The Art of Courtly Love

The Art of Courtly Love

Andreas Capellanus (c. Late 12^th Century C.E.)

            In the section titled What is Love?, Andreas states what love is by saying it happens when you see someone of the opposite sex and are attracted to them and you want to embrace them and fulfill the commandments of love. From Whence Love is Named is an interesting section because it talks about the origin of love stating that it derives from amar (hook, love- amor) which then indicates captured or being captured which is interesting and he says it best when he states, “For he who loves is caught in the chains of desire and wishes to catch another with his hook.” (pg. 299) In the section What is the Effect of Love, I really like the quote, “…love makes an ugly and rude person shine with beauty…” (pg. 299) I think this is so true because when someone is freshly in love they tend to be all doe eyed when they walk around and they spread the happiness around by being nice to everybody and they can’t help it because they are in love. What Persons are Suited for Love is a very interesting section. Girls can be as old as 12 to be in love? Boys can be 14? I know this is a long time ago when that was custom but in this day and age, that is NOT ok. I don’t think there is an age limit of being in love (how people always say you don’t know what love is because you are too young) but when it comes to long lasting love, kids haven’t grown into themselves yet and that is the ripe age where puberty begins and they haven’t stopped changing and growing and going through stages to find who they are and who they want to be with yet. So I am glad when he goes on to mention that true love is at age 18 and under 60 (even though that part is absurd as well). When he says, “Age, blindness and excessive passion are all bars to true love.” (pg.299) I relate it to all of the discussions in class about people loving someone for their looks only and not personality. I feel like that is a very materialistic list for someone from so long ago. I love humor in these readings, “[he explains that his many years have enabled him to do more noble deeds than would be possible for a young man.]” (pg. 300) I just took this to be dirty and I like having an occasion laugh when I read things from class. In the Third Dialogue, he explains how a lower class man can be with a higher class women if he has great personality qualities about him but the noble lady says no, you have fat thighs and weird feet so you are not worthy of my love and he goes on to say a guy with nice legs isn’t all that great while the other royal has bad legs and yet the kingdom loves and adores him, therefore proving his point that the qualities one possesses within are more important than what the package holds on the outside. The Rules of Love: there are two rules that stand out to me that go hand in hand. The first is, “No one can be bound by two lovers.” (pg. 301) This sounds simple enough and I used to think that this is false. I thought yes, you can love more than one person at a time; they both might have qualities that you like (which is still true… kind of). Then I came across a quote by Johnny Depp saying, “If you love two people at the same time, pick the second one. If you really loved the first one, you wouldn’t have fallen for the second.” This quote blew open the doors in my mind and made me see it from a different point of view because I totally agree with this. I connect this with the Symposium where Diotima says that not only your body, but your mind is always changing as well because maybe you did love the first but then you changed a little and the second became more appealing. The quote that ties in with this is rule number 17, “A new love expels an old one.” (pg.  301) It’s weird that I don’t agree with it, because I believe you can hold on to someone, but it fits with choosing the second lover over the first because you must not like the first one as much.

Symptoms of love

Robert Graves (1895-1985 C.E.)

            The part of the poem that stands out to me the most is the first verse saying, “Love is a universal migraine, a bright stain on the vision blotting out all reason.” (pg.  318) I like this because as we have talked about in class a few times, when people are in love, they tend to do crazy things or they can’t see the whole picture when a lover is involved. I relate this to countless movies about abusive relationships and how the girls always sticks up for the guy until it is too late and he ends up hurting her worse than she can imagine. The girls blot out all reason because of the lover.

Sonnet: Love is Not All

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950 C.E.)

            I like this because I think she is calling out people who think that they have everything when they are in love and she’s saying, hey, no you don’t. Love doesn’t feed you or clothe you or take care of your other needs. But I also like how she turns the tables and says that being in love is driving her crazy and she could sell his love for some peace but what’s the use of that? She doesn’t want to. It’s a good sonnet.