El modelo lirico popular en las 'Rimas' de Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

Becquer has been the object of extensive study because of his undisputed importance in the renovation and revitalization of poetry in Spanish during the second half of the nineteenth century. Scholars have acknowledged in Becquer's Rimas the presence of poetic elements characteristic of the popular lyric in the Spanish oral tradition. This frequently repeated affirmation has not until now been sufficiently explained, nor stated in specific terms. My analysis demonstrates how popular forms, such as the romance, and particularly the copla andaluza, serve--theoretically as well as practically--as the model for Becquer's Rimas.; Chapter I briefly surveys the literature on the subject. Chapter II reviews Becquer's origins in Sevilla where he absorbed the rhythms of popular expression. Chapter III summarizes what is known about the formation, during the romantic period, of the lyrical model which culminates in the Rimas. Chapter IV defines Becquer's poetics as he expresses it in his verse and prose. Chapters V and VI identify specific themes, structures and versification common in Spanish popular poetry which serve as a model for the Rimas. Chapter VII concludes that Becquer found in the Spanish oral tradition, especially in the folkloric song of Andalucia, a poetic model which served as the base for the highly cultivated poetry of the Rimas.; By appropriating the specific elements, practical and subjective, of the popular tradition, Becquer created an intense, concentrated and unadorned lyrical expression of universal significance which changed the form of poetry to come.