The Song of Roland
The song of Roland is one of the oldest surviving French literatures today. It is a poem that was written in the 12th to 14th century and tells of the heroic deeds that occurred in earlier times. Throughout The Song of Roland an alternating following-pattern in augmented by parallel scenes and the doubling of time in order to underline the theomachia that generates the poem’s basic structure. Charlemagne’s battle with Baligant takes up where the rearguard’s skirmish with Marsile left off. Repeatedly, alteration between the two sides culminates in the forging of both armies and warriors into single description. The first three following-units take up over one-third of the sequence and strictly respect the continuity of time. As the battle begins, however, the following-units are systematically shortened. Throughout Muslim advance Christians in the northwest corner of Spain succeeded in resisting the general onslaught. Though Song of Roland appears to also be about religious difference, its second and third battles together offer a new interpretation. By matching adversaries marked by equivalent strength or similar nationality and religion to group orientation. The first battle repeatedly invokes the differences between the combatants’ religions, but it also stresses the surprise nature of the Saracen attack and the overwhelming superiority of Marsile’s forces.
The song of Roland has been viewed by many as a myth that was used in its early days to motivate soldiers going to war with some hint of truth due to the existence of historical evidence ascertaining the events mentioned in the song. The song of Roland was written at a time when a literary form called chansons de geste emerged. This type of writing was based on the events and deeds of the era and thus the songs were known as songs of deeds. However, the idea that the chansons de geste songs were mere songs of deeds leads many to miss out on the complexity and the deepness of the message