Structural Analysis of Major Catalan Poetic Works

Posted on Oct 5, 2025 in English Language and Literature

Jacint Verdaguer (JV): Canigó and Other Works

The epic poem Canigó was published as an epilogue, comprising ten songs. Key locations mentioned include the Abbeys of Sant Miquel del Fai and Sant Martí del Canigó, Marcevol, and Serrabona. The work explains the birth of the Catalan nation, featuring two symbolic bells: one speaking of hope and the other of misfortune.

  • Recognition: Verdaguer won the *Mestre en Gai Saber* (Master of Gay Science) title at the Jocs Florals (Floral Games) in 1902.
  • Structure: The poem is a quintet, consisting of 21 stanzas, using decasyllable verses (10a, b, a, b). It is divided into three parts.
  • Themes: Victory, fulfillment, and final crisis. The poem expresses a romantic attitude, seeking eternity next to God. Themes include the evocation of landscape as an instrument, recalling the past, uncertainty of the future, persecution, and the ideal world.
  • Metrics: Decasyllable verses are combined with hexasyllables in stanzas rhyming 10A/6b/10A/6b.
  • Literary Devices: Features many plastic metaphors, such as the lamp (sun) and the mirror (sea).

Joan Maragall (JM): Ode to Spain

This poem was published in the journal Catalònia during the crisis of the nineteenth century, specifically the summer of 1898, following the Colonial War with the U.S.

  • Themes: Solidarity with those who had children fighting in the war and a deep feeling for the Catalan language.
  • Literary Devices: Includes antithesis (verse 5), personification (verse 11), and parallelism (verse 28).
  • Structure: Six stanzas of eight verses, combining four decasyllables and four tetrasyllables, without a regular rhyme scheme.

Joan Alcover (JA): La Balanguera

La Balanguera was read at the Jocs Florals, where Alcover won the *Mestre en Gai Saber* title. The poem is based on a popular song corresponding to an old yew tree or fairy (*hada*) symbolizing chance and the destiny of life. It likely originates from a dance called the *bolanguera*.

  • Structure: Five stanzas, singing of hope and future aspirations, with symbolic verses paralleling death.
  • Metrics: Octosyllable verses (8 syllables). The chorus uses two verses of eight syllables.
  • Literary Devices: Features many comparisons, parallelism (verses 38/39), enjambment (verses 9/10 and 12/13), and anaphora (verses 20/21).

Josep Carner (JC): Prince of Catalan Poets

Cançonetes incertes (Uncertain Songs)

Carner is often called the Prince of the Catalan Poets. This work is an example of achieved perfection in the cultivation of literary and cultured song, contrasting with the theme of an uncertain life path.

  • Themes: Life path is uncertain, often symbolized by the ‘way’ or ‘path’ itself.
  • Literary Devices: Metaphors are grouped in three bands: path, *cançonetes*, and life. Includes anaphora (verse 2) and exaggeration (verse 16).
  • Structure: Three stanzas of eight verses, resembling couplets. Verses alternate between 7 and 4 syllables, using consonant rhyme: 7a/4b/7a/4b/7c/4b/7c/4b.

Bèlgica (Belgium)

This poem is ironic, reflecting on Belgium, the country where Carner lived and died in exile. It is associated with the Noucentisme movement.

  • Literary Devices: Antithesis (verses 3 and 10), enumeration (verse 5), pun (verse 8), and personification (verses 9 and 13).
  • Structure: Four stanzas (12, 13, 14, and 7 verses). Uses mostly Alexandrians or decasyllables.
  • Rhyme Scheme: 12A, 12B, 12B, 12A, 10A, 10C, 12B, 12C, 12B, 10D, 12E, 10D.

Miquel Àngel Salvà (MAS): Majorcan Quartets

Salvà’s work, L’encís de l’escola (The Charm of the School), is part of the book Espigues en flor (Flower Spikes). Salvà maintained a friendship with Josep Carner. The poem is a hymn to beauty, equating nature with beauty.

  • Structure: Four stanzas of five decasyllable verses.
  • Metrics and Rhyme: 10A/10B/10A/10B, utilizing both feminine and masculine rhymes.
  • Literary Devices: Hyperbaton (verse 4), exclamations and questions, personification (verse 13), and anaphora (verses 18/19).

Josep Sebastià Pons (JS-P): Avant-Garde Poetry

Un vaixell (A Ship)

This poem explores the theme of love between a woman and a sailor in the port of Marseilles. It is characterized by free verse, lacking traditional resources, and aligning with the avant-garde movement.

Totes les misses de demà (All the Masses of Tomorrow)

This work features decasyllable verses (10-12 syllables) and reflects ideas of Modernism, often using broken lines.

  • Literary Devices: Asyndeton (lack of conjunctions) and antithesis (verses 10-11 and 60).