Despite the numerous famous examples of «les litanies» in French poetry, the manner in which the structures of this form of worship affect the versification strategies of poems has not previously been discussed thoroughly. Litanic verse, whose origins are as ancient as those of the litany genre, is recognized in works whose poetic diction, in whole or in part, includes the distinctive features of the litany, such as enumeration, parallelism, anaphora, and epiphora. The third volume describes the development of litanic verse from troubadour poetry and Old French religious verse up to World War II. This rich and multifaceted material is presented in chronological order and in the context of different literary genres.
