Linguistic and Stylistic Analysis of the Cantar de Mio Cid

Being a bit of a literary work is evident the presence of the poetic function of language significant in developing the message which results in an artistic and original. The use of verse, of literary and stylistic peculiarities which we will discuss the show.

The metric used is the property of our medieval epic: the lines are irregular, in this case ranged between 15 and 16 syllables, divided by a caesura into two hemistiches, and have a single rhyme, assonance which includes all the verses in the same spin.

Can be seen in this excerpt some of the most prominent stylistic features of the Cantar de Mio Cid: sober and austere language, but endowed with great expressive force, use of tautology (“the eyes of the face,” “the eyes of our faces”) to emphasize the harshness of punishment for violating the king’s command, the use of the epithet epic (“in good time ceñisteis the sword”), minstrel formula that highlights one of the qualities of our hero, the absence of the verb introducer interventions in a direct style of the characters, thus providing greater vividness to the narrative (“… Against stops Cid: Cid ,…”); two parts structure common (“their property and eyes” “Body and Soul,” “estate homes”) and parallelistic structures (“lose their property and the eyes of the face or lose salvation of body and soul,” “came to the door / at the door knocking.”)

To emphasize the fear of Burgos, words or phrases are repeated allusions to his prison: “encontrósela closed,” agreed to close “,” not open “,” I was very closed. ” It also contrasts the actions of the Cid and his men on the outside (“in a loud voice called,” “beat the door”) with the lack of response from those who are hidden inside the houses (“no reply” , “dared not say anything.”) The appearance of the character of the girl is the great achievement of the fragment, it is the only one who dares to reveal the situation to the Cid. Value contrasts with the cowardice of hiding adults, and his figure is enlarged by placing it against the hero.

Being a narrative, in the text predominatesrepresentative function: an omniscient 3rd person recounts the arrival of the Cid in Burgos and how its residents can not help him. This feature is visible in the use of declarative sentences with neutral intonation (“Before the night, that was real Burgos letter”), and the use of the indicative (“would house”, “risked”, “arrived” …). However, there was some subjectivity in the language of the narrator who takes sides in the Cid clearly remarkable is that the Spaniards want to help but fear reprisals Cid King (“grade he would host”, “Great pain they had” .) This subjectivity can be seen in the use of a connotative vocabulary, related to the king’s anger or fear and pain of his people (anger, grief, hid, dared not, fear, our bad) or use of evaluative adjectives and adverbs (great brutality, severe warnings, tightly sealed.)

Sometimes, the narrator gives voice to characters whose speeches appear in a direct style. Is the case with the words of the girl, who catches up to Cid of the situation and asked to leave: This request is both appellate function, with the use of the vocative (“El Cid”, “Oh, good Cid “) and the use of hortatory sentences and the imperative mood (” know that the king …”), and the expressive function, for she used emotional arguments to persuade the Cid (“In our bad you had not won nothing “). Use prayer and exclamatory interjections (Oh, good Cid …!”), evaluative adjectives (good Cid, holy virtues) and the expression of desire by the subjunctive (“I protect the Creator”).

A characteristic feature ofSinging is the variety of tenses. The simple conditional (would house, lose) and the imperfect subjunctive (give, to know) are related to the possibility that anyone would give aid to the Cid and the alleged punishment they would receive. In the narrative alternates between present perfect simple, it offers the facts and relegated to the past and the past imperfect indicative that evokes a projection into the present of the narrator, to his subjectivity and affectivity (addressed, encontrósela … / did not respond, did not open …). This historical works together (“Those who go with me in a loud voice called Cid,” “front for my Cid”) showing an important stylistic contrast: the facts stated in this appear more empowered and gain more attention. In the last three lines are strung several actions in present perfect simple, achieving an effect of speed (he said, turned, saw, left)