Medieval Iberian Lyric Poetry: Jarchas, Cantigas, and Villancicos

Jarchas and Muwassahas: Mozarabic and Arabic Lyric Forms

The Jarchas are short ditties written in Mozarabic (a Romance dialect). They constitute the final quful (closing stanza or chorus) of a muwassaha.

The Muwassaha genre was cultivated by Arabic and Hebrew poets in Al-Andalus during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. It is structured by a Bayt (verse) and a Quful (chorus). The main body of the muwassaha is written in the author's literary language, serving as a presentation that leads to the Jarcha, which acts as the termination in the Mozarabic Romance dialect.

Characteristics of Traditional Lyric Compositions

The fundamental characteristic of all original traditional lyric compositions is brevity and intensity. Intensity is achieved through the use of rhetorical devices, such as exclamations and rhetorical questions, which serve to amplify the feeling of love.

Jarchas are considered the most ancient testimony of the traditional lyric poetry of all Romance-speaking peoples. They typically consist of cries of female love, almost always caused by the absence of the beloved, and sometimes include confessions made to the speaker's mother or sisters. Love is the central pretext and theme.

Cantigas de Amigo: Galician-Portuguese Tradition

The Cantigas de Amigo emerged from a school of poets educated under Provençal influence, spread along the Camino de Santiago. This tradition links the poetic school of the Provençal troubadours with local folk inspirations, forming the core of Peninsular lyric poetry.

The Galician-Portuguese tradition cultivated several genres, including the Cantiga de Amor (love ballad), the Sirventés (satirical poem), the Pastorela, and the Tenzón (debate poem).

The Significance of the Cantiga de Amigo

The Cantiga de Amigo is considered the main achievement of this tradition. It is a literary version of the song of the girl in love, where the female voice expresses her feelings. These songs were the most esteemed in the repertoire of singers, whether from the palace or itinerant.

Their execution provided an opportunity for the accompanying minstrel to show off their skill, often turning the representation into a dramatic poem focused on pathos or humor. Importantly, the authors of the Cantigas de Amigo were never women, but professional male minstrels, such as Martín Codax, who interpreted the female voice.

Villancicos (Castilian Popular Lyric)

Castilian popular lyric poetry, known as Villancicos, is related to both Mozarabic (Al-Andalusian) and Galician-Portuguese lyric traditions. This genre consists of various popular songs, including love songs and wedding songs.

Key Characteristics and Structure

Villancicos are characterized by:

• Brevity and suggestion.
• The recurrent use of formulas, such as the chorus and parallelism.

These songs were widely sung, and in the fifteenth century, learned poets began to gather them and use them as inspiration for their own works.

The structure of the Villancico often follows the Zéjel form, which typically consists of:

1. Opening verses (Head/Initial Stanza)
2. Chorus (Estribillo)
3. Stanza (Mudanza)
4. Link verse (Verso de Vuelta, rhyming like the last line of the Mudanza)
5. Return verse (rhyming like the last line of the Chorus)