Abstract

According to Joan Fuster, the Canigó by Jacint Verdaguer is a medieval work in spirit, and totally rooted in old folkloric traditions. This article tries to prove that this is indeed the case by relating Verdaguer's work to the medieval lore on fairies, and to the motif of mortals who are captives in fairyland. It further attempts to show how Verdaguer's over-explaining of tradititonal symbolism could be very useful as a key to the poetic interpretation of more difficult texts such as, for instance, the splendid «romance» of the «infante Arnaldos».