The utility of fiction in poetry

A useless journey

Abstract

In this article,I take a journey through poetry from Middle Ages to Contemporary times by describing particular cases of fiction inpoetry. With a pragmatic reading focused onenunciation, I demonstrate that fiction in poetry allow us to interpret and sometimes create reality. For example, I point out how fiction in troubadour poetry was capable to create cultural knowledge that is still useful in our era. Also from Middle Ages, I draw attention toa cantiga by Portugal’s King, Don Dinis, as a meansto describe a cultural and economic development of the region. Further on,I analyze the use of the lyric persona in Sor Juana’s Primero sueñoas a strategy to incorporate a feminine subject in the socially closed Spanish viceroyalty. Finally, I stop the journey with Leopoldo María Panero’s poetry showing the evanescence of the lyric persona as a way to deal with the fear of death. This argument allows me to conclude that fiction is tied to poetry in a different way than it is in other literary genres but we have scarcely studied and reflected on this.