Le Lai de Lanval

Le Lai de Lanval by Marie de France, translated by Robert W. Hanning and Joan Ferrante in 1978

This is a poetic, rather than prose, translation of the same lai. It allows the reader to see the poem in a form closer to the original. This translation gives the reader a sense of how much space on the page the poem occupied in its original form. The translators choose to lineate, but do not attempt to replicate the rhymes or meter of the original French.

Le Lai de Lanval by Marie de France, translated by Judith Shoaf in 1991

This version of Marie de France’s poem attempts to mimic some of the rhyme and meter of the original French. However, many lines do not adhere to an eight-syllable meter, and rhymes are not only found in couplets, but also in other patterns. Comparing this translation with the others, a reader can see how word choices differ in order to adhere to formal structures.

“Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart“ by Chrétien de Troyes, translated by W. W. Comfort (1998)

This translation of the medieval French poem was digitized by Paul Halsall for Fordham University.