Abstract
This paper offers a comparative study of the so-called «retrato de la dama» (portrait of a lady), a serial song from oral tradition that shows important connections with the written poetic tradition. The analysis of these texts will allow us to explain, among others compositive mechanisms, the operation of the literary propagation, consisting in the spread of an image or metaphor, that is associated to a specific element, to other elements that by themselves can’t establish a reasoned and understandable relationship, or in any foreseeable case, with the new comparison terms.
