Chrétien’s romances each average about 7,000 lines and comprise two parts, with the
exception of the Conte du graal, which extends to somewhat more than 10,000 lines, an
apparently more complex variant of the two-part narrative structure. All are written in
octosyllabic rhymed couplets, but without the regular alternation between masculine and
feminine rhymes that came to characterize classical Alexandrine couplets. Of more
importance for the evolution of French romance from verse to prose was Chrétien’s
extensive use of the “broken” couplet. Before Chrétien, rhymed couplets in French
tended to be taken as wholes, so that no sense or breath arrest took place other than on the
even-numbered line. Chrétien favored “breaking,” whereby the arrest occurred on the
odd-numbered line. This reduced the formality of verse enunciation and, besides the
freedom it allowed the writer, was a step toward the transition to prose romance in the
13th century.
Chrétien is remarkable for his self-conscious artistry. He seems to have been proud of
his achievement, judging by the evidence of the prologues written to almost all his works,
as well as by interventions wherein the narrator comments on his art, ideas, and
narratives. He knew that his works contributed to fostering French civilization, especially
its chivalric and intellectual features. The Cligés prologue in particular stresses and
conjoins aristocratic chevalerie and learned clergie. Whatever he may have understood
specifically by these ideals, it is clear that they vouchsafed a civilization that came to
France from Greece and Rome. However, the prologues to Erec and the Charrette are
most explicit regarding the art of romance, which Chrétien helped define and illustrate.
They identify three major features of Chrétien’s art: matiere, san, and conjointure.
The question of Chrétien’s putative sources is complex. He refers to written sources in
the prologues to Cligés and the Conte du graal; his Ovidian tales also illustrate his use of
traditional written sources. However, the Arthurian matiere is explained by its origins in
Celtic legend. Chrétien mined oral traditions for his tales. The prologue to Erec mentions
the jongleurs who had related the story before him, and other sources refer to itinerant
storytellers who told marvelous stories about Arthur, Tristan and Iseut, and other Celtic
heroes and heroines. We know little about these stories. None has survived in its original
state. It is generally believed that they provided the Round Table, as well as most of the
names of knights and ladies; the motif of the quest as a passage into the otherworld—the
world of the dead, of adventure, of marvelous love between a man and a woman who is
not mortal—was probably drawn from Celtic traditions circulating in Chrétien’s time.
Earlier versions probably had a mythological basis, but Chrétien most likely knew or
understood little about it. One clear example of the “Celticity” of Chrétien’s sources is
the quest in Erec. Erec and his wife have a misunderstanding about his love for her. They
both set out on a quest and encounter many adventures that test Erec’s prowess and
Enide’s love. The final adventure in the quest is with the count Limors, readily
understandable to French ears as “the Dead.” During the couple’s return, they encounter
the adventure known as the Joy of the Court. A huge knight does battle in a magic garden
of eternal spring. Whenever he defeats an opponent, the latter loses his head, which is
then fixed on a stake in the garden. Erec’s victory ends the custom and releases joy in the
garden and the outside world. Rituals of combat and death, following prescribed custom,
were known in Celtic tradition as geis. In Chrétien’s romances, they become the more or
less euhemerized adventures of questing knights. The inexplicability of such adventures
accounts for their marvelous quality.
The Encyclopedia 415