ABSTRACT
Although this chapter deals with what I have called court poetry and burlesque in al-Andalus, I am going to start it by indulging a strong temptation which we all, more or less, share, and that is the temptation of psychoanalyzing other people. I will not be making any great revelation if I point out that none of us can say anything new, anything of real value as long as we live in the shadow of some authority, some master who dwarfs our spirit, and badly saps our faith in ourselves. It is only when we feel that the spirit of the universe speaks through us as it does through any of the masters, that we can say something new, and say it with poise, but without pretentiousness.
