Machaut and the Medieval Apprenticeship Tradition: Truth, Fiction, and Poetic Craft by Douglas Kelly

Abstract

Reviewed by: Machaut and the Medieval Apprenticeship Tradition: Truth, Fiction, and Poetic Craft by Douglas Kelly Claire Konieczny (bio) Douglas Kelly. Machaut and the Medieval Apprenticeship Tradition: Truth, Fiction, and Poetic Craft. D.S. Brewer, 2014. 378 pages. ISBN-13: 978–1843843726. Having composed nearly 400 poems of different types during his life, spanning from ballads to rondeaux to laments, Guillaume de Machaut was not only one of the most popular poets of the fourteenth century, but also one of the most influential. Douglas Kelly's book, Machaut and the Medieval Apprenticeship Tradition: Truth, Fiction, and Poetic Craft, is a comprehensive study of this seminal figure of medieval writing. While taking into account most of Machaut's works, Kelly accords special significance to Machaut's chef d'œuvre, his narrative poem the Voir Dit. In this poem, an aged master poet named Guillaume takes on a beautiful apprentice, a young woman given only the name "Toute Belle." In a letter containing a sample of her poetry, Toute Belle requests that Guillaume instruct her in the art of poetry; Guillaume agrees, and the two fall instantly in love. The Voir Dit then narrates both the development of their love, as well as the apprenticeship of Toute Belle and her study of the art of poetry. While forming the basis for his analysis around this tale, Kelly takes into account the full scope of Machaut's influence—his "art of love, his art of poetry, and his legacy" (xi). These three aspects of Kelly's analysis of Machaut structure his book as well: first, Kelly explores Machaut's changing perspectives on love throughout his corpus (Machaut's art of love), culminating in the Voir Dit; second, Kelly focuses on the technical elements of Machaut's poetry (Machaut's art of poetry); third, Kelly addresses Machaut's influence upon other poets of the time (Machaut's legacy). Focusing first on Machaut's art of love, Kelly addresses Machaut's search to define what Kelly terms "good love," that is, the "perfect" way to love another. Kelly analyzes Machaut's developments on the concept of "good love" throughout all of his major works. Broadly speaking, Kelly draws out a trend in Machaut's writings that redefines "good love" not as based in physical desire, but as one that is chaste, pure, and therefore perfectly happy. This idea of Machaut's concerning "good love" is for Kelly epitomized in the Voir Dit, as Kelly points to the fact that desire on the part of the beautiful young Toute Belle for the ugly old poet is unlikely. Their love is a chaste one, and when Guillaume allows desire to lead him astray from the path of "good love" and cloud his judgement, Toute Belle recalls him to virtue. Thus, the Voir [End Page 1123] Dit narrates the story of two apprenticeships: that of Toute Belle in the art of poetry as well as that of Guillaume in the art of "good love." Continuing his investigation of Machaut's "art of love," Kelly then turns to Machaut's ideas on the relationship between truth and fiction, as Machaut understands it. Kelly states that the narrative of the Voir Dit suggests that there must be some underlying truth to writing poetry about love; that is, good love poetry cannot be written in the absence of love. Further adding to this basis of truth is the fact that one of the main characters in the Voir Dit is a master poet named Guillaume—whether "de Machaut" should follow that first name is unclear, and Kelly shies away from fully clarifying this ambiguity. However, I suggest that the name of the master poet in the Voir Dit again points to an underlying structure of truth in the fictional poem. As the dit genre of poetry is both poetic and narrative in nature, one must recall that the Voir Dit is in reality a fictional narrative. Kelly writes that while the Voir Dit may be inspired by reality, its fictitious nature allows Machaut to convey what Machaut believes to be universal truths concerning love; a fully autobiographical story would limit the universality of the truths. Exploring further Machaut's "art of...