Spanish Literature: Cid, Clergy, and Renaissance

Cantar de Mio Cid

Date of Composition and Authorship

Cantar de Mio Cid was written in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. Although traditionally attributed to Per Abbad, it is now believed he was merely a copyist. The current consensus is that the poem was composed by two minstrels.

Structure

The poem is divided into three parts (or "cantares"):

• Cantar del Destierro (Song of Exile)
• Cantar de las Bodas (Song of the Weddings)
• Cantar de la Afrenta de Corpes (Song of the Corpes Affront)

Metrics and Style

• Epic Epithets: Adjectives used to highlight the characteristics of the hero.
• Pleonasms: Used to give expression to the text.
• Appeals to the Audience: Used to keep the audience's attention.
• Use of Arabic expressions and particles like "Oh!"
• Frequent suppression of the verb "to be."

Characterization of the Hero

• Grounded in reality.
• Values loyalty and honor: He seeks the King's pardon and eventually marries his daughters into royal lineages.
• Emphasizes personal effort and faith in God.
• Shows restraint: He is wise and expresses tenderness.
• Other characteristics: He is a sensitive man and has great love for his family.

Mester de Clerecía

A learned literary movement that occurred during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It was composed of clerics and educated men, in contrast to the juglares (minstrels).

Characteristics

• Written texts with a didactic or narrative intention.
• Moralizing.
• Inspired by learned sources, often Latin.
• Regular meter.
• Works are disseminated through reading or oral sermons.
• Emergence of the concept of authorship.

Authors

• Thirteenth Century: Gonzalo de Berceo - Milagros de Nuestra Señora (Miracles of Our Lady)
• Fourteenth Century: Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita - El Libro de Buen Amor (The Book of Good Love)

Renaissance (16th Century)

Characteristics

• A change in attitudes from the Middle Ages: Development of anthropocentrism.
• Humanism: A philosophical movement that recognizes the human being as a supreme creation.
• B. Castiglione, in his book The Courtier, presents the ideal of Renaissance human consciousness.
• Authorship gains recognition over the medieval concept of patronage (mecenas).
• A return to classical Latin antiquity, recovering classical authors and their themes.
• Resurgence of national languages and concerns.

Renaissance Lyric Poetry

There is a total innovation in lyric poetry because of the influence of Italian Renaissance styles. The following are introduced:

• The eleven-syllable line (endecasilabo).
• New stanzas: tercets, lira, sonnet, octava real.
• New figures of speech: metaphor, personification, epithet.

Themes

• Love continues to be a dominant theme.
• The beloved is presented as a canon of female beauty: blonde, fair skin, blue eyes.
• Two theories of love are used:
  • Carpe Diem
  • Collige, Virgo, Rosas
• Nature is idealized, beautiful, and friendly.
• Mythology, taken from classical literature.

Stages

• First half of the 16th century.
• Second half of the 16th century.