Question

Write an analytical essay that examines how the poem fits into the genre of medieval romances.

Answer 1

To analyze why the poem corresponds to the genre of medieval romance we must go back to the time of the creation of the romanecero. The Romancero suggested, as it had done in the Golden Age, the imagination of the medievalizing poets of European and Hispanic Romanticism. During the 19th century the translations of these Spanish ballads to English, French and German were frequent. The romancero influenced some poems by Victor Hugo. In Austria Barbara Elisabeth Glück wrote a Romancero (1845) and in Germany Heinrich Heine imitated it with another Romanzero (1851).

The romance is a short epic-lyric poem intended for singing. It is Epic, because in romance it is narrated, something is told; Lyrical, because at the same time that story is impregnated with subjectivity (feelings, memories, dreams, etc.) of the poet and the story is then made singing.

But also in romances, as in the epic, often the Narration gives way to the word, to the discourse of the characters. The story is transformed into action, into drama. And so are these short poems integrated into Classical literary genres: the epic, the lyrical and the dramatic.