SOURCE: "Marie de France's 'Laüstic'," in Romance Notes, Vol. XII, No. 1, Autumn, 1970, pp. 203-07.

In the following essay, Woods examines the structure of the lai "Laüstic," demonstrating how Marie de France used concision, understatement, and powerful symbols to tell this brief tale effectively.

The present discussion of the literary skill of Marie de France is a brief analysis of some of her poetic techniques in the lai, "Laustic" and is a demonstration of her ability at its best. A careful and sensitive reading of this story reveals the use of aesthetic devices which we value today as much as Marie evidently did.

An examination of "Laüstic" discloses a build-up of dramatic tension through Marie's use of understatement, linking, symbol, irony and concision. The latter is evident in the structure of the poem and in her handling of the components. The work consists of 160 lines, of...