The Art of Courtly Love

In Chapter 3 of Book 1, Andreas explains that love—amor in Latin—derives from the work amus, meaning hook. Therefore, love is associated with capturing or being captured. Andreas threads this notion of love as a form of imprisonment throughout the book, with at turns positive and negative meanings. In Books 1 and 2, when Andreas discusses the rules of love and how to retain it, being consumed by one’s beloved is portrayed as a natural consequence of love and an indication that one’s love is returned.

Andreas reinforces this meaning through many of the similes and metaphors he uses throughout the book. In the book’s Preface, Andreas refers to Walter wanting to “know how to manage your horse’s reins properly” (27), suggesting that love is a beast that must be brought under control. In the same section, he refers to love as a force that entangles one “firmly in his chains” and as a “kind of hunting” (27). He expands the hunting metaphor when he discusses the meaning of the word amor in Chapter 3 of Book 1, comparing a man trying to attract a lover with a fisherman who uses bait “to capture [fish] on his crooked hook” (31).