Manrique, Jorge: Coplas por la muerte de su padre (Spanish/English) v1 20 Dec 2008
 

"Coplas por la muerte de su padre" (Stanzas on His Father's Death) is one of the most acclaimed pieces of Spanish poetry. It was composed by Jorge Manrique (c. 1440-1479) after 1476 (the year of his father's death), but probably some of the stanzas are of earlier date.

It is an elegy dedicated to the memory of his father, Rodrigo Manrique, with some originalities for its time. Most importantly, it is written in a plain, direct, sincere language, away from the affected poems typical of those centuries, without flowery metaphors or complicated figures. This has allowed the poem to be perfectly understandable nowadays (apart from a few old-fashioned words and constructions). It talks of life and death, on the worth of some actions and the worthlessness of others, and also on the virtues of his father (of course), and it certainly touches the heart in some passages.

Included here is an English translation (1833) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), which I've seen described as a work of art on its own. Trying to create a bilingual edition, I've put links between the two versions at every stanza. I have also found mentions to French and Italian translations, but I couldn't find any out-of-copyright one. If anyone knows of an existing translation to any other language, please tell me, and I'll include it here.

All feedback is welcome.