“Dont me revient ceste parole ?”

Abstract

Although Narcissus is a hugely influential figure in medieval depictions of unrequited love, less attention has been given to the figure of Echo as an emblem for poetic voice. A reading of the twelfth-century Narcisus et Dané and its reiteration within the thirteenth-century Cristal et Clarie traces the resonances of Echo in these two texts. In Narcisus et Dané, Echo can be seen and heard in the rhetoric of reflection and reciprocity voiced by the protagonists. This rhetoric is cited and parodied in Cristal et Clarie, indicating the central role of echoic citation in the composition of medieval romance narratives.