The reconfiguration of the epic in Yacala, by Alberto da Cunha Melo

Abstract

This article examines the formal and thematic particularities of Alberto da Cunha Melo’s Yacala (1999) as a contemporary narrative poem, focusing on the interplay between epic and lyric modes. To this end, it analyzes the thematic and structural devices through which the poem both engages with and departs from the conventions of epic poetry, with particular attention to the retranca, meter, rhyme, figurative language, enjambment, conjunctions, and explanatory syntactic constructions. The analysis focuses on the poem’s 140 retrancas, seeking to understand how these formal procedures contribute to its rhythmic organization and to the construction of meaning. Although octosyllabic verse and a regular rhyme scheme predominate, variations emerge that reveal the flexibility of the poetic form devised by Cunha Melo. These stylistic and syntactic resources, working in conjunction with meter, contribute to the characterization of the protagonist and to the development of the narrative.