#Santillana, #soldierscholar: The Use of the Catalog in Medieval Spanish Praise Poetry

Subject Area

Spanish Peninsular Studies

Abstract

In social media, we often elevate our own image or the image of others through comparison with popular celebrities, athletes, and the like. The more hashtags, or examples, with which we can associate and compare our achievements, the more amplified the achievement becomes. This practice, however, is certainly not exclusive to the modern era, as people have been promoting themselves and others through comparison since Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The inclusion of catalogs in the poetry of medieval and early modern Spain had various functions, often included to provide lists of well-known examples on which people could model their own behavior. At the same time, the poet leveraged the catalog in order to boast about his own vast knowledge and expertise. In praise poetry, poets used rhetorical strategies of abundance, amplification, and enumeration, hoping to applaud the accomplishments of a monarch or noble and inspire others to emulate poem’s subject while at the same time, increasing their own social standing or prominence. This paper explores the use of the catalog in poetry praising the marqués de Santillana, Íñigo López de Mendoza, and how it is employed to both elevate Santillana as well as serve the poets’ goals of self-promotion. By considering these poems in their own time period as well as the more modern forms of self-promotion and social media, we gain insight and provide access into the worthiness of the poem’s subject for emulation as well as the efforts of the poets to showcase themselves as experts and influencers.

Brief Bio Note

Dr. Sherry Maggin is the Academic Program Director and Assistant Professor of Spanish at the United States Military Academy. She received her Ph.D. in Romance Languages, concentration Medieval Hispanic Literature, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013.

Keywords

medieval exemplum, catalog, praise poetry, social media

Location

Morning Session 1 (PARB 227)

Presentation Year

2019

Start Date

4-11-2019 9:15 AM

End Date

4-11-2019 10:30 AM

Embargo

11-26-2018

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Apr 11th, 9:15 AM Apr 11th, 10:30 AM

#Santillana, #soldierscholar: The Use of the Catalog in Medieval Spanish Praise Poetry

Morning Session 1 (PARB 227)

In social media, we often elevate our own image or the image of others through comparison with popular celebrities, athletes, and the like. The more hashtags, or examples, with which we can associate and compare our achievements, the more amplified the achievement becomes. This practice, however, is certainly not exclusive to the modern era, as people have been promoting themselves and others through comparison since Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The inclusion of catalogs in the poetry of medieval and early modern Spain had various functions, often included to provide lists of well-known examples on which people could model their own behavior. At the same time, the poet leveraged the catalog in order to boast about his own vast knowledge and expertise. In praise poetry, poets used rhetorical strategies of abundance, amplification, and enumeration, hoping to applaud the accomplishments of a monarch or noble and inspire others to emulate poem’s subject while at the same time, increasing their own social standing or prominence. This paper explores the use of the catalog in poetry praising the marqués de Santillana, Íñigo López de Mendoza, and how it is employed to both elevate Santillana as well as serve the poets’ goals of self-promotion. By considering these poems in their own time period as well as the more modern forms of self-promotion and social media, we gain insight and provide access into the worthiness of the poem’s subject for emulation as well as the efforts of the poets to showcase themselves as experts and influencers.