Traditional Narrative Poetry and the Renaissance

Popular Poetry: Traditional Narrative - The Old Ballads

The romances are short, lyrical, epic compositions arising from the fragmentation of the ancient epics. These romances, whose first manifestations date back to the late fourteenth century, were transmitted orally during the fifteenth century. Throughout the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century, authors collected and cultured the Songbooks and included them in Romanceros.

In response to the issues addressed, they can be classified into:

• Historic-nationals: They come from the old Castilian epics and exalt their heroes.
• Romantic and lyrical: Created by popular imagination.
• Border and Moors: They tell military episodes that take place on the border between Moorish and Christian kingdoms.
• Carolingians: They focus on the figure of Charlemagne and the characters and events associated with him.
• Breton: Inspired by the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

The metrical structure of the romances also shows their close relationship with the chanson de geste. The romance is a composition consisting of an indefinite series of eight-syllable verses that rhyme in assonance, and odd pairs are loose.

Along with some linguistic features typical of the epic formulas and oral language, the ballads have unmistakable stylistic peculiarities:

• Tendency to the fragmentary. The romance is limited to the essentials. It begins without giving background to the action, and the moment of greatest dramatic intensity leaves the story truncated.
• Tendency to repeat. This procedure is one of the most striking in oral folk poetry. Sometimes phonemes are repeated, sometimes the same words, and at other times, phrases or sentence structures are repeated.
• Freedom in the use of tenses.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that encompassed all aspects of human activity. This was a change in mentality, a reassessment of the world, the individual, and existence. It was a classic reborn.

It began in the mid-fourteenth century in the cities of northern Italy and from there spread to the rest of Europe, where it developed in the sixteenth century.

Features of the Renaissance

The Renaissance is based on two pillars: the imitation of classical models and the application of the principles of humanism. It manifests itself in the following factors:

• Some modern states were born, the bourgeoisie rose, and citizens participated in government tasks.
• Pre-capitalism indications appeared.
• New worlds were discovered and conquered.
• Great inventions and technical progress arose.

The model is the Renaissance courtier, a man skilled in arms and letters. A critique of medieval thought was presented, and philosophical ideas were revitalized. Therefore, the person was at the center of the universe, and the power of reason and the cultivation of intelligence made them a superior being. The medieval geocentric worldview as the "valley of tears" was left behind, and nature appeared as a place of enjoyment.

With the Renaissance, importance was attached to the humanities. The humanist is a scholar based on these principles:

• Deep knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity.
• Defense of the study, reading, and use of the classical languages.
• Assessment of the world and the dignity of human beings.

This interest in classical antiquity, combined with concern for the development of science and the study of nature, created this new concept of the world and art which we call the Renaissance.