The tensó is a fundamental dialogic genre of troubadour poetry, consisting of a versified dispute between two real or fictional interlocutors defending opposing positions on a question of love, ethics, or poetics. Unlike the jeu-parti, where the initial speaker proposes the choice, in the tensó either interlocutor may introduce the dispute. Famous tensós include debates between a lady and her lover, or between competing ethical values. The tensó reflects the centrality of debate and dialectics in courtly culture, where poetic skill and rhetorical argumentation were both forms of social performance and markers of aristocratic refinement.

Tableau in poetic analysis refers to a vividly composed scene presented almost like a visual painting, often emphasising arrangement, atmosphere, and descriptive stillness. French literature frequently draws on visual-art metaphors, making the concept especially useful. Students should distinguish tableau from narrative movement, since the effect often lies in suspended observation rather than action. Compare with image and ekphrastic techniques. A tableau invites attention to composition, framing, and sensory orchestration.