SOURCE: Laidlaw, J. C. “The Poems.” In The Poetical Works of Alain Chartier, edited by J. C. Laidlaw, pp. 28-42. London: Cambridge University Press, 1974.

In the essay that follows, Laidlaw offers a critical overview of Chartier's poems in a biographical context.

Storys to rede ar delitabill, Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill. 

John Barbour

The preceding account of Chartier's life includes references to most of the poems which can be dated accurately; they will provide a convenient framework into which the other poems can be fitted. In discussing the order in which the poetical works were written,¹ the statements made by the poet about himself will be of importance. Chartier states in some poems that he has no lady and has never known love; in others he is in love; in others he mourns the death of his beloved and in his grief abandons poetry. Such statements...