Eustache Deschamps : Selected Poems

Eustache Deschamps, the prolific fourteenth-century courtier-poet, wrote the first ars poetica in vernacular French, disassociating lyric poetry from its musical setting. One of the most important French medieval poets, he had great influence on other writers of the time: Guillame de Machaut, Christine de Pizan, Jean Froissart, and his better known English contemporary, Chaucer. This volume collects his best and most important poems.These original translations, the only in English, were prepared directly from the 1404 manuscript. This facing page, dual-language edition includes a substantial introduction on Deschamps and his time, the poems, and the translations; as well as extensive notes and critical commentary.