Octosyllabic Rhymed Couplets
Béroul's retelling of the legend is one of five of the earliest written versions we know of. All of these written versions probably come from a single original version that is now lost. This version is a prose translation from the Old French poem. Because the beginning and ending of the Béroul version are missing from the manuscript, the editor has reconstructed these portions of the story from other versions of the legend. He has also included in its entirety one lengthy episode near the end, the "Tale of Tristan's Madness," which is a translation of an anonymous short poem from the same time period and tradition, some variant of which he believes would have been included in Béroul's version of the legend.
Although you can't tell when you read it in translation, the original Old French version of The Romance of Tristan is in octosyllabic rhymed couplets. Whoa, yeah, let's see what that's all about. So each line of Old French is eight syllables long, and the rhymes proceed in pairs:
Dame, por amour Deu, merci!
Mandai toi, et or es ici;
Entent un poi a moi proiere.
Je t'ai je tant tenue chiere!(ll. 93 – 96)
[For God's sake, my lady! I asked you to come, and now that you are here I beg you to listen to what I have to say. I have always held you so dear. (2.49)]
Here, each line is eight syllables. Lines 93 and 94 make up a rhyming couplet with "merci" and "ici," while "proiere" and "chiere" make up the next rhyming couplet. This pattern continues throughout the entire poem.
The Romance of Tristan also uses an episodic structure typical of medieval romance. "Episodes" are kind of like the medieval version of today's chapters: each episode is a miniature story in and of itself. In medieval romance, episodes may sometimes be related to the plot in only a very minor way. Check out Part 6, "King Mark's Horse's Ears," in which the dwarf Frocin tells Mark's barons about his horse's ears, after which Mark cuts off his head.
This episode has very little to do with the main plot (though it's kind of hilarious). It does, however, involve many of the themes of the main plot, such as loyalty and discretion. It's usually a thematic relationship that ties the episodes of medieval romance together. So if we're reading medieval romance, we like to make sure to pay attention to the details of episodes that may seem like they don't have much to do with the main plot.