Browsing by Subject "Epic poetry"
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Item The poetics of demonization : the writings of Juan de Castellanos in the light of Alonso de Ercilla's Le araucana(2009-05) Martínez-Osorio, Emiro Filadelfo; Reed, Cory A.; Nicolopulos, JamesIn this dissertation I offer an analysis of the ideological significance of Juan de Castellanos' writings in light of the epic model provided by Alonso de Ercilla's La Araucana. My main goal is to demonstrate that, unlike Ercilla, Castellanos embraced and manipulated the resources at the disposal of epic poets not only to praise the deeds and defend the rights of the first wave of colonists, but also to challenge the policies of Hapsburg monarchs concerning the administration of the recently established Viceroyalties in the New World. Hence, this dissertation aims to foreground the complexities and ambiguities of a text that bears evidence of an internal ideological fissure that significantly shaped Spain’s political and territorial expansion and contributed to the emergence of a new type of literature. If epic, as has been persuasively argued by Elizabeth B. Davis "was invaluable to the ruling circles of the imperial monarchy, who used it to forge a sense of unity and to script cultural identities during the period of expansion and conquest" (10), then the heroic poems written by Castellanos on behalf of the conquistadors and encomenderos represent the boldest attempt to turn the most prestigious vehicle of Spanish imperial propaganda, epic poetry, into a tool for the expression of colonial political concerns, a project which included but was not limited to the deployment of aggressive practices of poetic imitation, the expression of a new sense of selfhood, and the demarcation of a new sense of patriotism. Nevertheless, from its inception Castellanos' project was also plagued by many contradictions, most of which are the result of his nostalgia for the values and practices commonly associated with the warrior nobility of the feudal era, and by the constraints imposed by simultaneously having to point to and erase the trace of Ercilla's text.Item The hero of the heroic epic: a comparative study of his divinity(Texas Tech University, 1967-06) Smith, Christa ElisabethNot availableItem Venga tu Reino: the kingdom of God in Spanish epic poetry(Texas Tech University, 1997-08) Yorba-Gray, Galen BeckwithThis study demonstrates that the historical Christian notion of the kingdom of God provides an underlying stratum that intertextually energizes select Spanish epic poems. The Poema de Ferndn Gonzalez (PEG), the Laberinto de Fortuna, and La Christiada are examined to see how the kingdom of God functions in these poems as a guiding metaphorical, allegorical, and figurative stmcture. A combined theological, historical, and theoretical approach guides the analysis of the interdisciplinary investigation. Specific applications of textual points of contact between the PFG and the Bible demonstrate that Ferndn Gonzdlez has been inducted into a higher level of politicalspiritual conunand, transcending the merely historical plane in order to connect to a larger figurative structure. The kingdom of God of historical Christianity serves as a guiding metaphorical stmcture for Castilian ascendency and the glorification of her first count. Its present/fiiture oriented essence (the "already-not-yet" is an indispensable concept) connects the poem with broad mythical structures. The kingdom of God shadows Juan de Mena's Laberinto de Fortima, empowering his political and moral agenda (the Reconquest) for its recipient. King Juan n. Mena creates a Spanish national project to effect a continuation and transformation of both pagan and Christian aspects of historical Rome. To this end he uses both Vergilian (Aeneas, golden age) and Christian (prophecy, apocalyptic language, the concept of two ages) allegorical models to prefigure the presence of the future. His work does not overtly demonstrate a sophisticated eschatology, but appears to have absorbed and recast the background theology in his own terms, combining Augustinian realized eschatology with a general apocalyptic awareness.