The Song of my Cid and the peculiarities of epic plot construction

https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.5-17.063

Ershova Irina V.,

Cand. Sc. (Philology), Senior Research Fellow, School of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Professor at the Department of Comparative Literature, Institute for Philology and History, Russian State University for the Humanities

e-mail: i.v.ershova@list.ru

The article focuses upon the notion of epic plot and the laws of plot construction in the medieval heroic epics. The author takes plot to be a level of composition that combines constant key motives shaping the epic narrative about a hero-warrior in the final form of an individual epic poem. Hence, the general model of epic plot underlining any particular poem is suggested and described. This consistent invariant model of epic plot is perceived as a specific unity of form and contents that ultimately makes the way of plot construction the core characteristic of epic genre. This scheme is applied specifically to Spanish heroic epic “The Song of My Cid”, and the analysis proves that this poem was created and transmitted primarily in oral form.

Keywords: medieval epic, heroic poetry, epic plot, “The Song of My Cid”.

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