Medieval Literature: Clergy, Lyrics, Prose, and Syntax
Mester of Clergy
The Mester of Clergy was a school of writers who succeeded the Mester of Minstrelsy. The word “clergyman” was appointed to every man of letters. The works of the clergy were intended to persuade and educate the public on the doctrines of the church, imparting knowledge and Christian values. The school emerged in the twelfth century, and its main features are:
- Subjects: Writing on religious matters and romance, usually texts inspired by Latin authors.
- Starring: Historical personages of the court, saints, etc.
- Metric: Regular lines, using the “cuaderna vía”: stanzas of four lines of 14 syllables with a single rhyme.
- Style: Language is used carefully, and worships description, using literary devices like comparisons and metaphors.
Cultured Lyrics in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, there were two literary currents: a popular one and a cultured one. Within the cultured one is the Mester of Clergy. Other features of cultured lyrics are:
- Cultured Lyrics: In the fifteenth century, there was a growing interest in the world of arts and letters of classical culture. This caused popular poetry to evolve and rise to the characteristics of learned poetry.
- Themes: Issues of cultured lyrics are love, society, and death. The subject of love is treated differently from popular poetry. Poems are composed, and social issues are criticized.
- Metric: Characterized by the use of eleven-syllable verse and the sonnet. The “canción” has one or more words repeated in the two or three stanzas that form the poem. The “pie quebrado” couplet is also used.
- Style: The language is enriched compared to popular poetry. More literate words are used, and literary resources abound. The “pie quebrado” couplet is formed by two “sextupletas de pie quebrado”, with a metric of 8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 4.
Medieval Prose
Regarding the birth of Castilian prose, until the thirteenth century, prose texts were basically written in Latin. The work of the School of Translators in Toledo in the twelfth century, where Arab Christians and Jews worked, was essential in this task. The increasingly scarce knowledge of Latin and the growing interest in these works contributed to the use of Castilian.
Narrative Prose and Don Juan Manuel
During the fourteenth century, prose first acquired a didactic intention. Don Juan Manuel’s best-known work is El Conde Lucanor, also known as Libro de Patronio. It is a collection of 51 short stories that adhere to the following scheme:
- Topics: The author offers practical lessons on a wide variety of topics. The stories are called “enxiemplos”.
- Characters: Varied, including historical or real figures.
- Structure:
- Approach: The question being addressed is presented.
- Example: The question is answered by a story with characters involved.
- Counsel: Applying the story to the problem.
- Moral: Moral or education discussed in verses.
La Celestina
There is doubt about its authorship, but it is currently agreed that it is by Fernando de Rojas, who was born in La Puebla de Montalbán. His name even appears in acrostic verses that introduce the work. The title varies depending on the edition, but the popular name of La Celestina has emerged as the definitive title. The literary genre of its originality makes it a difficult book to classify. It has an essential dramatic character, mainly because it is in dialogue.
Argument: Calisto, a young nobleman, falls for Melibea. Advised by his servants, he resorts to the old Celestina to help him overcome Melibea’s resistance and win her love. The servants require Celestina to share her gains with them. When she declines, she is killed by Calisto’s servants. In one of his nocturnal rendezvous, Calisto dies while trying to climb the wall of Melibea’s garden. Realizing the death of her beloved, Melibea commits suicide by jumping from a tower.
The Phrase
A phrase is a word or group of words with the same syntactic function built around a core.
Degrees of Adjectives
- Positive: Expresses a neutral quality.
- Comparative: Expresses quality through a comparison between two elements:
- Superiority
- Equality
- Inferiority
- Superlative: Quality at the maximum level. It does not compare with all other elements but compares with another element.
- Explanatory: An attribute of the noun that is proper or natural to it.
- Specifying: The particular quality that the adjective expresses specifies a substantive difference from the rest of its species, defining the significant extension of the noun.