golden age ballad

Question 1

Forster’s definition of fundamental petrarchan tradition

Answer 1

‘the interpenetration of pleasure and pain, and the satisfaction which could be derived from holding these two opposites in an uneasy balance is basic in Petrarch’s word and becomes the fundamental theme of Petrarchanistic convention’

Question 2

top notch parallelism stanza from mira zaide que te aviso (lope)

Answer 2

‘y pierdo mucho en perderte
Y gano mucho en amarte
Y que si nacieras mudo fuera posible adorarte’

Question 3

Gracían definition of conceit

Answer 3

‘es un acto de entendimiento que exprime la correspondencia que se halla entre los objectos’

Question 4

Gardner on the nature of conceit

Answer 4

‘all comparisons discover likeness in things unlike, a comparison becomes a conceit when we are made to concede likeness whilst being strongly conscious of unlikeness’

Question 5

antomasia in ensillenme el asno rucio

Answer 5

The circumlocutions for Mars is “aquel dios que calza arneses” he who dons armour from time to time. Using this rather than the typcial god of war… dismisses the God as someone who spends as much time in armour as out of it on the romantic campo de batalla.

Question 6

chiasmus/parallellism in el asno rucio

Answer 6

“al uno redes y brazos, // y al otro brazos y redes” chiasmus, polysyndeton reflect entanglement of nets and the writhing of the lovers

Question 7

lope desengano quote

Answer 7

‘mirad no os engane el tiempo

Question 8

tronco de ovas petrarchanrenaissance imavery

Answer 8

A lot of renaissance/petrarchan imagery
En todo el árbol dos vides entretejían mil lazos -> two vines growing on trunk of tree renaissance symbol of reciprocated lov

Question 9

5 step summary ensillenme el potro rucio

Answer 9

• We get a list of requests starting with ‘ensillenme el asno rucio’, without context of the speaker, although the things he request indicate his high status, military position, wealth, nobility (and the name of his lover, Adalifa de la Baza)
• The first half is asking for practical things; high quality and ornamented arms for battle; the second half is more personal requests, for keepsakes
• In line 25 (approx halfway through the ballad) we introduce our protagonist; ‘esto dijo el moro Azarque’
• He speaks to his lover, asking her to not be like Venus, who quickly forgets Adonis after his death and takes on many more lovers, mortal and immortal
  Tells her to take comfort from his portra

Question 10

whose adonis (referred to in ensillenme el porto rucio)

Answer 10

Adonis, the lover of Venus, embodiment of male virility and beauty
The depiction of the emblem of Adonis leaving his ‘diosa amada’ to take to the hunt adds a tragic sub-text to the ballad; Adonis was killed by a wild boar having failed to heed Venus’ warning not to set off for the hunt

Question 11

parodic elements of Gongora’s contrafactum of Lope’s g stuff

Answer 11

• Replaces all the finery with grimy/comic versions eg asno for potro, casco de calabaza for fine helmet
  
  • Gives the characters peasant, rather than moorish names
    Maintains reference to Venus and Adonis but focuses on comic aspects of the story eg netting mid-coitus by Vulcan