Medieval Spanish Lyric and Epic Poetry: Forms and Themes

Medieval Spanish Lyric and Epic Poetry

The lyric was composed to be recited but also to be sung. It was always accompanied by music and gentlemen troubadours. Clerics or nobles from southern France originated the courtly lyric, with the Provencal language and artistic intention. The beloved theme was the court. Idealization of love pays homage and creates a code where the poet devotes his life to love, not to praise a lady who reciprocates. This is the lyric of Provence.

Lirica Mozarabic: Christians lived in Muslim territory, and jarchas were preserved, an ancient manifestation of European literature. These short, learned poems were inserted at the end of Hebrew or Arab moaxajas. They show Christian coexistence and relations with Muslims. The theme is a loving woman who laments the absence of her lover.

Lirica Galician-Portuguese (12th century): The end of the poem repeats the same verse structure in a parallel way. They are normally long cantigas. The profane content is about men. The theme is courtly love. Amigo: the woman's voice speaks of the absent beloved. Escarnio: ridiculing vices, defects, and people.

Lirica Castilian: Texts have come from 15th-century songbooks and songs collected in the 16th century. There were May floral festivals, pagan sailing songs, rustic songs, and Albada, carols, and serranillas (major): Villancicos are strophic poems composed of a chorus and a verse or gloss that develops the content—pastorals with a refrain. The theme is love. Serranillas are more descriptive, with realistic features of a meeting between a gentleman and a shepherdess in old Castile.

Epic Poetry

The epic is a lyrical demonstration of narrative verse compositions, composed of a series of songs of deeds. They formed part of oral culture and were recited by minstrels. They emerged most characteristically in 12th-century Castile. Characteristics: Historical character. Epic songs about warriors, ornamented with superhuman virtues, who overcome all obstacles. The hero embodies the ideals of his people and belongs to the feudal class. Structure: compositions formed of long lines whose measure ranges between 14 and 16 syllables, divided into 2 hemistichs separated by a pause called a caesura.

Castilian Epic: Its character was always realistic and sober. Only 3 poems remain: Sing of Roncesvalles (13th century, approx. 100 lines), Mocedades de Rodrigo (14th century), and Cantar de Mio Cid (13th century, almost complete).

Romance Narrative

Lirica-romance narrative: A poem of variable length, with eight-syllable verses, rhyming in assonance. They are related to the original epic. Themes: Historical songs. The argument is about the political history of the Christian kingdoms, focusing on important characters. These were the latest news in the romanceros. Border and Moorish romances: border events reported during the war of reconquest. Moorish development, a vision of the conquered Moors, is a great literary drama. Compositions: epic and epic songs are Spanish or Carolingian. Romantic and lyrical: Romance del Conde Arnaldos, final cut, prisoner romance, songs of May. The lyrical theme is love and all its manifestations. Romanceros collect thematic romances. In the 16th century, learned poets write and rewrite other popular old romances.

Texts: Anonymous oral transmission. New romances: written by known authors. Style: preference for action in dialogue structure. Description: conversational romances. Top in medias res, starting unprepared. Finals are truncated abruptly. Archaic morphological, syntactic, and verbal forms. Substitution of the past for the present. Repetitions. Use of questions and exclamations.