20 Examples of Romance

He Romance is a poetic composition of great length that was produced mainly in Spain and Latin America and that, generally, is made up of eight-syllable verses with assonance rhyme in the even verses. For example:Romances to Belisa, by Lope de Vega.

romance is a narrative poem, since it tells stories on various topics and usually includes dialogues between characters. In addition, some romances belong to epic poetry, because they have plots related to high or legendary characters. However, others can be classified within lyrical poetry, because they express feelings or thoughts of the poetic self.

Romance arose in the 14th century, in the Middle Ages, but literary critics specialized in the subject do not agree. agreement as to whether this type of poem is a continuation of the epic songs or if it is prior to these songs.

Romance was also very important in other cultural and literary movements and groups, such as the Renaissance, Romanticism, Modernism, and the Generation of '27.

• See also: types of poems

To keep in mind:This type of poem is called romance, because it was one of the first poetic compositions to be written in Spanish (a Romance language) and not in Latin.

Characteristics of romance

• Topics. The romances have very varied themes. Some of them are the legends medieval, recent events, history, religion and love.
• Structure. The romances have:

• An indefinite extension, that is, they can be shorter or longer according to the author's intention.
• Octosyllable verses (of eight syllables) with assonance rhyme (only the vowels from the last accented vowel of the verse coincide) in even verses. Some romances have hexadecasyllabic verses (of sixteen syllables), which are divided into two hemistiches (two parts that have the same number of syllables) of eight-syllable verses. In addition, there are little ballads, which have hexasyllabic verses (with six syllables), and heroic romances, which have hexasyllable verses (with eleven syllables).
• A narrative plot that has an introduction, a complex or single-event plot, and a denouement. In addition, they usually incorporate dialogues and refrains.

• Rhetorical figures and literary devices. A wide variety of rhetorical figures are used in romances. Some of them are repetition, enumeration, the antithesis, the description, the anaphora and the hyperbole.

Types and examples of romance

According to the chronology, Spanish ballads can be classified into those that belong to the old ballads or those that belong to the new ballads. In addition, within each of these categories, they are subclassified taking into account what their central theme is.

old ballads

The old romancero is the set of romances that were produced from the beginning of the 14th century to 1580, which have many similarities with the songs of deed, which began with oral transmission, but were later written down and are anonymous.

The romances of the old ballads are classified according to their central theme:

• epic-national romance. It is that romance that narrates epic and legendary stories of Spain and, therefore, shares many characteristics with the epic songs. For example:

Fragment of "The birth of Bernardo del Carpio", anonymous

Along the banks of Arlanza
Bernardo el Carpio rides,
on a black horse
caparisoned with scarlet;
thick spear in hand
armed with all weapons.
All the people of Burgos
she looks at him as if scared,
because it is not usually assembled
but to a designated thing.
The king was looking at him too.
That a heron flies outside;
He was saying to his own:
-This is a good spear;
if it is not Bernardo del Carpio,
This is Muza from Granada.
They being in this,
Bernardo who arrived there;
already calming the horse,
he did not want to leave the spear. (…)

• Carolingian Romance. It is that romance that narrates legendary stories, but that are not related to the Spanish tradition, but to the French and Arthurian ones. For example:

Fragment of "Lanzarote and the white-footed deer", anonymous

Three ice there was the king
three sons that no more
no matter how angry they were
all damn ha.
The one became a deer
the other became a dog
the other turned black
passed the waters of the sea.
Andábase Lanzarote
among the ladies lounging;
great voices struck one
-gentleman, stand still-
-if it were my fortune
Fulfilled be my fate
that I marry you
and you with me of degree,
and give me in earnest
that deer with the white foot.
-Give it to you, my lady.
with heart and degree,
and I knew the lands
where the deer was bred.
Lanzarote already rides
He already rides and goes his way,
in front of him he carried
the hounds by the leash. (…)

• Historical-Frontier Romance. It is that romance that narrates stories related to medieval nobles, with events on the Spanish borders or with Moorish themes. For example:

Fragment of "The loss of Alhama", anonymous

The Moorish king was walking
through the city of Granada,
from Elvira's door
to Vivarambla
- Oh my Alhama!
Letters were sent to him
that Alhama was won.
The letters he threw into the fire,
and the messenger will kill.
- Oh my Alhama!
dismount from a mule
and on a horse he rides,
by the Zacatín up
had climbed to the Alhambra.
- Oh my Alhama!
As in the Alhambra he was,
at the same point he commanded
let their trumpets be blown,
their silver hooks. (…)

• Historical-news romance. It is that romance that narrates important news of the time or relevant historical events. For example:

Fragment of "Romance of the Death of the Duke of Gandía", anonymous*

On the twenty-seventh of July, a bright Monday day,
there in Rome the Holy great crying was made.
Dukes cry, counts cry, chivalry cries,
bishops cry, archbishops with all the clergy,
the Roman court weeps; all in common he said:
"Three days and nights have passed since the duke did not appear."
He ordered to proclaim in Rome for all the clergy:
Whoever finds a duke a thousand ducats they will give him,
of good gold and of good weight later they would be paid.
After the Spaniards saw what diligence they put in,
They look for him from house to house to the good Duke of Gandía. (…)

*Romance of hexadecasyllabic verses (of sixteen syllables) with two octosyllable hemistiches (of eight syllables).

• fictional romance. It is that romance that tells stories of love or adventure. For example:

Fragment of "Romance of Count Olinos", anonymous

Count Olinos got up early,
morning of San Juan,
to give water to his horse 
to the shores of the sea.
while the horse drinks 
sing a beautiful song:
the birds that were flying 
they stopped to listen;
walker who walks 
stops her walking;
navigator who sails 
the ship goes back there.
"Drink, my horse, drink,
God save me from evil:
of the winds of the earth
and the furies of the sea.
From the highest tower 
the queen heard him sing:
-Look, daughter, how she sings 
the little mermaid of the sea (…)

• Lyrical or troubadour romance. It is that romance in which feelings, moods and thoughts are expressed. For example:

Fragment of "The prisoner", anonymous

For the month it was May
when it's hot,
when he sings the calandria
and the nightingale answers,
when the lovers
They will serve love
but me, sad little boy,
I live in this prison
I don't even know when it's day
nor when the nights are,
but for a little bird
who sang to me at dawn
Killed by a crossbowman
God give him a bad reward!
hairs on my head
reach my hock
the hairs of my beard
I have tablecloths;
the nails of my hands
by chopping knife (…)

• classic theme romance. It is that romance that narrates a plot related to the history or the myths Greco-Latin. For example:

Fragment of "Romance of Queen Elena", anonymous

-Queen Elena, Queen Elena,
God prosper your state.
If you send something
see me here at your command.
- Well come you, Paris,
Paris the lover.
Paris, where do you go?
Where do you have your deal?
- I walk by the sea, lady,
made a terrible cossario.
I bring a very rich ship,
silver and gold charged;
take him to present
to that good Castilian king.
The queen would answer him,
of this luck has spoken to him:
-Such a ship as that one
reason was to look at it. (…)

• Biblical romance. It is that romance that narrates stories from the Old Testament. For example:

Excerpt from “If Abraham were to split”, anonymous*

If Abraham, the most honored patriarch, departed,
he left for the mountain, where God had commanded him
sacrifice his own son, for whom Isaac was called;
take the child by the hand obedient to his command.
Iva sad and pensive the good old and hurt
in thinking that he has to kill the very one he has engendered,
and the most hurtful thing is to see him already raised.
And with these thoughts at the foot of the mountain they have arrived.
The old man made a bundle of wood and the boy has killed it;
And going up the mountain went Isaac very tired. (…)

*Romance of hexadecasyllabic verses (of sixteen syllables) with two octosyllable hemistiches (of eight syllables).

new ballads

The new romancero is the set of romances that were written from 1580 to the end of the 17th century. This type of composition belongs to the poetic genre, but in the Golden Age it was incorporated into theater plays.

The romances of the new ballads are classified according to their central theme:

• contrived romance. It is that romance that tells a story with abundant rhetorical figures and whose rhyme is consonant (all sounds from the last stressed vowel of the verse match). For example:

Fragment of "Sacripante and Angélica", by Lucas Rodríguez

(...) On the ground she has stretched out,
And with painful voices,
Sad, anxious and sorrowful,
He cursed his fortune,
And the day he was born,
Well, he couldn't take revenge.
From this evil that had come to him.
Being in this anguish,
The faded gesture
Giving sighs to the air,
The soul has left.

• chronicle romance. It is that romance that recounts relevant historical events in the history of Spain and whose rhyme is consonant (all sounds from the last stressed vowel of the verse match). For example:

Fragment of "Complaints of Alfonso X, for the rebellion of his son and for being abandoned by everyone", by Alonso de Fuentes

(...) Bishops and prelates
I took care that they put peace
Between me and my son
As in his decree yaz.
These left this,
And they messed up badly,
No excuse, more loudly,
Good as the face añafil.
relatives died,
And friends that I had
With assets and with bodies
And with his cavalry.
help me jesus christ
And his Holy Mother Mary,
That I entrust myself to them,
At night and also during the day.
I have no one else to say it to,
nor to whom to sue,
Well, the friends that I had,
They dare not help me; (…)

• Moorish Romance. It is that romance that tells stories related to the Moorish knights. In some cases, love events are included. For example:

Fragment of "Moorish Romances", by Lope de Vega

Yo
Gallardo walks Zaide
door and street of his lady,
that he really wants
see the image of her and adore her,
because he saw himself without her
in a very long absence,
what misfortunes they brought him
banished from Granada,
not by the death of any man
nor as a traitor to his lady,
more to please enemies,
if they are in the Moor,
because he is noble in his things
and so much that they scare the world
the largesse of him, because of them
the Moor left his homeland;
but he returned to Granada
despite vile scoundrel,
because being a noble Moor
enemies are never lacking. (…)

• captive romance. It is that romance that narrates stories related to piracy, clashes in the Mediterranean Sea and prisoners. For example:

Fragment of "Among the loose horses", by Luis de Góngora

among the loose horses
Of the vanquished Zenetes,
that they were looking for in the field
Between red and green
That Spaniard from Oran
A loose horse catches on,
For their lush neighing
And because of his strong fetlocks,
To take him,
And take a captive Moor,
That he is one that has captivated,
Captain of a hundred Zenetes.
On the light horse
They both go up, and he seems,
Of four spurs, wounded,
That four winds move it.
Sad walks the alarm,
And as low as he can
Burning sighs spear
And bitter tears shed. (…)

• pastoral romance. It is that romance that narrates love stories that take place in idyllic natural places, especially in the forest and in the countryside. For example:

Fragment of "At the time that the beautiful alva", by Pedro Liñán de Riaza

At the time that the beautiful alva
runs from the clear east
the curtains, facing the floor
clear light and golden sun;
with disappointments and complaints,
entertained and teased,
crying sad memories
of his poorly achieved goods;
looking at the clear waves
of the deep and current Tagus,
how they go and how they come,
already of priessa, already of space;
Pastor Riselo was there
of the Risela forgotten about him,
thing that was impossible
unless he is miserable.
The mane to the redropelo,
the aching and skinny face,
instead of his sayo the green one,
a coarse black fur. (…)

• Heroic and chivalric romance new. It is that romance that takes up the themes of the epic-national romance of the old ballads, since it narrates the stories of different legendary or historical characters, such as El Cid. For example:

Fragment of "Romance first", anonymous

Caring for Diego Lainez
in the waning of his house,
fidalga, rich and old
before Íñigo Abarca;
and seeing that they die
forces for revenge
because for his long days
if he can't take it,
he can't sleep at night
no taste of food,
nor raise your eyes from the ground,
nor dare to leave his house,
do not talk to your friends,
before he denies them the fable,
fearing that it will offend them
the breath of infamy from him.
So while fighting
with these honorable bascas,
to use from this experience,
that it did not go against him (…)

• burlesque romance. It is that romance in which the behavior of certain subjects is satirized or in which other literary works are parodied. For example:

Fragment of "Don Quixote's Testament", by Francisco de Quevedo

From a grinding of bones
hard sticks and stones,
Don Quijote of La Mancha
he lies in pain and without strength. (…)
with a scratchy and screaming voice,
seeing the clerk nearby,
thus, for lack of teeth,
he spoke to him between his teeth:
"Write, good knight,
may God keep still,
the testament that I make
by final will.
"And as for" his entire judgment of him "
that you put to your use,
just put "decent",
when I don't have him.
«To earth I send the body;
like my body the earth,
that according to how skinny he is,
there is just for a bite. (…)

• Vulgar romance, sheet or blind. It is that romance that deals with religious issues or characters who are usually criminals or ruffians. For example:

Fragment of "For Melilla we embark", anonymous

For Melilla we embark
very happy and happy
of all of us here we go
God knows if we will return.
But I carry the faith
in the Virgin of the Rosary
that inside the heart
I wear the scapular. (…)
I remember my friends
that I left them in the towns
and the great amusements
that I frequented with them.
I also remember my girlfriend
that bitterly cried
the day I boarded
for this African land.
goodbye my father and mother
goodbye my hometown
goodbye Herminia of the soul
I don't see you anymore.

Romances after the new romancero

Romances continued to be written in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and, although they are in different periods, those that were produced by authors of Romanticism, modernism and the generation of the 27.

• Romance of Romanticism. It is that type of romance that was written between the mid-18th century and the beginning of the 19th century and focuses on expressing lyricism, that is, the feelings, thoughts and moods of the self poetic. In addition, it usually refers to popular and regional traditions and important historical events. For example:

Fragment of "A Loyal Castilian", by The Duke of Rivas

Yo
Hello, hidalgos and squires
of my lineage and my coat of arms,
look, how well born,
of my blood and house in pro.
"Those gates defend themselves,
that will not enter, by God!
for them, whoever was not there
cleaner than the sun.
"Do not desecrate my palace
a feigned traitor,
that against his king he fights
and that he sold his homeland.
"Well, if he is a cousin of kings,
cousin of kings I am;
and Count of Benavente,
if he is Duke of Bourbon.
»Leading him ahead,
that never ever stained
the betrayal my noble blood,
and to have been born Spanish.»

That's how the street thundered
an already cracked voice,
who came out of a palace
whose door was closed; (…)

• romance of modernism. It is that type of romance that was written between 1880 and 1920 mainly in Latin America and that is characterized by a renewal of language and the excessive use of sensory images, symbols and other rhetorical figures. For example:

Fragment of "The land of Alvargonzález", by Antonio Machado

Yo
Being a young man Alvargonzález
owner of a medium farm,
that in other lands it is said
well-being, and here opulence,

at the Berlanga fair
she fell in love with a maiden,
and he took her for his wife
a year after meeting her.

The weddings were very rich,
and whoever saw them remembers them;
sounded the turntables
what Alvar did in his village:

there were bagpipes, drums
flute, bandurria and vihuela,
Valencian fireworks
and Aragonese dance.(…)

• Early 20th century romance. It is that type of romance that was written by authors of the generation of '27, which is more objective than subjective and has avant-garde literary resources. For example:

Fragment of "Mock of Don Pedro on horseback", by Federico García Lorca

 by a sidewalk
Don Pedro was coming.
oh how he cried
the Knight!
mounted on a nimble
horse without bridle,
came looking for
of bread and kiss
all windows
they ask the wind,
for the dark crying
of the gentleman (…)
To a city far away
Don Pedro has arrived.
a distant city
among a cedar forest.
Is it Bethlehem? by air
yerbaluisa and rosemary.
the roofs shine
and the clouds. Mr. Pedro
It goes through broken arches.

Interactive test to practice

Follow with:

• poems of romanticism
• epic poems
• dramatic poems
• sonnets
• Madrigal
• Idyll

References

• Ceballos Viro, I. (2015). Romance. In Spanish Dictionary of International Literary Terms. Available in: DETLI
• Garrido Jimenez, A. (June 22, 2021). popular lyric. The New Ballads. commons Available in commons
• Ministry of Education and Training (Spain). (2010). Introduction to literary genres: theory and exercises. Technical General Secretariat.