Spanish Literary Classics: La Celestina and Jorge Manrique

La Celestina: A Masterpiece of Spanish Literature

La Celestina is a work written entirely through dialogue, intended for reading aloud. Its large size and the rhetorical tone of its lines make it unique. Fernando de Rojas, a converted Jew and bachelor of law, is the author of all or most of the work. He states that he found a manuscript of what is now the first act and continued it, adding first fifteen more acts, and then the remaining five.

La Celestina marks the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and is a classic of universal value for several reasons:

• The importance of the themes: Love, greed, and death.
• The characterization: Especially the old matchmaker, one of the great creations of literature.
• The depth of conflict: It reflects the clash between two mentalities (Medieval and Renaissance) and two social groups (the noble and the humble).

The Renaissance: A Period of Ideological Renewal

Social and cultural changes took place during the 15th century, culminating in the 16th century. This stage of deep ideological renewal in science and art, which began the Modern Age, is known as the Renaissance.

• The individual is considered the center of the world and master of their own destiny.
• Curiosity and the human spirit are exalted.
• The religious is separated from the secular.

The Verses of Jorge Manrique

Jorge Manrique (1440–1479) was a gentleman who was active in the civil strife of the time and died in an act of war. His masterpiece is Verses on the Death of His Father (Coplas a la muerte de su padre). The poem consists of 40 stanzas and is a funeral elegy motivated by the death of his father, organized into three distinct parts:

1. General reflection on life and death (stanzas I–XIII): The transient nature of existence, the low value of worldly things, and the contrast between earthly and eternal life.
2. The illustration of the power of death (stanzas XIV–XXIV): A parade of illustrious contemporaries whose social status and wealth did not spare them, including kings, princes, and courtiers.
3. The evocation of his father (stanzas XXV–XL): Praise for the virtues and accomplishments of Jorge Manrique's father. Finally, it considers the arrival of death, which consoles him with the promise of a better life.