Modern Spanish Lyrics | Page 3

It is apparently an isolated example, ahead of its?time, unless, as is the case with the Castilian epic, more?poems are lost than extant. The often quoted _Cántica de?la Virgen_ of Gonzalo de Berceo (first half of thirteenth?century), with its popular refrain Eya velar, is an?oasis in the long religious epics of the amiable monk of?S. Millán de la Cogolla. One must pass into the succeeding?century to find the next examples of the true lyric. Juan?RUIZ, the mischievous Archpriest of Hita (flourished ca.?1350), possessed a genius sufficiently keen and human to?infuse a personal vigor into stale forms. In his _Libro de?buen amor_ he incorporated lyrics both sacred and profane,?_Loores de Santa María_ and _Cánticas de serrana_, plainly?in the Galician manner and of complex metrical structure.?The serranas are particularly free and unconventional.?The Chancellor Pero LóPEZ DE AYALA (1332-1407), wise?statesman, brilliant historian and trenchant page xiv satirist, wrote religious songs in the same style and?still more intricate in versification. They are included?in the didactic poem usually called _El rimado de?palacio_.
Poetry flourished in and about the courts of the monarchs?of the Trastamara family; and what may be supposed a?representative collection of the work done in the reigns?of Henry II (1369-1379), John I (1379-1388), Henry III?(1388-1406) and the minority of John II (1406-1454), is?preserved for us in the Cancionero which Juan Alfonso de?Baena compiled and presented to the last-named king. Two?schools of versifiers are to be distinguished in it. The?older men, such as Villasandino, Sánchez de Talavera,?Macías, Jerena, Juan Rodríguez del Padrón and Baena?himself, continued the artificial Galician tradition, now?run to seed. In others appears the imitation of Italian?models which was to supplant the ancient fashion.?Francisco Imperial, a worshiper of Dante, and other?Andalusians such as Ruy Páez de Ribera, Pero González de?Uceda and Ferrán Manuel de Lando, strove to introduce?Italian meters and ideas. They first employed the Italian?hendecasyllable, although it did not become acclimated?till the days of Boscán. They likewise cultivated the?metro de arte mayor, which later became so prominent?(see below, p. lxxv ff.). But the interest of the poets of?the Cancionero de Baena is mainly historical. In?spite of many an illuminating side-light on manners,?of political invective and an occasional glint of?imagination, the amorous platitudes and wire-drawn?love-contests of the Galician school, the stiff allegories?of the Italianates leave us cold. It was a transition?period and the most talented were unable to master the?undeveloped poetic language. page xv
The same may be said, in general, of the whole fifteenth?century. Although the language became greatly clarified?toward 1500 it was not yet ready for masterly original?work in verse. Invaded by a flood of Latinisms, springing?from a novel and undigested humanism, encumbered still?with archaic words and set phrases left over from the?Galicians, it required purification at the hands of the?real poets and scholars of the sixteenth century. The?poetry of the fifteenth is inferior to the best prose of?the same epoch; it is not old enough to be quaint and not?modern enough to meet a present-day reader upon equal?terms.
These remarks apply only to artistic poetry. Popular?poetry,--that which was exemplified in the Middle Ages by?the great epics of the Cid, the Infantes de Lara and?other heroes, and in songs whose existence can rather be?inferred than proved,--was never better. It produced the?lyrico-epic romances (see Notes, p. 253), which,?as far as one may judge from their diction and from?contemporary testimony, received their final form at?about this time, though in many cases of older origin. It?produced charming little songs which some of the later?court poets admired sufficiently to gloss. But the?cultured writers, just admitted to the splendid cultivated?garden of Latin literature, despised these simple wayside?flowers and did not care to preserve them for posterity.
The artistic poetry of the fifteenth century falls?naturally into three classes, corresponding to three?currents of influence; and all three frequently appear in?the work of one man, not blended, but distinct. One is?the conventional love-poem of the Galician school, seldom?containing a fresh or personal note. Another is the?stilted allegory with erotic or historical page xvi content, for whose many sins Dante was chiefly?responsible, though Petrarch, he of the Triunfi, and?Boccaccio cannot escape some blame. Third is a vein of?highly moral reflections upon the vanity of life and?certainty of death, sometimes running to political satire.?Its roots may be found in the Book of Job, in Seneca and,?nearer at hand, in the Proverbios morales of the Jew Sem?Tob (ca. 1350), in the Rimado de Palacio of Ayala, and?in a few poets of the Cancionero de Baena.
John II was a dilettante who left the government of the?kingdom to his favorite, álvaro de Luna. He gained more?fame in the world of letters than many better kings by?fostering the study of literature and gathering about him?a circle of "court poets" nearly all of noble birth. Only?two names among them all imperatively require mention.?I?igo LóPEZ DE MENDOZA, MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA (1398-1458)?was the finest type of grand seigneur, protector of?letters, student,