Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The action in the poem is told from the perspective of a third-person objective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poem is written in an iambic pentameter form.
Metaphors and Similes
When El Cid goes out to battle, he places his wife and his two daughters in a monastery where he hopes they will be safe. From that point on, monasteries and other religious buildings are used in the poem as a metaphor representing safety.
Alliteration and Assonance
We have an alliteration in the line "He turned and looked upon them, and he wept very sore".
Irony
No ironic elements can be found in the poem.
Genre
Epic national poem.
Setting
The action described in the poem takes place over the course of many years in the territory nowadays knows as Spain.
Tone
The tone use in the poem is a violent one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is El Cid and the antagonists are the Moors.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is a political one and is between the Moors and the Spaniards.
Climax
The poem reaches its climax when El Cid regains his honor.
Foreshadowing
The general feeling of unrest and El Cid's concern for his family foreshadows the way in which the general population will later be affected by the war.
Understatement
El Cid claims on numerous times that the churches and monasteries will never be affected by the war. This proves to be an understatement when later in the poem the narrator describes how many such buildings were affected by the war.
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the poem is the idea that nothing is more important than a man's honor.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term sword is used in the poem in many instances as a general term to represent power and influence.
Personification
We have a personification in the line "our feet are brave and swift".
Hyperbole
We have a hyperbole in the line "they were like lions waiting for an easy pray".
Onomatopoeia
We have an onomatopoeia in the line "the swords will sing our victory".
