(fl. 1180-1200)

The troubadour Arnaut Daniel was admired by Dante, Petrarch, and Pound as much for his technical virtuosity as for his notorious difficulty. Little can be said for certain about his life, except that his literary reputation as a bold if hermetic poet was well established by 1195, when he appears in the Monk of Montaudon's satiric gallery of troubadours. According to his vida, he was a noble from Riberac in the Dordogne, but this assertion, like that of the razo that links him to Richard the Lionhearted, cannot be substantiated. Both the vida and the Monk of Montaudon's portrait rightly note that Arnaut Daniel delighted in composing difficult rhymes. His nineteen surviving poems, all but one of which are love songs, attest this penchant for caras rimas (difficult rhymes). Arnaut's craft is emblazoned throughout by the daring innovations of the trobar ric style. His word choices are unusual, his images unfamiliar, his sound patterns harsh, his poetic rhythms broken. The global effect of his lyrics is always striking, often jarring. No doubt, this originality earned him the respect of subsequent writers, but it has also contributed to his reputation as an obscure poet. An example of Arnaut's brilliant creativity was his invention of the sestina.

Roy S.Rosenstein
www.bookrags.com/tandf/arnaut-daniel-tf/