Spanish Ballad

To what extent, and in which ways, does the Spanish ballad deal with the major human emotions?

The collective body of Spanish ballads, known as the romancero, is a unique collection of narrative verse that follows the epic tradition, like such works as El cantar de mio Cid, and whose earliest examples are thought to have come at the beginning of the 14th century. They resemble the epics in their heroic and aristocratic tone, and some also in their themes of battle and honour. Many are written about historical events in Spain or abroad and, indeed, in that way, they make up a kind of everyman’s history resource. However, they are short, dramatic and ultimately accessible narratives in which the focus is not so much on historical accuracy,
Their oral tradition has meant that they have survived across the centuries, even today being performed, but it is this oral tradition that has also necessitated their accessibility. It was not just the literate who could enjoy them, but everyone who spoke the language. There was the need for the audience to empathise with or at least understand the situation of the protagonist/s. Emotions played a big part in facilitating this link with the audience because they are universal: although we all experience them to different extents, we all experience them nonetheless and, as a result, the ballads are full of emotion. In this essay the major human emotion that I will focus on is love, since it is the one that seems to have been written about the most. Lust is given a large amount of exposure in the ballads as well, many of them being incredibly sexually charged, and although it is quite close in relation to love I have examined it closely in its own right. I will also comment on other major emotions like hate, happiness and sadness,
Its presentation, however, varies greatly. We see in the ballad of Rosa Florida the presentation of love as an illness: “O tenedes mal de amores”. The repetition of “mal de amores” a few lines later helps cement in the audience’s mind this idea. What is also interesting is the comparison the audience is forced to draw between love and insanity. “O tenedes mal de amores,/ o estáys loca sandía”. They are presented together so that the audience is forced to see the likeness between them. This comparison is seen again in the next two lines, reinforcing the relationship between the two, love and insanity. In another ballad, a version of the husband’s return, we see love dealt with in very matter of fact way: “Mi marido es mozo y blanco,/.../ a un valiente francés.” The wife describes her husband more in terms of his strengths or appearance rather than his personal qualities. It could be that the wife more admires his attributes than adores his personality, perhaps saying something about marriage at that time. It is likely however, that the wife is trying to describe her husband without being too personal so that the stranger might remember him even if he did not know him personally. Indeed, later on the stranger offers himself as a replacement to her husband, but she refuses, showing the depth of the woman’s love and devotion: “No me lo mandéis, Señor,/ Señor, no me lo mandéis .” Another