tensos

Tenso, plural tensos, is a genre of medieval Occitan and Catalan lyric poetry defined by a dialogue or debate between two poets. The term, from the Occitan word for “duet” or “debate,” is used to describe exchanges in which rival or fellow poets respond to one another in turn, presenting arguments, witticisms, or appeals to honor and courtly values.

Form and content often follow a set pattern: two voices or personas take turns delivering stanzas, sometimes with a brief refrain or a closing couplet. The subjects of tensos vary widely, including love, moral conduct, political or social matters, and questions about poetic craft or reputation. The exchanges can be courteous and playful or sharp and contentious, and in some cases a third party or judge is invoked to weigh the dispute.

Tensos are a central part of the troubadour and trobar traditions, with most surviving examples preserved in cantioners and monastic or noble manuscript collections from roughly the 12th to 14th centuries. They illuminate not only poetic technique and language but also the social norms, rhetorical strategies, and dynamics of medieval court culture in Occitania and Catalonia, including issues of prestige, lyric theory, and personal reputation.

In scholarship, tensos are valued for their insight into dialogue-driven poetic negotiation and their role in shaping later European lyric and debate traditions. The genre remains a key term in studies of medieval Iberian and Occitan literary heritage.