Le Lai de Lanval

Le Lai de Lanval is a lai, or narrative poem, about one of King Arthur’s knights named Lanval. It was originally written in French and is 646 lines long. There are poetic and prose translations of the poem in English; both note the line numbers of the original poem. Le Lai de Lanval is a story about courtly love and King Arthur’s methods of governance.

The first four lines of the poem introduce both the main character and the narrator of the poem. The narrator—the first-person “I” (Line 2)—appears before the knight is named. A narrator who intrudes in the action of the poem is a literary device used in most Arthurian—or chivalric—romances. The “story” (Line 1) of “Lanval” (Line 4) is recited, not invented, by the narrator.

Lines 5-10 describe the initial setting of the poem: King Arthur’s court. Arthur and his knights are at “Carlisle” (Line 5), which is located in “Logres” (Line 9). Logres a frequently used term in medieval romances to refer to England. Arthur, his knights, and the rest of his household are at this well-fortified location because the Scots and Picts have been perpetuating violent attacks in Logres.