A Reassessment of the Satirical Nature of Gómez Manrique's Coplas para Diego Arias de Ávila

A REASSESSMENT OF THE SATIRICAL NATUREOFGÓMEZ MANRIQUE'S COPLAS PARA DIEGO ARIAS DE ÁVILA CarlW.Atlee Northern Illinois University Among the roughly 140 poems that the statesman and warrior Gómez Manrique (c. 1415-1490) composed during his lifetime, the Coplaspara DiegoArias deAvila is one ofdie few to have received scholarly attention. Its eloquent verses and imaginative presentation of the unpredictable nature of fortune captured the interest of Menéndez y Pelayo, who considered the forty-seven-stanza work to be "la mejor poesía de Gómez Manrique, y una de las mejores de su siglo..." (Menéndez y Pelayo 18: 374). Don Marcelino commends Manrique's ability to transcend the mundane reasons behind the poem's composition -an order of payment sent by Manrique, but unfulfilled by die crown- and elevate the level of discourse to consider, in more universal terms, the dangers offavoritism and one's unchecked pursuit of the ephemeral (18: 403). While personal conflict may have germinated the treatise-in-verse, the reader reaps a "noble y filosófica lección sobre la inestabilidad de las grandezas humanas..." (18: 372). Moreover, the eminent scholar concluded, based on the striking similarities in imagery that the two works shared, that the much better known Coplaspor la muerte de supadre byJorge Manrique is an "imitación directa" of his uncle's masterpiece (18: 372). Although Menéndez y Pelayo ostensibly preferred to highlight the clarity of the poem's imagery over its potential as a declaration of dissent, more recent scholarship has focused less on die literary qualities of the Coplas para Diego Arias de Avila than on its satirical nature, with the result that die text is most often cited in studies on literary invective and ridicule. Critics, however, differ in opinion as to who is the specific target ofthe poet, as well as the degree to which Manrique's barbs are La corónica 35.2 (Spring, 2007): 173-207 174Cari Allee La corónica 35.2, 2007 offensive. For example, while Kenneth Scholberg andJulio RodríguezPu értolas both included the Coplas in their studies on Spanish political satires, the former viewed the piece as an indictment of the wealdry and powerful in a general sense.1 The latter on the other hand stated that the w7ork directed a caustic admonition toward the treasurer (193).2 In stark contrast to Scholberg and Rodríguez-Puértolas, David Gitlitz sees no malice in the Coplas at all, believing instead that the poet's intention diverged greatly from that ofthe other contemporary writers who mocked the royal favorite: "Pero es que de todos solamente Gómez Manrique no escribía satíricamente, y no en tono burlesco" (1 8). More recently, Francisco Vidal González also downplays the aspect ofpersonal invective in the Coplas, seeing it more as a "lección filosófica y moral cristiana" and therefore agreeing with Menéndez y Pelayo that the poem served a purpose greater than that ofderiding an enemy (61-62). Compared to the many w7orks that outwardly reproach Arias for nefarious practices, Manrique's poetic missive comes across less as a dismissal than it does an exhortation firmly grounded in religious principles. It is clear that the poem's direct and solemn rendering of the traditional medieval sermon on the changeable nature of fortune, as w7ell as its likely service to Jorge Manrique as a model for his own masterpiece, are what give the Coplas para Diego Arias deAvila its lasting pow7er as a poetic text. The present study intends to show that Diego Arias, who requested trobas from Manrique only to receive a lengthy series of examples of powerful individuals who fell from grace, w7ould not have appreciated the lesson that the work imparts, nor w7ould he have perceived the Coplas to be sincere advice from a friend. The poem directs a stern warning that escalates to the level of implicit threat to the treasurer. Biographical data on Arias show's how7 two factors in particular drew the ire of several within the community: his converso status and his rise in pow7er under the protection of Enrique IV. We should direct, our attention to Arias's actions as...