Luis Zapata y el poema heroico: historia, entretenimiento y parodia

Abstract

Luis Zapata’s Carlo famoso (1566) is an extensive heroic poem in honour of Charles V in which history and poetry are combined in order to celebrate the greatness of Spain, both from a political and from an artistic point of view. Despite the general view held by scholarship that regards the work as a ‘rhymed chronicle’, Zapata not only put a lot of effort in crafting a reliable account of Charles’ deeds, but also in the artistic qualities of the text, since his ambition was that of writing the greatest Spanish epic poem of the 16th century. His most important literary models were Virgil and Ariosto together with Ovid and Garcilaso. Zapata used all the artistic resources at hand with the purpose of producing a panegyric work that was also entertaining. This last aspect of the Carlo famoso is to be found especially in the narrative digressions such as the mythological, chivalric and sentimental episodes of the poem. Amongst these, it has particular relevance the battle between cats and mice described in the canto XXIII, inspired by the Batrachomyomachia attributed to Homer. This episode is a mise en abyme where some of the most relevant aspects of the poem are parodied as well as summarised enhancing the work’s variety.

Keywords

• Ariosto Ludovico
• Garcilaso de la Vega
• Carlo famoso
• épica burlesca
• poesía épica
• Zapata Luis