Profile of Jorge Manrique on Famous Like Me

Jorge Manrique (1440 – 1479) was a Spanish poet who actively participated in the conflicts of the era of Juan II. He fought on the side of Isabella of Castile, but during the defense of his right to become the king he died in a battle.

When he wrote love poetry, he used terms like "a battle" and "the war" to describe how to conquer a woman. Among other genres, he also wrote about death.

His most famous book is called Coplas por la muerte de su padre (Verses about the death of his father), which was obviously "mi padre" (my father) in the original, but is generally known under this modified name. He decided to write Coplas from his admiration of his father after he died. For him, he was an example of life and a great hero. Not only did Manrique popularize the verse metric referred to in Spain as Copla de pie quebrado (8a 8b 4c 8a 8b 4c), but he also introduced a new concept of three types of life:

• the terrestrial life
• the eternal life after death
• the life of the fame

The newly introduced type of life, the life of the fame, means that even dead people continue to live in the memories of the great acts they did while alive.

The language Manrique used was precise, exact, without decoration and difficult metaphors, trying to focus on the content of what he was trying to say.

A famous fragment of Coplas por la muerte de su padre is:

Nuestras vidas son los ríos         Our lives are the rivers
que van a dar en la mar,            that give into the sea,
qu´es el morir.                     which is death.
Allí van los señoríos               There go the noble
derechos a se acabar                rights to end and
e consumir.                         and be consumed.

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