Medieval Literature: Exploring Lyrical Traditions & “Cantar de Mio Cid”
Medieval Literature: The Lyrical Tradition
Lírica Tradicional (Traditional Lyrics): Anonymous songs composed and transmitted orally, expressing feelings of love. These songs were sung during work, parties, weddings, and funerals. Oral poetry becomes traditional as it is transmitted by the community. The poems are anonymous.
Structure: In many European cultures, traditional lyrics are based on rhythmic structures with parallelism. The main theme is love, often expressed from a female perspective. Style: The lyrics are usually straightforward, concise, and emotionally intense. Metric: Expressed in various rhyme schemes and assonance.
Lírica Educada (Educated Lyrics)
Educated lyrics are poems by well-known authors, transmitted through writing. They are more elaborate and appeared later than traditional lyrics. The first cultured lyrics in the Romance language of Provence were written by troubadours, who composed both the lyrics and the music. Sometimes, they gave their creations to professional singers (minstrels).
Lírica Hispánica: Moorish or Andalusian
The Jarchas: These are short poems written in Mozarabic, dealing with the theme of love from a female perspective. They were written in Arabic characters at the end of some poems in Arabic or Hebrew. The theme is a woman’s love and longing for the absent loved one, often expressed to a confidante, such as her mother or sisters. These poems typically consist of 3 to 5 eight-syllable verses.
Gallic-Portuguese Lyrics
This tradition reached a great development during the Middle Ages, with three different types of compositions.
Lírica Tradicional (Traditional Lyrics)
Songs of a Friend are the most valuable medieval Galician poetry and represent the popular traditional lyrical theme of love. These songs often have a parallelistic structure.
Lyrical Worship
Songs of Love and Scorn: The author complains of not being loved in return by his lady. These are satirical poems directed against other poets and courtiers.
Castilian Lyrics
Traditional
Poems composed on topics such as love, women, and men, expressing emotional themes in Albada compositions, songs, and serranillas. Very often, a composition combines a carol (estribillo) couplet and a gloss, or the theme is developed further than the estribillo.
Cultured
Galician poets used this form until the second half of the fourteenth century. The influences are reflected in the love songs. In the fifteenth century, it reached its glory in the songbooks.
Catalan-Provencal Lyrics
Traditional
Worship songs by authors that mimic the traditional lyric.
Lírica Cultured
Developed further under the influence of courtly love.
Cantar de Mio Cid (The Song of My Cid)
This epic poem recounts the feats of a hero, a nobleman who has been banished and struggles to regain his honor. The hero emerges as the model knight. The manuscript is typical of minstrel tradition. Author: Unknown. Argument: Tells a story of overcoming enormous difficulties and achieving glory. Divided into three parts: The exile, the wedding, and the insult at Corpes. The theme is the recovery of social and personal honor as a vassal and a father. The protagonist is the perfect gentleman. Historicity: The poem is notable for its historical basis, as Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar existed, and the poem reflects real aspects of his life. Style: Presents verses of varying length that rhyme in assonance, with a caesura in the middle of the verses. It contains:
- Epic epithets that enhance the personality of the characters.
- Changes in narrative viewpoint: from indirect style to dialogue.
- Assessments made by the minstrel about characters or situations.
- Minstrel expressions.
- Archaic language: older than the language used at the time.