SOURCE: Bailey, Matthew. “The Encylopedic Function of the Poema del Cid.” In Estudios Alfonsinos y Otros Escritos, pp. 17-25. New York, N.Y.: National Endowment for the Humanities/National Hispanic Foundation for the Humanities, 1991.

In the following essay, Bailey suggests that the purpose of the Cantar de mio Cid is didactic, as it constantly reinforces common knowledge, practical and legal procedures, and social attitudes.

For the most part the study of the Poema del Cid has not treated the work as the product of an oral tradition but as just another literary text. This approach ignores the impressive findings of scholars in other literatures who have explored the implications of the oral composition of epic poetry. Cedric Whitman, Eric Havelock and Isidore Okpewho all present compelling studies of preliterate society and within it the role of both the poet and his poetry. In this society the spoken word...