Literature Atlas

How Stories Are Told
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Genre

Sirventes

World Traditional Verse Forms

The sirventes or serventes, sometimes translated as 'service song', was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours.

Facts
Place of Origin
Occitania, among the troubadours 1
Notable Example
Ben grans avoleza intra by Bertran de Born 1
Defining Trait
Parody borrowing the melody, meter and rhymes of a known piece to address a controversial subject 1
Connections

Form Of Genre

Lyric Poetry, Genres
Sources
1. Sirventes - Wikipedia
  • Introduction
    a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours.
  • Examples
    Ben grans avoleza intra by Bertran de Born; this is built on the structure of Arnaut Daniel's famous sestina, Lo ferm voler qu'el cor m'intra.
  • Form
    Sirventes usually (possibly, always) took the form of parodies, borrowing the melody, metrical structure and often even the rhymes of a well-known piece to address a controversial subject, often a current event.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.