Discurso rufianesco y retórica del hampa: a compositio de las jácaras y los bailes de Quevedo

Abstract

Francisco de Quevedo’s jácaras and bayles —two poetical genres with a traditional origin— use all the possible effects of compositio, an element that, always joined to ornatus, states the style, according to classical rethoric. A predominant oratio soluta, when events are narrated or ruffians are speaking, breaks away to draw parallel verses in wich appears the periodo de miembros, employed to an appropriate description for persons and situations or to the expression of paradoxical feelings when referring to hampones. Syntatic structure also introduces, sometimes, the periodo circular, designed like a close, a conclusion of some poems. It is clear that ornatus and style syntax are together in unity in these poems; they can be explained as a complete whole, both of them depending on the theme and the objectives