towards him. The _ballata_ and the _estampida_ were dance-songs, but
very few examples survive. Certain love letters also remain to us, but
as these are written in rimed couplets and in narrative style, they can
hardly be classified as lyric poetry.

In conclusion, a word must be said concerning the dispute between two
schools of stylists, which is one of the most interesting points in the
literary history of the troubadours.[16] From the earliest times we find
two poetical schools in opposition, the _trobar clus_ (also known as
_car, ric, oscur, sotil, cobert_), the obscure, or close, subtle style
of composition, and the _trobar clar (leu, leugier, plan), the clear,
light, easy, straightforward style. Two or three causes may have [35]
combined to favour the development of obscure writing. The theme of love
with which the _chanso_ dealt is a subject by no means inexhaustible;
there was a continual struggle to revivify the well-worn tale by means
of strange turns of expression, by the use of unusual adjectives and
forced metaphor, by the discovery of difficult rimes (_rimes cars_) and
stanza schemes of extraordinary complexity. Marcabrun asserts, possibly
in jest, that he could not always understand his own poems. A further
and possibly an earlier cause of obscurity in expression was the fact
that the _chanso_ was a love song addressed to a married lady; and
though in many cases it was the fact that the poem embodied compliments
purely conventional, however exaggerated to our ideas, yet the further
fact remains that the sentiments expressed might as easily be those of
veritable passion, and, in view of a husband's existence, obscurity had
a utility of its own. This point Guiraut de Bornelh advances as an
objection to the use of the easy style: "I should like to send my song
to my lady, if I should find a messenger; but if I made another my
spokesman, I fear she would blame me. For there is no sense in making
another speak out what one wishes to conceal and keep to oneself." The [36]