Reason and Folly in Medieval Love Poetry: A Comparative Analysis of Guilhem de Peitieus, Jaufre Rudel, Moshe In Ezra and Yehuda HaLevi

There are many works of literature and real-life stories where love makes people do stupid things. The classic example in literature would be Romeo and Juliet, who, in the end, chose to kill themselves because they could not live without each other. In the modern world, it would be the occurrences early this year where the internet was taken back by the story of a famous TikTok star, Reesa Teesa, who dated and married a pathological liar despite the many times the things he told her did not add up. This is a classic example of how, at times, love makes people do stupid things.

The relationship between reason and folly exists in several romantic poems in the row-rich medieval love poetry. The poets create different expressions of passion and longing, often creating a complex interplay between love and folly. Exploring medieval poems by the writers Guilhem de Peitieus, Moshe Ibn Ezra, Jaufre Rudel, and Yehuda HaLevi presents this complex interplay. This essay explores the folly of love in the Middle Ages, as reflected in the poems of Yehuda HaLevi, Jaufre Rudel, and Guilhem de Peitieus, and the relationship between reason and folly in matters of love. In this exploration, this essay will argue that reason is often sidelined in favor of intense emotional experiences; however, rejecting reason does not mean it does not exist; rather, it coexists with love, but people choose to ignore reason.

In Yehuda HaLevis poem, "Tis a fearful thing," he explains the paradox that exists between love and folly. The first stanza introduces the sense of reason, highlighting that it is fearful to love something that can die (HaLevi lines 1–2). This depiction of love is seen through the lens of sense, whereby if lovers took it upon themselves to reason, they would not expose themselves to the devastating loss that death brings about by loving others. Despite the number of strangers that die daily, the weight of the death of a loved one outweighs them all, leaving scars. Although one might perceive that HaLevi views love as stupid and not worth the turmoil, the following lines argue that love outweighs reason.

In the following lines (HaLevi, lines 7–10), he depicts love as a thing for fools yet still calls it holy. Despite the reasoning that one might lose all one's love, human beings still pursue love, and even the author himself has been in love, as evidenced by line 11, "For your life has lived in me." It is as though human beings understand the weight of love as something that can destroy them yet still embark on loving other people. It is like knowing that doing something will cause irreversible damage, but you do it anyway. In HaLevi’s poem, therefore, love outweighs reason, such that although they coexist and people know that their actions might cause them much pain, they still choose to love the people they love.

Similarly, Rudel depicts his love as a choice for pain. It is as though he enjoys pain all in the name of love. The speaker is so fixated on a distant lover that he is not even sure they will meet. He explains that his love interest is far away in several lines within the poem (Rudel, lines 4, 9, and 11). However, he is not willing to let go. Instead, he holds onto that love, knowing it constantly causes him pain (Rudel, line 11). This depicts love as silly because why does someone choose to love someone far away from them, knowing that that type of love will hurt them? He keeps the hope that he might one day be together with his love despite their distance, which brings him joy.

It is not as though he does not have reason or is blinded by love. On the contrary, the narrator is well aware that his choice to love is the cause of the pain that he goes through. In the final paragraph, he states that he is aware that he longs for something denied because his grandfather keeps him tied (Rudel, lines 46–49). Therefore, his reason tells him he will never be with his beloved. However, his love for the poem's subject outweighs all reason, and he decides to remain fixated on a love that he will never achieve, even though he knows it. Therefore, Rudel's poem perfectly depicts that love coexists with reason. When people in love choose to make costly decisions, they are often aware that their decisions are foolish. However, since love outweighs reason, they stick to their decisions.

Numerous examples of authors of medieval poems depict the relationship between love and folly. In all their poems, it is evident that they have reason. They mostly know what is foolish, but they still do it in the name of love. Another author of this time who depicts love as a choice that outweighs reason is Guilhem de Peitieus in his poem about being unable to choose between two women. The fact that he knows his choices do not incorporate reason is evidenced in the first stanza of the second line when he states, "more fooling than sense." He, therefore, knows that his choices are wrong and stupid. Like the preceding poets, however, he cannot control himself; therefore, he lets love take its course. This statement in his poem further solidifies that reason is not absent in love matters. Instead, people in love know the folly of their actions but stick to them anyway.

Guilhem de Peitieus's rejection of reason indicates that love outweighs reason because he only accepts reason from his mind. The narrator tells the authors that he has received counsel from his knights (Peitieus 22). However, he rejects the counsel of the knights. Even though he knows that counsel is correct, his rejection of counsel shows that love overpowers reason. However, reason still exists, and those who choose to love know what reason is and which would be the correct way to love. Although unlike the other authors, who have only one love interest, he is torn between two, and the reason for his distress is the inability to pick between the two and the desire to have both, he is still a depiction of the fact that the folly that comes with love ignores reason.

Another author who sheds light on the folly of being in love is Moshe Ibn Ezra in his poem “The Desire of My Heart.” He states, “Many denounce me for loving, but I pay no head (Ezra, lines  3–4). This testament to his belief in love shows that he does not care about what others say, whether they make sense. While at times people may try to separate lovers for no reason, later on in the poem, he states that he does not care for what he is told because if they deny him the relationship because of sin or guilt, it is overpowered by the beauty of the person he loves (Ezra, lines 9–13). This means he does not care whether he is sinning by being in love. On the contrary, he only cares about being in love. Like in all the preceding poems, the author knows he might be doing wrong, which further means there is room for reason. However, the desire for love and the thrill that comes with it overpower the sensibility. As such, this poet depicts a world where people, after falling in love, do what is good for the feelings and not what is reasonable.

Different authors wrote all four poems, but when it comes to the relationship between love and folly, they all argue that even though people might know when the decision is wrong, they choose to make it regardless of the thrill of love. Indeed, literature always encompasses literary devices such as repetition and exaggeration to make a decision; however, when it comes to love, the authors have not exaggerated a thing because even today, people still make decisions that they know are entirely wrong in the name of love. Therefore, reason is not absent in love matters; only individuals seem to be folly because they act as though they do not have sense yet they do.