus it is that the true fountain
That always runs and yet is always full
Can place all lovers, without exception,
In great delight and in so sweet a pleasure.

What is it to love well and loyally?
It is every solace to lift hearts from pain.
What is it to bear faith and honor to a lady?
It is all the delights of life in this world.
It is to come unto the sovereign joy.
It is to live always, without exception,
In great delight and in so sweet a pleasure.

Charming lady, in whom there is nothing to improve,
Beauty without equal, the keeper of my heart,
I surrender to you without degrading myself.
Lady, I am yours, without base thought,
For I love you so much with a good, sure love
That through you I live, sustained by love,
In great delight and in so sweet a pleasure.
 







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