Spanish Literary Masters: Berceo, Ruiz, Manrique
Gonzalo de Berceo: Didactic Literature Serving Faith
Berceo’s work, not meant to be original, draws from written sources, lending it authority. His works are classified as:
1. Lives of Saints: Lives of Santo Domingo de Silos, San Millán de la Cogolla, Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, and Life of St. Oria.
2. Doctrinal Works.
3. Marian Works: Miracles of Our Lady.
Style Features:
- Simple style
- Reliance on written sources
- Tendency to romanticize
- Use of minstrel resources, like vocatives and oral literature expressions
- Rhetorical and timber routes
- Complete syntactic communities
Miracles of Our Lady exalts the Virgin Mary as mediator of salvation. The work consists of an introduction (fall of man, sin) and 25 miracles, all showcasing the Virgin as intercessor, urging devotion to her.
Arcipreste de Hita: The Book of Good Love
The Book of Good Love is the most important work of the mester de clerecía in the 14th century. The rise of the bourgeoisie introduced new values beyond the strictly religious, including the joy of life’s pleasures and love. Juan Ruiz’s work reflects this bourgeois world. The main theme is love, both divine and worldly, presented in an autobiographical form.
Structure:
The prologue explains the work’s intent: to warn about love’s dangers. It’s structured as an autobiographical story of the hero’s amorous adventures. Elements include: collections of exempla, satires, Pamphilus recreation (a 12th-century Latin comedy about seduction, echoed in the loves of Don Melón and Doña Endrina), lyric poetry, and allegorical tales (like the battle between Don Carnal and Lent).
Style:
Written in cuaderna vía, except for lyrical poems in short lines. It shows great command of metrics and style. Features include: conjoined sentences, interjections, repetition of spoken language, and rhetorical devices.
Thought and Culture in the 14th Century
In the 14th century, a renewal of ideas began in Italy, with a flowering of artists. Key factors for change included the rediscovery of classical antiquity, with figures like Petrarch and Dante. Humanist ideas influenced a new moral and intellectual concept: man’s focus on self-improvement.
15th Century Lyric Poetry
Lyric poetry received a boost from the patronage of various courts:
1. Crown of Aragon: Alfonso V in Naples supported humanists and writers who sang his exploits.
2. Castile: Juan II played a role in supporting Juan de Mena’s work.
After the union of the two crowns, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain attracted humanists.
During the 15th century, several poetic forms developed:
1. Court Poetry or Songbook Poetry: Composed to be read, recited, or sung at court. Features include: a wide variety of verses and themes (troubadour songs, moral issues, philosophical reflections, clever expressions, glosses, questions, and discussions).
2. Language: Characterized by artificiality, wordplay, figures of speech, and abundant hyperbaton.
3. Metrics: Poets cultivated versos de arte mayor (Castilian dodecasyllabic verses). This poetry was collected in songbooks like Baena, Estúñiga, and the General Music Palace.
Significant figures include:
- Marqués de Santillana: Collected medieval moralist traditions, conventional wisdom, metric innovations, and sonnets in the Italian manner.
- Juan de Mena: Composed works in honor of Juan II, like Fortune’s Labyrinth, in arte mayor.
Satirical Poetry
The Castilian version of the Dance of Death features death calling upon various characters, from the Pope to the Emperor, emphasizing that all are equal before death.
Traditional Poetry
Collects medieval heritage poems with motifs of female beauty, the girl in love, and the unappreciated dark woman. This poetry is characterized by nicknames, possessives, and repetition of words, phonemes, and structures.
Jorge Manrique
Manrique’s works include:
- Love Poetry: Follows courtly love themes with repetitive motifs and vocabulary.
- Burlesque Poetry: Limited to three compositions.
- Moral Poetry: Includes the 40 couplets titled Coplas upon the Death of his Father.
Coplas upon the Death of his Father
Themes:
1. Death as a Character: Reflecting the fear of death due to plague and war, death is depicted as summoning all humans, equalizing them.
2. Fame or Exemplary Memory: Refers to the legacy people leave behind.
3. Vanitas Vanitatum: The wisdom of disdaining earthly vanities; all is vanity.
4. Ubi Sunt?: Where are they?
5. Tempus Fugit: The future transforms into the present; the transience of life.
6. Mourning for Loved Ones.
Structure:
Three parts: verses 1-13 (equality before death, transience of life, scorn of the world), 14-24 (life of fame), 25-40 (eternal life).
Style:
Couplets of six lines with minor art rhyme, double sextuplet, sober and calm tone, use of synonymous pairs, rhetorical devices, and explanatory adjectives. Introduces a broken foot break, a cut in speech, and a sense of discouragement.