ABSTRACT
The Hebrew lyrics translated by Miriam Billig show clear connections with biblical poetry. Early Portuguese lyrics have a folkloric quality that is related to dances. The kharjas embody numerous poetic motifs, similar formulaic diction, and identical prosodic features in common with later forms of Romance traditional lyric poetry: Galician-Portuguese cantigas de amigo, Castilian villancicos, Old French and Old Provencal refrains. One notable indigenous lyric form is the serrana or song about a mountain girl, of which two samples are offered. Though Catalan literary prose, which began with a collection of sermons around 1200, emerged with Ramon Llull into its own linguistic and stylistic independence around 1270, the Catalan lyric did not reach full independence from Provencal models until Ausias March. When the Arabic-speaking Moors of North Africa invaded the Iberian Peninsula under Tarik in 711, they ended the Romanized Visigothic Kingdom of Roderick and introduced Arabic as a new language.
