"Introduction," Spanish Ballads, ed. C. Colin Smith (Pergamon Press, New York, 1964).1-47
I. DEFINITION. What is a Ballad?
A. In general: "Rather than a neatly delimited genre, ballads are a whole type of literature, touching the lyric and the sentimental folksong at one extreme, and the epic at the other. They have strong connections with popular legend and folklore, and their themes are often international. Their origins and development are imperfectly known and the subject of much debate."
B. With reference to Spain and Britain: Specific characteristics:
1. Ballad is a SONG, although presented as poetic text; tune as traditional as words.
2. Author- ANONYMOUS. At its origin must have had a single author (usually a poet or minstrel). After its composition by individual author, passed into the popular domain and became universal property.
3. "The older ballad was essentially oral; the singer produced it from his memory, performed it orally,...it was passed on from singer to singer and from generation to generation."
4. STRUCTURE AND TONE- narrative. May have long passages of direct speech, intensely dramatic moments. Begins at high point of the action and end suddenly with little denoument ("sabe callar a tiempo").
"The narrator almost never intrudes himself upon the scene, but acts in an impersonal, objective way, like the eye of a camera" selecting detail and highlights. "Facts are stated and left to work themselves upon the hearer's imaginations."
5. No MORALIZING (contrast between ballad and didactic verse of Middle Ages).
6. Ballad is DIGNIFIED AND STAID. Ending often tragic; humor rarely present. Themes not so much national affairs but small human drama.
7. LANGUAGE: rapid, plain, unencumbered by metaphor, personification, symbol used by more sophisticated poets. Ballads have their own simple rhetoric. "Nouns and verbs (dynamic words) predominate over adjectives (static words)."
II. European Balladry and the Spanish ROMANCERO:
A. Spanish Ballads: features which distinguish them from Ballads of Europe
1. Unity of form in contrast to variety of forms used in other countries. 8 syllable with assonance of even lines, or described as a 16 syllable line with assonance.
2. Close connection to Medieval epic; some are fragments of epic.
3. Preservation in MSS of 15th, 16th c. and printed texts of 16th c. or in modern oral tradition.
4. Integral part of Renaissance culture; Romancero forms significant part of the national literature.
5. Use of Ballad by erudite poets from 16th c. to present day (Lope de Vega, Gongora, Quevedo, Duque de Rivas, Antonio Machado, Garcia Lorca).
III. History of Spanish Ballads
A. The term ROMANCE:
2. romanz, romance- the substantivized form appearing in 13th, 14th c. 'poem in the vernacular' (i.e. not in Latin of clerks).
3. 14th c. word restricted to late epics (earlier called gesta or cantar)
4. 15th c. word applied to fragments of epic which were in process of becoming ballads.
In MS cancioneros of late 15th c. and in usage in Nebrija, Encina the name ROMANCE is firmly established in its modern sense.
3. EVOLUTION FROM EPICS:
a. As the habit of chanting full length epic declined (late 14th early 15th c.) they were transformed into ballads.
---Old monotonous epic chant replaced by sprightly ballad tunes
---Epic fragment into ballad...work of juglares
b. "poesía que vive en variantes" transmission of ballads in variant versions, adding to or leaving out.
c. These ballads called epic romances viejos.
4. TYPES OF BALLADS:
a. romances viejos--with epic theme, evolving from fragments
b. romances novelescos o ficticios (novelesque or fictional ballads) (no epic source known) are also romances viejos because of their process of evolution and change.
c. romances noticieros: fronterizo ballads are type of this class; goes back to early 14th c. Evolved less than epic or novelesque.
d. romances juglarescos: work of more sophisticated courtly poets and minstrels of middle and late 15th c.