Oral Composition in the Medieval Spanish Epic

Abstract

This essay addresses the question of whether the Spanish epic was composed orally or was a literary creation using the oral techniques of bards but composed in writing. Oral dictation played an important role in even the most literate works of the time. Theme was an important compositional aid employed by bards during performance, and its presence is evident in passages of the Cantar de Mio Cid and the Mocedades de Rodrigo. A new tool of analysis is introduced, the intonation unit, which leads to an understanding of Spanish epic narrative as orally composed and governed by the cognitive constraints of speech. Oral composition eventually included literate individuals whose contributions are linked to the social and political circumstances under which these poems were preserved on parchment.