The Poem of the Cid Book

The Poem of the Cid, the first great work of Spanish literature, tells the story of the 11th century military leader Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, his unjust exile, his rehabilitation through military conquest and tribute, and his search for justice following the humiliation and abuse of his two daughters at the hands of their husbands.

I wanted to like this better than I did. After all, it is the first known production of a great nation, the heroic expression of a people, and I had prepared myself to love it and embrace as I do The Iliad, Beowulf, and The Song of Roland.

Perhaps the fault is with the translation. I chose Paul Blackburn because I have always admired his plain colloquial language and his spare imagery, and I like the fact that he produced a translation to be read aloud. But although there was dignity and poignancy here, there was no real majesty or epic darkness. Later, I picked up the W.S. Merwin for comparison. I found more dignity and more poignancy in Merwin's verse, but less joy, less narrative purity. And the majesty and epic darkness eluded me here as well.

I came to see The Poem of the Cid not so much as an epic, but as a series of something akin to three very long ballads, similar to the "Robin Hood Cycle" of English tradition: the first ballad is about the Cid's exile and early victories, the second about his conquests and rehabilitation, the third about his search for justice and the restoration of honor.

One I got used to The Poem not being an epic'at least according to my definition'I began to see that it possessed compensatory virtues. Since it dispenses with the supernatural machinery usually found in the epic, it concentrates instead on a realistic portrait of the time, an innocent delight in battle strategy, the bravery of warfare, the magnificence of treasure won on the field, the clear imperatives of honor.

I recommend it. No, it's not Homer. But it has down-to-earth enthusiasm and a narrative purity all its own.