Research Catalog

Structures from the trivium in the Cantar de mío Cid

Title: Structures from the trivium in the Cantar de mío Cid / James F. Burke.
Author: Burke, James F., 1939-
Publication: Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 1991.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	PQ6373 .B87 1991	Off-site

Details

Description

239 pages; 24 cm

Summary

The medieval poem Cantar de Mio Cid is one of the great works of Spanish literature. Its precise date is uncertain, and its author has never been identified. Some scholars believe that it was written by many authors who, over time, adapted earlier material. In this study James Burke considers the authorship of the poem as revealed in key structural components. Placing the Cantar de Mio Cid more in the emerging culture of writing than in the sphere of oral poetry, Burke maintains that the text was produced in a manner typical for the Middle Ages by a writer who followed procedures very specific to the period. Medieval writers were invariably educated in the basic subjects of the trivium: grammatica, rhetorica, and dialectica, taught in the 'middle schools' of the twelfth century. In the process they acquired techniques that enabled them to rewrite pre-existing materials of an authoritative character, emphasizing themes and ideas important for contemporaries. Burke argues that someone rewrote epic material having to do with the Cid in this way. Referring to a device described by the twelfth-century Spanish philosopher Dominicus Gundissalinus as 'the imaginative, poetic syllogism, ' Burke identifies three instances of the device in the Cantar de Mio Cid. They support themes and motifs of awakening, manifestation, and revelation, and of the hero as exemplar. This volume sheds new light on a central work in Spanish literature and on medieval poetry in general.

Series Statement

University of Toronto romance series ; 66

Uniform Title

University of Toronto romance series ; 66.

Subject

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-219) and index.

Contents

Poetry and the trivium -- The dialectical and rhetorical education of the poet -- Refashioning the material : the art of the poet -- Finding the topics -- Dominicus Gundissalinus and the imaginative, poetic syllogism -- Defining and dividing the adventures of the hero -- "Tan buen día es hoy" : the positive frame of the poem -- Themes of awakening and manifestation -- The lion as symbol -- Rhetoric and the Cortes episode -- Economics and poetry : the false sign.

ISBN

0802059473
9780802059475

LCCN

92159810

OCLC

ocm24216424
24216424
SCSB-9159343

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library