Catalan love poem

Catalan (Catalonian), a mirror with the reflections of long brown hair. This little Catalan poem, with the charm of south and sun, is for all the beauty of a Mediterranean girl. They are 10 million, to speak your language, which is official in Andorra and Catalonia, 10 million who could tell you "I love you" = "t'estimo".

Catalan is spoken in northern Spain, in the Balearic Islands, in the principality of Andorra (where it is the official language), and in a small part of France. Historically it was the language of Catalonia, the region that includes Barcelona, but today its speakers extend down the Spanish coast as far as the province of Valencia. In Catalonia today it is co-official with Spanish and is taught in all schools. Catalan is of the romance family, most closely related to Provençal.

The language spoken in Catalonia before the arrival of the Arabs in the early 8th century is already highly dialectised and shares common features with Spanish and Portuguese which are not found in Occitan, and common features with Occitan that we do not find in these two other languages. The Arab influence will vary according to the regions (Valencia and Mallorca are more Arabized than Barcelona). Catalan, which remains a very unitary language (administrative, literary and sientific), stabilizes in the Middle Ages. The only exception is poetry. In the 13th century, Catalan poets wrote mainly in Occitan, a neighboring language that radiates with the troubadours.

From 1412 date of the annexation of Catalonia to the crown of Castile and Aragon, the Catalan will pass under the influence of Castilian. In the 18th century the language is maintained as a vernacular language. In the 20th century, the creation of the "insitut d'estudis Catalans" will tend to normalize the language, an attempt interrupted by Franquism and resumed in 1977 by the "Generalitat de Catalunya".

The written language was unified by the linguist Pompeu Fabra late 19th. If in the 16th century the Catalan declined in front of Castilian, it knows since the 19th century a spectacular renaissance. Flourishing in the Middle Ages, then declining in front of the Castilian, Castilian literature re-emerges in the romantic period, becomes silent under the Francoism and is heard again since 1975.

In the 13-14th century the troubadours of the south of France Are imitated, the poet Cervera even writes in Limousin, Llull also writes poems. The poets who followe gradually abandone the Provencal language, still taking inspiration from Breton troubadours and romances, such as March, de So, Turmeda. At the end of the 14th century it will be Italy that will most influence poets, especially Jordi, Febrer. In the 15th century, the Catalan poetry reaches its peak with the Valencian Ausias March before becoming decadent due to the Castilian infiltration.

In the 20th century, in the wake of the Catalan poet Joan Maragall, imitated by Josep Maria de Sagarra, Josep Carner, Vicenc Foix and Carles Riba, the Catalan letters turne to Europe. Since 1960 the Catalan poetry reflects the anguish of man struggling with modern world, more serene will be the poet Espriu, more nostalgic Quart, Teixidor, and Vinyoli, more passionate Brossa, Colomines, Ferrater, and Amoros, or more attentive Alpera , Gimferrer and Alvar Valls, in their poems.

Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, is situated in the north-east of Spain.