Ballads and La Celestina: Medieval Origins to Renaissance

The Ballad

Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, and it remains relevant today. This is a wide range of compositions called romance epics, with an unspecified number of eight-syllable verses with rhyme and assonance in pairs. Present forms and traditional themes are compiled by the people and passed on orally from father to son.

Origin and Transmission

There are several theories:

• The traditionalist theory states that they come from the songs of minstrels, repeated gestas. The favorite parts, isolated by the public from singing, and the verse romance come from the division of the epic verse into two parts.
• The individualistic theory argues that the ballads were composed by anonymous authors, just like any other poetry. In favor of this thesis are the oldest romances that are not themed epic.

The stories are synthesized to be condensed into the most essential parts, and often the exposition and conclusion disappear; this is called truncation.

Cycles

The romances are grouped in cycles, according to their epic theme:

• National: They proceed from the chanson de geste: Mio Cid.
• Border: They narrate events on the border between Christians and Moors.
• Epic-lyric: They are themed, and they invented it; a blend of novelty and lyrical expressiveness.

Features

Despite the diversity of issues, we can speak of a ballad style common to all compositions:

• Metric mold: Only facilitates learning and its transmission.
• Tendency to condense: Over time, the romance is stripped of the unnecessary. This is a selection process that makes the most poetic romances shorter.
• Repetition and enumeration: Usual resources, given the oral origin of these compositions.

La Celestina

Authorship

La Celestina presents problems surrounding its authorship. In the author's letter to his friend from the first edition, it is stated that Fernando de Rojas did not write the first act but found it and decided to continue.

Genre

The genre to which the work belongs has been widely controversial. The title, character in dialogue, makes us think of a play (theater). However, the long speeches, the overall length, the setting of the play (which makes it virtually unplayable), and frequent changes of circumstances have led to talk of a dramatic novel. Today, it is considered a humanist comedy.

Characters

Celestina, Calisto, Melibea, Pármeno, and Sempronius.

Style

The work draws attention to its characters' style of speaking. They speak according to their status, but sometimes change their register.

Intentionality

The author clearly tells us that he writes the work as a lesson to mad lovers, who, defeated in their disordered appetite, call their friends and say they are their God. Accordingly, Rojas would be a moralist. However, the author stated his true intention to avoid problems with the Inquisition.