Traditional Spanish Lyric Poetry and Epic: From Jarchas to Ballads

Traditional Spanish Lyric Poetry and Epic

Traditional Lyric Poetry

Traditional lyric poetry reflects the feelings of the people. Poetry accompanied fieldwork, domestic chores, and parties. It was designed to be easily memorized, as the population was largely illiterate. This anonymous poetry was transmitted orally, recited, and performed by juglares (minstrels), who traveled from town to town.

Common themes included love, fiestas, processions, and everyday activities. The language was characterized by short sentences, communicative density, and directness, with frequent interjections and expressions of affection.

Key Examples of Traditional Lyric Poetry

• Jarchas: These were short poems that appeared at the end of a longer composition called a muwassaha. They are examples of the coexistence and influence between Christians and Muslims. Sung in Mozarabic, they were transcribed in Arabic script by poets at the end of their muwashshahas. They represent the first manifestation of Aljamiado literature. Jarchas often feature amorous themes, expressed simply and directly, with a loving vocabulary rich in vocatives and exclamations.
• Cantigas (Galician-Portuguese Poetry): Predating the jarchas, the Galician-Portuguese cancioneiros (songbooks) emerged in the early 13th century. They are characterized by a parallelistic structure, where a verse from one stanza is repeated in the next with slight variations. There are three main types: cantigas de amor (love songs), cantigas de amigo (friend songs), and cantigas de escarnio (mocking songs). The cantigas de amor, influenced by Provençal lyric, feature a man singing to his lady in a refined, courtly style. The cantigas de amigo are sung from a woman's perspective and are closer to popular lyric, bearing a relationship with jarchas.
• Villancicos: The most representative form of popular poetry, the villancico consists of a chorus (estribillo) and a gloss (glosa) that develops the chorus's content, typically on amorous themes.

The Mester de Juglaría and Epic Poetry

The mester de juglaría refers to the "craft of minstrelsy." Epic poetry, a key part of this tradition, consists of narratives in verse that recount the exploits of a hero. These poems were recited by minstrels. Originating around the 5th century, with the Chanson de Roland as a prime example, epic poems were based on historical events but incorporated fictional elements. Minstrels embellished the stories, exaggerating the hero's features, and the recitations evolved over time.

Castilian Epic Poetry

Castilian epic poems are characterized by lines of 14 to 16 syllables, divided into two hemistiches by a caesura (pause). They feature assonance, and the rhyme is repeated in a variable number of lines, called a tirada. The style creates a heroic tone appropriate to the poem's subject matter.

Poema de Mio Cid (The Poem of the Cid)

This epic poem recounts the deeds of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, who was unjustly accused and stripped of his property by King Alfonso VI, leading to his exile from Castile. Through his actions, he regains his lost honor. The poem is a glorification of a hero's journey.

It consists of approximately 3,700 verses divided into three cantares (songs):

• Cantar del Destierro (Song of Exile): Begins with Rodrigo's departure from Vivar and ends with his early battles.
• Cantar de las Bodas (Song of the Weddings): Begins with the conquest of Valencia and ends with the marriages of the Cid's daughters.
• Cantar de la Afrenta de Corpes (Song of the Corpes Affront): Begins with the episode of the lion and ends with the Cid's daughters' remarriage to the princes of Navarre and Aragon.

The poem is written with great realism. The narrative is filled with set phrases and repeated formulas, such as epic epithets to characterize the hero. There is also an anachronistic use of tenses to enhance the vividness of the story.

Romances (Ballads)

Epic poems were often fragmented, leading to the emergence of romances. These are poems of varying lengths, written in octosyllabic verses with assonance in even-numbered lines, while odd-numbered lines are unrhymed. They were transmitted orally and could be classified by theme: historical, religious, biblical, romantic, Carolingian, Moorish, classical, etc.

Romances have a distinctive style, characterized by the importance of the affective element. Key features include their fragmentary nature, structure, and use of dialogue. In the late 15th century, romances began to be collected in printed anthologies called Romanceros. The texts from the oral tradition are known as romances viejos (old ballads), while those created by known authors are part of the romancero nuevo (new ballad).