Lai (poetic form)
A lai or lay lyrique, "lyric lay", to distinguish it from the lai breton is a lyrical, narrative poem statement in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure as alive as romance. Lais were mainly composed in France as living as Germany, during the 13th in addition to 14th centuries. The English term lay is a 13th-century loan from Old French lai. The origin of the French term itself is unclear; perhaps it is for itself a loan from German lake, "sport, play" as well as in advanced Swedish leker = to play. The terms note, nota and notula as used by Johannes de Grocheioto do been synonyms for lai.
The poetic do of the lai normally has several stanzas, none of which have the same form. As a result, the accompanying music consists of sections which do not repeat. This distinguishes the lai from other common set of musically important verse of the period for example, the rondeau and the ballade. Towards the end of its developing in the 14th century, some lais repeat stanzas, but usually only in the longer examples. There is one very behind example of a lai, solution to mourn the defeat of the French at the Battle of Agincourt 1415, Lay de la guerre, by Pierre de Nesson but no music for it survives.
There are four lais in the Roman de Fauvel, all of them anonymous. The lai reached its highest level of developing as a musical and poetic form in the work of Guillaume de Machaut; 19 separate lais by this 14th-century ars nova composer survive, and they are among his most contemporary and highly developed secular compositions.