trobar clus

[ troh-bahr kloos ]

noun

1. a complex and obscure style of writing adopted by some 12th-century Provençal poets.

Word History and Origins

Origin of trobar clus¹

< Provençal: literally, closed composition

Example Sentences

Many of his poems are extremely obscure; he was one of the first to affect the trobar clus.

From Project Gutenberg

To his share in the controversy concerning the trobar clus, the obscure and difficult style of composition, we have already alluded.

From Project Gutenberg

Dean Gaisford's reputed address to his divinity lecture illustrates the attitude of those troubadours who affected the trobar clus: "Gentlemen, a knowledge of Greek will enable you to read the oracles of God in the original and to look down from the heights of scholarship upon the vulgar herd."

From Project Gutenberg