There are several other poets whose names belong to this age, of whom
very little is known except by their works. Yet to complete the history
of Spanish literary men, it will be necessary to mention what has come
down to us.
The first on the list is Herrera. Fernando Herrera was a native of
Seville. We learn nothing of his family, and even the date of his birth
is unknown. It is conjectured that he was born at the beginning of the
sixteenth century. He was an ecclesiastic; but it is believed that he
adopted this profession late in life, and we are ignorant of the
position he held in the hierarchy, and of all the events of his life. It
is believed that he died at a very advanced age; but when and where we
are not told. In the midst of all these negatives as to events, we get
at a few affirmatives with regard to his qualities. There is an inedited
work, entitled "The illustrious Men, Natives of Seville," written by
Rodrigo Caro, who thus mentions him:--"Herrera was so well known in his
native town of Seville, and his memory is so regarded there, that I may
be considered in fault if my account of his works is brief: however, I
will repeat all I have heard without futile additions, for I knew,
though I never spoke to him,--I being a boy when he was an old man; but
I remember the reputation he enjoyed. He understood Latin perfectly, and
wrote several epigrams in that language, which might rival the most
famous ancient authors in thought and expression. He possessed only a
moderate knowledge of Greek. He read the best authors in the modern
languages, having studied them with care; and to this he added a
profound knowledge of Castilian, carefully noting its powers of
expressing with nobleness and grandeur. He evidently wrote prose with
great care, since his prose is the best in our language. As to his
Spanish poetry, to which his genius chiefly impelled him, the best
critics pronounce his poems correct in their versification, full of
poetic colouring, powerful and forcible as well as elegant and
beautiful; although, indeed, as he did not write for every vulgar
reader, so that the uneducated are unable to judge of the extent of his
erudition. He excelled in the art of selecting epithets and expressions,
without affectation. He was naturally grave and severe, and his
disposition betrays itself in his verses. He associated with few,
leading a retired life, either alone in his study, or in company, with
some friend, who sympathised with him, and to whom he confided his
cares. Whether from this cause, or from the merit of his poetry, he was
called the 'divine Herrera:' as a satirist of those days mentions:--
'Thus a thousand rhymes and sonnets
Divine Herrera wrote in vain.'
"His poems were not printed during his life; Francisco Pacheco, a
celebrated painter of this city, whose studio was the resort of all
clever men of Seville and the environs, performed this office. He was a
great admirer of his works, and collected them with great care, and
printed them under the patronage of the count de Olivarez. Herrera's
prose works are the best in our language. They consist of the Life and
Martyrdom of Thomas More, president of the English parliament in the
time of the unhappy Henry VIII., leader and abettor of the schism of
that kingdom (translated from the Latin of Thomas Stapleton); the Naval
Battle against the Turks at Lepanto; a Commentary on Garcilaso; all of
which display deep reading in Greek, Latin, and modern languages, and
which he published while living. He employed himself on a general
History of Spain, to the time of the emperor Charles V., which he
brought up to the year 1590. He was well versed in philosophy: he
studied mathematics, ancient and modern geography, and possessed a
chosen library. The reward of all this was only a benefice in the parish
church of St. Andres in this city. But he has many associates in the
moderation of his fortune; for though every one praises merit, few seek
and fewer reward it."[27]
The praise of Caro is echoed by others of more note. Cervantes, when he
resided at Seville, frequented the society of Herrera; in his "Voyage to
Parnassus" he calls him the "Divine," and says that the "ivy of his fame
clung to the walls of immortality." Lope de Vega in his "Laurel de
Apollo," calls him the "learned," and speaks of him with respect and
admiration. Sedano tells us that he was a handsome man; tall, of a manly
and dignified aspect, lively eyes, and thick curled hair and beard. In
addition, we learn that the lady of his love, whom he celebrates under
the names of Light, Love, Sun, Star--Eliodora, was the Countess of
Gelves. He loved her, it is said, all his life, to the very height of
platonic passion, which burnt fiery and bright in his own heart, but
revealed itself only by manifestations of reverence and self-struggle.
This sort of attachment, when true, is certainly of an heroic and
sublime nature, and demands our admiration and sympathy; but we must be
convinced of the reality of the sufferings to which it gives rise, and
of the unlimited nature of its devotion, or it becomes a mere picture
wanting warmth and life. Petrarch's letters give a soul to his poetry:
the various accounts they contain of his solitary struggles at Vaucluse,
make us turn with deeper interest to his verses, which, otherwise, might
almost be reasoned away into a mere ideal feeling. Knowing nothing of
Herrera but that he loved "a bright particular star," shining far above,
we are willing to find an accord between this love of the elevated and
unattainable, and the grandeur of the subjects he celebrates in his
poetry, and the dignity of his verse.
Herrera is a great favourite with those Spanish critics who prefer
loftiness to simplicity of style, and the ideas of the head rather than
the emotions of the heart: the sublime style at which he aimed gained
for him the surname of Divine. Boscan, Garcilaso, and Luis de Leon,
adopted the Italian metres, and with greater diffuseness, and therefore
less classical elegance, but with equal truth and poetic verve, and
informed the Spanish language with powers unknown to former poets. But
this did not suffice for Herrera. He delighted in the grandiose and
sonorous. He altered the language, introducing some obsolete and some
new words, and, attending with a sensitive ear to the modulations of
sound, endeavoured to make harmony between the thought and its oral
expression. Lope de Vega held Herrera's versification in high esteem:
quoting a passage from his odes, he exclaims, "Here, no language exceeds
our own--no, not even the Greek nor the Latin. Fernando de Herrera is
never out of my sight." Quintana, whose criticism is rather founded on
artificial, rather than genuine and simple taste, as is apt to be the
case with critics, is also his great admirer. He considers that he
contributed more than any other to elevate, not only the poetic style of
the Spanish language, but the essence of its poetry, in gifting it with
more boldness of imagination and fire of expression than any preceding
poet. Sedano is less partial: while he praises and admits his right to
his name of "divine," he observes, that in endeavouring to purify and
elevate his diction, he erred in rendering it harsh and barren, wanting
in suavity and flow, and injured it by the affectation of antiquated
phrases. His odes are certainly grand: we feel that the poet is full of
his subject, and rises with it. It is rash of a foreigner, indeed, to
give an opinion; still, we cannot help saying that while we admire the
fervour of expression, the grandeur of the ideas, and the harmony of the
versification, we miss the while a living grace more charming than all.
It is the poetry of the head rather than the heart. And thus, among
Herrera's poems, the one we admire most is his Ode to Sleep; for, joined
to elegant chasteness and great purity of language, we find a pure
genuine feeling, feelingly expressed.
Suave sueño, tu que en tarde buelo
las alas perezosas blandamente
bates, de adormideras coronado,
por el puro, adormido, vago cielo,
ven á la ultima parte de Ocidente,
y de licor sagrado
baña mi ojos tristes que cansado
y rendido al furor de mi tormento,
no admito algun sosiego,
y el dolor desconorta al infrimiento.
Ven a mi humilde ruego:
ven a mi ruego humilde, amor de aquella
que Juno te ofreciò, tu Ninfa bella.
Divino Sueño, gloria de mortales,
regalo dulce al misero afligido:
Sueño amoroso, ven a quien espera
cesar del egercicio de sus males,
y al descanso bolver todo el sentido.
¿ Como sufres que muera
lejos de tu poder quien tuyo era?
¿ No es vileza olvidar un solo pecho
en veladora pena,
que sin gozar del bien che al mundo has hecho,
de tu vigor se agena?
Ven, Sueño alegre: Sueño, ven, dichoso:
vuelve a mi alma ya, vuelve el reposo.
Sienta yo en tal estrecho tu grandeza:
baja, y esparce liquido el rocio:
huya la alba, que en torno resplandece,
mira mi ardiente llanto y mi tristeza,
y quanta fuerza tiene el pesar mio:
y mi frente humidece,
que ya de fuegos juntos el Sol crece.
Torna, sabroso Sueño, y tus hermosas
alas suenen aora,
y huya con sus alas presurosas
la desabrida Aurora;
y lo che en mi falto la noche fria,
termine la cercana luz del dia.
Una corona, o Sueño, de tus flores
ofrezco: tù produce el blando efecto
en los desiertos cercos de mis ojos,
que el ayre entrevgido con olores
alhaga, y ledo mueve en dulce afecto:
y de estos mis enojos
destierra, manso Sueño, los despojos.
Ven pues, amado Sueño, ven liviano,
que del ruo Oriente
Despunta el tierno Febo el rayo cano.
Ven ya, Sueño clemente,
y acabara el dolor; asi te vea
en brazos de tu cara Pasitea."
[Footnote 27: Sedano.]