«Escouter cuer et oreilles cest roumant»: sulle risposte emotive dei personaggi nell’Escoufle

The article analyzes the description of emotions in the Escoufle, a French verse romance from the early XIII century, attributed to Jean Renart. Through the repetition of some key words tied to the representation of the characters’ psychological reactions, the author tries to condition the aesthetic and emotional reception of the text. The bipartite structure of the romance (divided into two sections, one being of an epic and political nature and the other of an idyllic and courtly nature) and the different paths taken by the heroes is used to characterise the emotional sphere, also supported by the narrative function of mise en abyme given by the author to his characters: through it the characters, as narrators or listeners, become accomplices of the poetic plan of the author, who repeatedly participates to endorse or reveal in advance their emotions.