ABSTRACT
The power and unity of the Coplas of Jorge Manrique depend on an overall narrative structure. The narrative format follows a retrospective tracing of the grieving process, which closely parallels analyses of that process developed by modern specialists in the management of grief. The narrative scheme gives rise to such structural elements as the conflict between reality and human aspirations and displacements of emotions and identities. This approach can help bring the Coplas into focus for modern readers as the artistic expression of a process that only recently has received scholarly attention
