A romancero is a set of romances.
Ballads is the term used to name a group of ballads or the individual who recites this type of poetic compositions. It should be noted that a romance is, in the field of poetry, the work that repeats the same assonance in the even verses and does not include rhymes in the odd verses.
The romance, in other words, is the metric combination formed by octosyllabic verses whose particularity is that the even verses exhibit assonant rhyme , while the odd verses remain loose.
From this combination, this type of poem is called romance. Romances emerged as part of oral narrative and reached their greatest popularity in the 15th century . At that time these poems began to be compiled in collections known as ballads .
Characteristics of romance
In addition to these data presented, it is interesting to know others that, in the same way, are very important when it comes to what romance is:
– The first romances that were made are considered to have their origin in the famous “Cantar de Gesta” .
– It is identified by having a very simple language so that it can be as interesting as it is attractive.
– It is determined that there are six fundamental types: the lyrical, which revolves around the expression of love; the Carolingian, which is based on the exploits of Gallic heroes; border, which tells what happens beyond the borders; the novel, which deals with an invented topic; the legendary, about popular legends; and finally the historical one, which, as its name indicates, revolves around events in history.
It is common to differentiate between the old ballads and the new ballads.
Different types of ballads
All this means that romanceros are anthologies or compilations of romances . The Spanish songbooks that collect epic poems and epic songs from medieval times are called old ballads . One of the best-known old ballads is the “Romancero general” compiled by Agustín Durán .
The new ballads , on the other hand, are made up of the ballads that were created from the 16th century onwards due to the influence of the old ballads. Great poets such as Federico García Lorca , Miguel de Cervantes , Luis de Góngora , Juan Ramón Jiménez , Antonio Machado and Lope de Vega made their contributions to the new ballads.
A book by Federico García Lorca
“Romancero gitano” , a creation by García Lorca that was published in 1928 , is among the most famous works of the new romancero. As its name suggests, various elements of gypsy culture appear in this ballad.
Specifically, we can determine that it is a work composed of a total of eighteen romances that are set in Andalusia and that have the particularity of including numerous symbols, as has been demonstrated through different studies carried out in this regard. Thus, for example, it has been determined that the mirror represents the home, that moving water comes to symbolize life and that roses come to express what blood is.
Among the most important romances or those that have achieved the most relevance are “Muerto de amor” , “Romance de la luna, luna” , “La casada infiel” , “Burla de don Pedro on horseback” or “Romance de la Pena Negra” .