Nahuatl poetry

Nahuatl poetry is a set of cosmogonic poems —that is, they try to explain the origin of humans as well as love, beauty and heroism; they reflect on the meaning of life and express the feeling of its brevity of servitude, that is, being born to serve the gods; they also frequently make death present:

...We have to leave this land:
we're borrowing each other....

fragment of "Dolor of Song" Romances of the Lords of New Spain Nezahualcóyotl.

...Nobody here will live forever.
Even the princes to die came...

fragment of "Where shall we go?" from Nezahualcóyotl.

In Nahuatl poetry was called “flower and song” (in xóchitl, in cuícatl), a rich compound name that simultaneously described various aspects of poetic activity. “The flower-and-the-song” consisted of a dialogue with one's own heart, with the divine, with the world and with the people, and it was very important in Nahua society. The poets were princes or priests who represented the feeling of the community. The songs and stories were learned by heart, but there were large posters (some of which are preserved in European codices) with designs and phonetic signs that the priest indicated with his finger while intoning the corresponding poem. This activity was called “singing pictures”. The singer is called cuicamatini.

Poetry in Nahuatl has and has had an important development throughout many centuries, you can still find books in which the ways of expressing themselves of the inhabitants of the ancient civilizations that spoke this language are rescued; and in the Nahua-speaking communities, very varied forms of this important art can be rescued. Nahuatl is still spoken in many regions of Mexico, even by people who have minimal contact with Spanish, therefore they preserve a good part of their culture.

Although mainly these poems were transmitted orally from generation to generation through songs and rituals, several distinguished authors can be rescued to whom many songs in Nahuatl are attributed, for example Nezahualcóyotl, his son Nezahualpiltzin, prince-priests such as Tecayehuatzin, Temilotzin and Yoyontzin.

• Example of Nahuatl Poetry:

Ni hual choca in

ni hual icnotlamati

zan ca anicnihuan

azo toxochiuh on

Ma ye ic ninapantiuh

Can on Ximohuayan?

Nihuallaocoya.

Translation:

Here I cry

I get sad.

I'm just a singer.

Vean, my friends

just with our flowers

I have to dress up where

Are those who have no body?

I get sad

• Poem:

Quin ōctlamati noyōllo

niccaqui in cuīcatl,

niquitta in xōchitl

Māca in cuetlahuia in Tlālticpac!

• Translation:

At last I understood my heart

I hear the song

I see the flowers

Don't march on Earth!

• poem:

nimitstlasojtla inon tetlakauilili

ma tlakatl ti tepetlakpayotl miyotl

nech katl tlalelchiualistli nech

neyoliximachilistli se sitlalxonekuili

aikmikini itech nikampa tetonali

• Translation:

I love you that is the inheritance

that gives me your person.

summit of light in my existence

and an ineffable reproach on me

conscience and an immortal stela

within my soul

Nezahualcóyotl (1402 – 1472) (Nahuatl: Nezahual.cóyōtl 'hungry coyote') was the monarch (tlatoani) of the city-state of Tezcuco in Ancient Mexico. He was born on April 28 (according to other sources, February 4) of 1402 in Texcoco (currently a municipality in the State of Mexico) in the current Mexican Republic and died in 1472. He was the son of the sixth lord of the Chichimecas, Ixtlixóchitl, who means 'dark flower' (īxtlīl- 'dark, black', xōchitl 'flower') lord of the city of Texcoco, and of the Mexica princess Matlalcihuatzin, daughter of the Aztec tlatoani Huitzilíhuitl, second lord of Tenochtitlán. At birth, he was assigned the name Acolmiztli (Nahuatl: Acōlmiztli, 'strong feline')?, but the sad circumstances surrounding his adolescence led him to change his name to Nezahualcóyotl, which means "coyote that fasts or hungry coyote", understanding fasting as a form of sacrifice.

At the beginning of the 15th century the greatest center of power in the Basin of Mexico was Azcapotzalco, capital of the Tepanecs. The Tepanec lordship under Tezozómoc had tyrannical overtones, and after a relative military failure, through a palace conspiracy he managed to expel from Texcoco and finally kill Ixtlixóchitl, father of Nezahualcóyotl. Some time later, he had the opportunity to participate in an alliance with the Mexicas, who, in addition to avenging the death of his father, managed to overthrow the Tepanec power. Once he regained the throne, Nezahualcóyotl ruled Texcoco with courage and wisdom. Likewise, he gained a reputation as a sage and earned a just reputation as a poet. His extensive intellectual training translated into a high aesthetic sensitivity and a great love for nature, which were reflected not only in the architecture of the city, but also in his poetic and philosophical manifestations. Nezahualcóyotl came to build a botanical garden adorned with beautiful water pools and aqueducts in Tetzcotzingo, where meetings of poets and intellectuals were common. Some historians have stated that even when the Acolhuas professed polytheism, he began to develop the idea of a single god, which he called Tloquenahuaque. Several of his verses are currently embodied on the walls of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. 63 languages spoken in Mexico are many, but now only 10 of those 63 leagues are spoken.

Nahuatl poetry is made up of the following genres according to their theme

The Teotlatolli: dealt with the origins of the world and the divine universe.

• Them TheocuícatlThey were hymns in honor of the gods.
• Them Xopancuícatl: they were songs to life, to the joy and beauty of the world.
• Them Xochicuícatl: they were exaltation of friendship and human nobility.
• Them Yaocuícatl: were warrior and heroic songs.
• Them Icnocuícatl: they expressed anguish, sadness and reflection on death.
• Them Cuecuechcuícatl: "travies" songs, with erotic content