Understanding Sentence Structure, Berceo, and Renaissance Poetry
Sentence Structure and Verb Types
Subject-predicate: The subject is always present, either expressed or omitted.
Impersonal Prayers: These are without a subject. The verb is always in the third person.
Attributes: Attributes are shown with a copula (to be, or may seem).
Predicative products do not have an attribute.
Transitive verbs: These have a direct object.
Intransitive verbs: These do not have a direct object.
Active voice: Attention is focused on the subject agent.
Passive voice: These are formed with a verb in the passive voice and a complement agent.
Reflexive verbs: Unstressed personal pronouns (I, you, we) have the same referent as the subject and agree in number and person with the verb. It also functions as a direct object (CD) and indirect object (CI). Reinforcement contains syntactic elements (to me…).
Reciprocal verbs: Pronouns (we, you) have the same referent as the plural or multiple subject and function as CD or CI.
Pseudo-reflexive verbs: Intransitive verbs are built. No emphatic reinforcement. The pronoun of the verb morpheme is considered; it does not perform any function. Pronominal verbs are accepted.
Gonzalo de Berceo
Gonzalo de Berceo: Abandoned anonymity and proclaimed his name. Berceo’s texts respond to a plan of the church: the Fourth Lateran Council determined the need for change in education in both clergy and laity. Berceo’s poems are addressed to monks, priests, and novices. In the Berceo’s production, there are three types of works:
- Hagiographic Works: Life of San Millan de la Cogolla, Life of St. Mary Sunday…
- Works: Praises of Our Lady
- Doctrinal Work: The Sacrifice of the Mass
Miracles of Our Lady: Berceo exalts the mediating power of the Virgin in the salvation of souls. The work is structured as follows:
- Introduction: The protagonist is the narrator. It is a pilgrim who enters into a garden. This place is associated with the Virgin Mary. Rosemary symbolizes fallen man.
- Miracles: 25 stories that exemplify the compassionate action of Mary and her intercession with Christ. The Virgin Mary is motherly succor to his devotees in distress. The characters are individuals with ties to the earthly church.
Renaissance Poetry
The Renaissance Poetry: Poetry and Italy provided the hendecasyllable and enjambment. Juan Boscan introduced the hendecasyllable and recommended the practice to Garcilaso de la Vega. The Renaissance lyric verse joined types of compositions such as triplets, prisoners, the lira, the eighth actual stay, the sonnet, and the Sapphic stanza. In style, in the first half of the sixteenth century, poetry culture responds to the ideal of simplicity and naturalness of expression. In Renaissance poetry, adjectives become important, as well as the use of the epithet and metaphors. The use of anastrophe is emphasized.
Themes: The new poetry develops issues and ideals of neo-Platonism, classical literature, and Italian poetry, influenced by Petrarch. The main theme is love. The poetic introspection of suffering is manifested by the absence or death of a loved one, or a lack of correspondence. There are hardly any lines that express the enjoyment of lovers. Reasons abound such as pain, power, and the struggle between reason and desire. The portrayal of women is associated with nature. Nature is given by the locus amoenus. It projects the mood of the poetic I. Carpe diem (enjoy the day) is associated with love, influenced by Horace. Classical mythology, as in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” expresses a relationship. Other themes include friendship and courtly compliment. In the second half of the sixteenth century, religious poetry dominates morality. Highlights include the beatus ille (happy one) and knowledge of self and introspection.