From Antiquity to the Middle Ages: A Literary Journey
ITEM 1 OF ANTIQUITY TO THE MIDDLE AGES
1-Brief Overview of Greek and Latin Literature
The Middle Ages was the golden age of the Epic. Songs devoted to the exploits of national noblemen proliferated after the barbarian invasions.
From the 8th to the 4th Century BC
The Greek Lyric
The Greek Lyric is concerned with feelings. There are two types of lyric: the choral are poems meant to be sung by a choir. Its biggest representative is Pindar, who became famous for his poems in honor of Olympic victors. And the individual lyric, composed of individual short poems for recitation. Sappho was the most important poet and was widely read in antiquity. Anacreon devoted all his poems to singing of wine, youth, and the pleasures of love.
Greek Epic (Narrative)
Greek epic was spread by itinerant poets who recounted acts of war. Ancient mythology is a set of legends and stories of religious background, featuring gods and heroes. The Iliad, divided into 24 cantos, recounts the final year of the ten years of the Trojan War.
Greek Prose
In the Middle Ages, Greek prose was collected by many writers. Like Aesop’s Fables in El Conde Lucanor or The Book of Good Love by Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita. Greece was the birthplace of philosophy. The Greek thinkers used prose, but Socrates did not write any work. His thinking has come to us through his disciples, chiefly Plato and his works like The Banquet or The Republic. Aristotle wrote Poetics, a literary treatise very influential in the Middle Ages. Hippocrates, the famous physician, considered the father of medicine, is credited with different scientific treatises. In Greece, great importance was given to speech. Demosthenes is considered the greatest speaker. In History, we have Herodotus, the father of history, who wrote his history in nine books, collecting information about the countries neighboring Greece.
The Greek Theater
Born in the late 6th century BC, its purpose is to reflect on the problems pertaining to man (Catharsis). Its themes are suffering and death.
Authors:
Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes.
Sophocles: The most classic. Increases from two to three the number of his characters, who are more human. Antigone, Oedipus, and Electra.
Euripides: Medea, The Trojan Women, Orestes.
EPICA AMERICA
The Romans built the strongest empire of antiquity but were conquered from a cultural perspective by Greece. Therefore, its main theme is the history of Rome, the National Epic, and Mythology. Besides, we have the Epic, lyric, prose, and comedy.
Epic America
Period 1 (2nd Century BC): Assimilation of Greek. Abandoning their own lyrical style.
Period 2 (4th Century AD): They settle their own verses.
Authors:
Virgil’s Aeneid: Its function is to tell the story to glorify Rome and the Romans. It was composed at the request of Emperor Augustus, has stylistic devices of poetic talent, and two parts. The first tells how Aeneas escapes the destruction of Troy, and the second describes the battles of Aeneas. Virgil was considered the national poet, and his work influenced both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Its theme is mythology starring humans (transformation) as resources of fantasy and love. It includes 250 myths, arranged in chronological order, beginning with the formation of the Cosmos and ending with the transformation of Julius Caesar into a star after his death. Some of these myths have come down to posterity, such as Orpheus and Narcissus (who looked at his reflection in the lake).
Lucan’s Pharsalia: Here, the story is pure history, the Civil war between Caesar and Pompey, using rhetoric and passion.
Lyrical America
Themes of love, bucolic (good life), and satirical. Emphasize Catullus, with short poems about love and intimacy, and Martial with his social satires. Horace covered a variety of topics in his Odes. Ovid wrote sad poems in exile, such as Amores.
Prose Latin
The Romans used history as a political tool and justification for supremacy. Oratory or rhetoric was introduced by the Greeks, and all great Roman authors passed through the school of rhetoric. Authors:
Julius Caesar in The Gallic War or The Civil War: Prose of great quality, precision, and elegance, alternating narrative with the statement of his political thought.
Sallust: The first Roman historian, with an energetic style with lots of short sentences using juxtapositions.
Livy: Devoted his life to writing the history of Rome from the founding of the city.
Tacitus: His work tells the story of Rome from the first century, the annals of history.
Comedy Latin
Has strong Greek influence, is presented in verse, and partly sung with musical accompaniment. It enhanced the mime (with text) and pantomime (without text). Greek characters speak in Latin.
Seneca (Greek tragedy): The Trojan Women, Oedipus, Medea, and Phaedra.
Terence: Mother-In-Law, The Brothers.
Plautus: The Braggart Soldier.
2 – THE MEDIEVAL EPIC
The Middle Ages was the golden age of the epic. In the newly born European cultures, songs devoted to the deeds of noble knights proliferated, born by the desire of the peoples of Europe to create a national identity.
Epic Germana
Its masterpiece is The Song of the Nibelungs, which chronicles the adventures of the hero Siegfried. The oldest work is Song of Hildebrando (8th century).
The French Epic
The oldest and best-preserved piece is The Song of Roland, inspired by the defeat of Charlemagne’s warriors (model Christian king). Characteristics: legendary deformation of Roman history, detailed descriptions of battles and costumes, and regular lines with rhyme.
Spanish Medieval Epic
, irregular lines, between 14 and 16 syllables divided into two hemistiches, rhyme, assonance, predominance of realism and historicity, verbs and abundant use of descriptions.
The most important epics of Castile were: the Cantar de Mio Cid, The Song of the seven infants of Lara, the Mocedades de Rodrigo (El Cid tells youth) and The Siege of Zamora.