Gonzalo de BERCEO: most outstanding works
Gonzalo de Berceo he was a well-known Spanish writer of the Middle Ages who, in addition, is usually considered the first known poet in the Castilian language. Berceo broke a paradigm and it is that at that time literary works with basic vocabulary abounded and he was the first to start doing poetry using learned and / or scholarly vocabulary. For this reason, Berceo is an author that you should know more and in a PROFESSOR we have prepared a compilation of the Most outstanding works by Gonzalo de Berceo for you to do so.
Index
- Brief biography of Gonzalo de Berceo
- Life of San Millán de la Cogolla, one of Gonzalo de Berceo's works
- Life of Santo Domingo de Silos
- Praises of Our Lady
- The Mourning of the Virgin
Brief biography of Gonzalo de Berceo.
Born in Logroño around the year 1195Gonzalo de Berceo was a clergyman in the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla (where he was ordained a priest) and later in Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos). He is the first representative of the known as
"Mester of clergy", a medieval school of men of letters whose main contribution was the more cultured vocabulary next to the Latin culture to Castilian and to poetic works.He inaugurated what is known as scholarly poetry. Usually his works are about Religious topics and they were organized in a very marked structure and well defined (something contrary to what has been done so far).
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Life of San Millán de la Cogolla, one of Gonzalo de Berceo's works.
This is Berceo's first work. Made of 489 stanzas, was based on the biography of Emiliano or Millán, a saint who baptized a monastery with the same name. Follow the structure of the hagiographies, understood as descriptions of the lives of the saints, so he tells us what Millán dedicated his career in the church to.
Is divided into three parts where the well-known performance of two miracles by the saint is narrated: the first named as the miracle of the bluebells and the second as the miracle of the rain. The first part deals with the life of the saint, the second with the aforementioned miracles of his and the last with his death and the miracles performed after it.
Life of Santo Domingo de Silos.
Poetic composition centered on the life of Silos Sunday, born in the Rioja Like the author and came to the world around the year 1000. Berceo felt a deep devotion to this saint and also established a very powerful connection with him. He also used, as in the work mentioned above, a biography of the saint to draw inspiration from his work.
The life of the saint is marked by certain events: at 30 he becomes a priest, he lives for years in solitude due to his decision to walk away from society and thus later enter the monastery of San Millán and finally, upon entering it, he became a blessed of great influence for the Riojan ecclesiastical history.
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Praises of Our Lady.
Praises of Our Lady It is another of Gonzalo de Berceo's most important works. Is about the first medieval marian work (Christian art) of Berceo. It tells how the image of the Virgin Mary has influenced world events and the history of mankind.
It is a poem structured in three parts and it is believed to be the sixth work of all Berceo's compositions and therefore one of the most mature. The first part recounts the incidence of Mary in the salvation of the world, the second tells the most important to her and the life of Jesus and the third is a part full of praise for the one so admired by Berceo, Virgen Mary. It is a classic from medieval times.
The Mourning of the Virgin.
Work composed by 210 stanzas where is explained the process of recognition, acceptance and resignation that she had to live the Virgin mary when her son Jesus died. The process is painful and therefore it is a dramatic work where at the beginning we find a conversation between the virgin and the saint, so that later it is she who continues the explanation. It is a innovative work that changes the way of narrating to which Berceo had accustomed to his readers.
Towards the end is when the author takes up his usual pen and adds his most personal touches. This poem has been spoken of as one of the most intense from La Rioja due to the large number of feelings that are manifested in it. Passions are more present than ever in the trajectory of Gonzalo de Berceo. Again, his admiration for the figure of the Virgin Mary inspired him and has made him achieve great current recognition for his work poetic in medieval times.
If you want to read more articles similar to Gonzalo de Berceo: most outstanding works, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.
Bibliography
- Ortiz, J. Gonzalo de Berceo: Biography and Works. Lifeder.com.
- Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. (2004) Biography of Gonzalo de Berceo. Biography and Lives. The online biographical encyclopedia (Spain).
