Library of Rassegna iberistica

Series | Library of Rassegna iberistica
Edited book | Serenísima palabra
Chapter | «Como la blanca flor o roxo lirio»

«Como la blanca flor o roxo lirio»

Variaciones portuguesas sobre el símil épico de la flor cortada

Abstract

The epic simile of the cut flower, frequently used in the Spanish and Portuguese épica culta of the Renaissance, imitates a long Antic and Italian tradition where it illustrated the death of a young warrior in the battlefield. I propose to study three Portuguese occurrences of this simile, imitated from Garcilaso de la Vega’s lyrical and pictorial version (Second Eclogue, 1258-1265). All three break with the tradition by using this image to narrate the violent death of women: the indigenous natives of the Cambay coast killed by the Portuguese, the Christians of the Cambay coast killed by the Turks and Inés de Castro’s murder. In these new contexts, the aim of the simile is no longer to deplore a young hero’s death, but to censure the violent death of innocent women.  


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Aug. 22, 2015 | Accepted: April 20, 2016 | Language: it

Keywords Homeric simile • Luís de Camões • Epic poetry • Jerónimo Corte-Real • Cut flower

Copyright © 2017 Aude Plagnard. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-163-8/RiB-5-21


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