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Why is Le Lais also called Le Petit Testament?
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François Villon
Portrait of François Villon, woodcut from the first edition of Villon's works published by Pierre Levet, 1489; the ballade âFaulce beaulteâ (âFausse beauteâ), printed below the portrait, is an acrostic, i.e., the initial letter of each line read top to bottom forms the poet's first name, Francoys.
Le Lais is called Le Petit Testament because it serves as a mock legacy, or a list of ironic "bequests," that François Villon composed for his friends and acquaintances before his departure from Paris in 1456.12
The title Le Petit Testament (The Little Testament) was assigned by editors to distinguish this earlier work from his later, longer, and more complex masterpiece, Le Testamentâwhich has subsequently become known as Le Grand Testament (The Great Testament). While both poems utilize the form of a list of bequests, the tone of the later work is significantly more scathing and marked by greater ironic detachment than the earlier Le Lais.312