Song of Roland

Discuss: 1. The poet’s attitude toward Roland. 2.

Archbishop Turpin and the Crusaders’ attitude. 3. The

supernatural and the superhuman elements in the poem. 4.

Elements of oral poetry in Roland .

In the Song of Roland the poet portrays Roland as a Hero. The poet did this by making Roland a courageous person who is very confident in his army. The poet had Roland die in a heroic death and sent him straight to God's Kingdom (Heavin). Archbishop Turpin fought bravely beside Roland, to which he proved his loyalty to Roland. The poet also made the Archbishop the inspiration for the first crusade. The Christian crusades brought the crusaders who were for the cause of the crusade. The Crusaders also fought along Roland in the Crusade. This also proves that they had loyalty and were brave. First of the story is an Epic, which epics were told Orally. The Song of Roland is broken up into verses. Which inside the verses the 4th and 10th syllables had emphasis on them or know in the musical world a syllabic stress .  Many of the poetic devices in  The Song of Roland are lost when it is translated from the dialect of Old French in which it was composed.