A dominant feature of Quechua poetics, especially within the harawi (festive song) genre, is semantic parallelism, accomplished through the use of semantic doubles—⁠—pairs of related statements with identical structure that contrast their homologous terms. For example, in “Haray Harawi”, the symmetrical employment of ‘queen’ and ‘princess’ in the opening lines brings out the consistent identity of the subject across time through the irreconcilable concurrence of those terms. This poetic device adheres to the Andean philosophical model of yanantin (complementary dualism) premised upon interdependent opposites ordering the totality of thought.

FELIPE GUAMÁN POMA DE AYALA, born 1535 to a family of the non-Inca Yarowilca dynasty from the regional capital Huánuco, was a Quechua nobleman who chronicled the history and culture of the Andes from ancient times through Spanish colonial rule. His most famous work, The First New Chronicle and Good Government, is a richly illustrated manuscript that critiques the Spanish administration and offers a perspective on Andean society from an indigenous point of view.