JUAN DEL ENCINA. A member of the household of the Duke of Alba, whence
he passed over into Italy. There he became master of the papal choir; he
then took orders and went to Jerusalem. He is supposed to have died at
Salamanca. Of his lyrics, which belong to his earlier period, the more
important have been published by Menéndez y Pelayo, _Antología_, IV, 135
ff. His eclogues were, perhaps, the first Spanish dramas actually
staged. Cf. F. Wolf, _Studien_, etc., pp. 270 ff.
*Page 64.*—l. 14. *mancilla*: here used in the older sense of _pity_,
_compassion_.
PEDRO MANUEL DE URREA. This noble published his lyrics in 1513 in a
volume dedicated to his mother. They are partly secular and partly
religious in nature, and show some Italian influence. Urrea also
cultivates popular Spanish forms. His _Cancionero_ has been reprinted in
the _Biblioteca de escritores aragoneses. Secc. lit. II_ (1876). Cf. the
verse translation of this _romance_ in Ticknor, I, 371.
GIL VICENTE. A Portuguese disciple of Encina’s, who wrote dramas in both
Portuguese and Spanish. The present song occurs in his play, _El auto de
la Sibila Casandra_. See the edition of his works, Hamburg, 1834, and
cf. Ticknor, I, 259, where there is a metrical translation of the song.
JUAN BOSCÁN ALMOGAVER. A Catalonian who wrote in Castilian with great
success. He served in the Spanish army in Italy, and was later a tutor
to the Duke of Alba. His earlier verses are in the national manner.
Prompted, it is said, by the Venetian ambassador Navagiero, he became an
Italianate, and, following the lead of Imperial and Santillana, was much
more influential than they in establishing Italian verse methods in
Castilian. He has made a large use of the hendecasyllable, the _verso
suelto_ or blank verse (imitated from the Italian _versi sciolti_), the
_ottava rima_ and the sonnet, and has frequently imitated Dante,
Petrarch, and the _cinque cento_ poets of Italy. Among his more
important poetical works are the _Hero y Leandro_ and the _Octava rima_,
this latter being an allegorical poem from which the verses on p. 68 ff.
are an excerpt. The influence of the Italian poet Bembo is clear in the
_Octava rima_. In his translation of Castiglione’s _Cortegiano_, Boscán
showed a mastery of Castilian prose. Cf. W. T. Knapp, _Las obras de Juan
Boscán_, Madrid, 1875, and G. Baist, _Spanische Literatur_ (Gröber’s
_Grundriss_, II, 2, 449 ff.).
*Page 68.*—ll. 6-8. A reminiscence of Dante, _Inferno_, Canto V, the
words of Francesca: “Nessun maggior dolore, | Che ricordarsi del tempo
felice | Nella miseria.”
l. 11. *Por do*: _wherefore_.
*Page 69.*—l. 17. Cf. the translation of this stanza in Ticknor, I, 445.
l. 30. *quexaros*, i.e., *quejaros*.
GARCILASO DE LA VEGA. This soldier-poet, a native of Toledo, took part
in the battle of Pavia, distinguished himself in several succeeding
campaigns, and was killed in an assault when but thirty-three years of
age. A friend of Boscán, he represents the same Italianizing tendencies
in Spanish literature. His verses, along with those of Boscán, were
first published by the latter’s widow in 1543. The bulk of his poetry is
small—some early _villancicos_, a few eclogues and elegies, an epistle,
several _canciones_, and between thirty and forty sonnets—but it
suffices to show him to be a greater poet than Boscán. But very little
of his work is in the old Castilian manner; the Italians are his masters
in the important part of his production, although the eclogues show also
a Vergilian influence. Cf. _Biblioteca de autores españoles_, vols. 32
and 42, and see Baist in Gröber’s _Grundriss_, II, 2, p. 449; Ticknor,
I, 446 ff.
*Page 71.*—l. 34. *de consuno*, _at the same time_.
*Page 72.*—l. 12. *Tomando*: if *fe* is the object of *tomando*, then it
is by a poetical license that *presupuesto* is left invariable. If *fe*
is the subject of *tomando*, the participle agrees with the idea in *lo
que no entiendo*.
l. 17. *nascí*, i.e., *nací*.
FERNANDO DE ACUÑA. A member of the court of Charles V. In imitation of
Garcilaso de la Vega, he adopted the Italian measures, and was
particularly successful with the sonnet. Cf. his _Varias poesías_,
Madrid, 1803-04, and see Ticknor I, 458 ff.
GUTIERRE DE CETINA. Another follower of Garcilaso. Like the latter he
was a soldier, and distinguished himself in Italy. About 1550 he appears
to have wandered as far as Mexico. Cetina cultivated the sonnet with
great skill. His madrigals are famous. Cf. the ed. of his _Obras_,
Seville, 1895; and see Salvi López, _Un Petrarchista spagnuolo_ (1896);
Ticknor I, 461 (with a verse translation of the first madrigal).
DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA. Soldier, diplomat, historian, humanist, poet;
one of the most illustrious figures in the history of Spain. His long
sojourn in Italy acquainted him with the Italian verse methods, which he
adopted, although he constantly recurred to the regular Spanish forms,
such as the _quintillas_ and the _redondillas_. His fame rests secure,
despite the unfounded attribution to him of the picaresque novel
_Lazarillo de Tormes_. There is an edition of his verse by Knapp (1877);
cf. also _Biblioteca de autores españoles_, vol. 32, and see J. D.
Fesenmair, _Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, ein span. Humanist des 16. Jhs._,
Munich, 1882.
*Page 74.*—l. 24. *de medroso*, _through fear_.
l. 25. *De desesperado*, _through despair_.
CRISTÓBAL DE CASTILLEJO. This writer was abroad for a long period as the
secretary of Ferdinand I., king of Bohemia. Although he spent much time
in Italy, and occasionally adopted the Italian manner, he usually
protested loudly against the Italianizing tendencies in Spanish
literature. Cf. _Biblioteca de autores españoles_, vol. 32.
*Page 75.*—l. 15. This poem is in double _quintillas_.
l. 26. *Anabaptistas*: allusion is here made to the fact that this sect
does not recognize any but adult baptism. One baptized in unconscious
childhood has to be rebaptized to enter this communion.
*Page 76.*—l. 3. *Petrarquistas*: imitators of the Italian poet Petrarch
(1304-74).
l. 20. *Jorge Manrique*: cf. note to p. 42.
l. 23. *platique* (i.e., *pratique*), _because the old style is no
longer practised_.
l. 24. *Garci-Sánchez*: Garci-Sánchez de Badajoz, the author of an
allegorical poem entitled _El Infierno del Amor_, died in a mad-house at
the end of the fifteenth or in the early sixteenth century. He appears
here as an enemy of the Italianates.
l. 25. *¡Quien me otorgase*, _oh, if some one would only grant me_!
l. 30. *Cartagena*: cf. note to p. 57.
l. 34. *Torres Naharro*: one of the most important of the early Spanish
dramatists. His plays were published at Naples in 1517. Following the
rule of Horace, he was the first to divide the Spanish drama into five
acts. Despite the large Italian influence upon him, he is here made an
opponent of the Italian movement in Spain.
*Page 77.*—l. 5. *Boscán*: cf. note to p. 67.
l. 6. *Garcilaso*: cf. note to p. 70. The praise here given is, of
course, ironical.
l. 22. *desmandados*, _astray_.
*Page 78.*—l. 10. *Luis de Haro*: although Castillejo singles this
personage out as a leading Italianate, little is known of him. The few
poems ascribed to him in the _Cancionero_ of Nájera (1554) hardly
justify the importance here given to him. Cf. Ticknor, I, 461, note.
l. 13. *el otro*: seemingly, Luis de Haro; but Garcilaso also figured in
the campaign against the Sultan.—*Solimán*: Solimán II, Sultan from 1520
to 1566.
GREGORIO DE SILVESTRE. A Portuguese, organist of the cathedral at
Granada. He imitated Castillejo in abusing the Italianates, yet he later
wrote in the foreign manner. Simplicity of expression and considerable
finish of form are the chief characteristics of his verse. Cf. Ticknor,
I, 465 f.; Garcia Peres, _Catálogo de los autores portugueses que
escribieron en castellano_, Madrid, 1890. His verse is in the
_Biblioteca de autores españoles_, vol. 32.
*Page 78.*—l. 23-24. Cf. p. 77, ll. 5 ff. Castillejo’s praise was rather
sarcastic.
*Page 80.*—l. 17. *Guarte*: i.e., *guárdate*.
JORGE DE MONTEMAYOR. Also a Portuguese, and originally named _Montemôr_.
He is famous as the author of the prose pastoral romance _Diana
Enamorada_. He wrote a good deal of verse in Spanish—satires, elegies,
ballads, lyrics, etc.—that may be found in his _Cancioneros_ (Antwerp,
1554, etc.). Cf. G. Schönnherr, _Jorge de Montemayor_, etc., Halle,
1886.
LUIS DE CAMOENS. The glory of Portuguese literature, author of the
Portuguese epic _Os Lusiadas_. Like so many of his countrymen, he wrote
verse in Spanish as well as in his own language. Cf. his _Obras_,
Lisbon, 1860-69; and see Ticknor, III, 77, note, and 58 (with a verse
translation of the _Letrilla_).
*Page 81.*—l. 30. *vo*, i.e., *voy*.
*Page 82.*—l. 26. *fora*, i.e., *fuera*.
SANTA TERESA DE JESÚS (Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada). A Carmelite nun
already in 1536, she devoted the rest of her laborious life to founding
convents and thoroughly reforming her Order and to the composition of
her devotional and mystical works (_El Camino de la perfección—El
castillo interior_, etc.). She is one of the greatest of the Spanish
mystics, and is in every way an attractive figure. Cf. _Biblioteca de
autores españoles_, vols. 53 and 55, for her works; and see an account
of her life by Mrs. Cunninghame Graham (1894).
*Page 85.*—l. 21. This _Letrilla_ has been translated by Longfellow
(Riverside ed., 1886, VI, 216).
FERNANDO DE HERRERA. An ecclesiastic, and head of the so-called Seville
school of lyric poetry in the sixteenth century. Not much is known of
his life. Eminently a poet, and as such called the _Divine_ by his
countrymen, he wrote with exceeding purity of style and greatly enriched
Spanish poetic diction. His masterpiece is the ode: _Por la vitoria de
Lepanto_. The influence of Petrarch is clear in his sonnets. See
_Biblioteca de autores españoles_, vol. 32, for his poems; and cf.
Ticknor, III, 7 ff. and E. Bourciez in the _Annales de la Faculté des
lettres de Bordeaux_ (1891).
*Page 86.*—l. 1. This sonnet has been Englished by Archdeacon Churton
(in his translations from Gongora, etc., London, 1862, vol. I, p. 223).
The naval battle of Lepanto (near Corinth) took place on October 7,
1571, between the Turks on one side, and on the other the combined
squadrons of Spain, Venice and Pope Pius V, under the command of Don
John of Austria, a natural brother of Philip II. The Christians
triumphed and Mohammedan inroads into the Occident were checked.
Cervantes was crippled in this battle.—*Ponto*, _ocean_, _sea_.
l. 14. *El joven de Austria*, i.e., Don John.
l. 15. Cf. the _Cantiga_ of Villasandino, p. 24.
*Page 87.*—l. 14. *aquella*: cf. p. 88, l. 23.
*Page 88.*—l. 12. *efeto*, 15 *afeto*: i.e., *efecto*, *afecto*; cf.
*vitoria*.
l. 23. *Pasitea*: one of the three Graces.
l. 24. Cf. note to p. 86, l. 1, and see the critical edition of this ode
by A. Morel-Fatio, Paris, 1893.
l. 25. *Trace*, _Thracian_: here the _Turk_.
*Page 89.*—l. 20. *las dos Hesperias*, i.e., Italy and Spain.
ll. 27-28. Allusions to the campaigns of the Turks in Hungary and
Dalmatia, and their seizure of Rhodes (1522).
*Page 91.*—l. 15. *Egito*: cf. _Ægyptus_, feminine in Latin.
l. 24. *dellas*, i.e., *de ellas*.
*Page 92.*—l. 21. *dragón*; 28. *león*: allusions to the arms of the
Turk and of Castile and Leon.
*Page 93.*—l. 6. *De Tiro*, i.e., _of the Turks_. Tyre had been in their
hands since 1517.
FRAY LUIS DE LEÓN. Cleric, poet, humanist, mystic, professor at the
University of Salamanca. Accused of a violation of church law in
publishing a Spanish translation of the _Song of Solomon_, he was
arrested by order of the tribunal of the Inquisition and spent five
years in its dungeons. Then, his innocence being made clear, he was
released, rehabilitated in the University, and promoted to high honors
in his Order (the Augustinians). There is no good edition of his works,
but his poems and his prose treatises in expositive theology may be
found in vol. 37 of the _Biblioteca de autores españoles_. His verse is
admirable, and is distinguished by its noble diction, the purity of its
style, and the simplicity of its expression, qualities especially
noticeable in the _Vida del Campo_ and the _Profecía del Tajo_. It shows
generally a strongly marked mystical tendency, but bears also the
impress of his humanistic temperament. The influence of Horace is
everywhere patent in León’s works. With Herrera and Garcilaso, he
occupies the highest place among the lyric poets of the age. See
Menéndez y Pelayo, _De la poesía mística_ (_Estudios de crítica
literaria_, Madrid, 1884); J. D. M. Ford, _Luis de León, the Spanish
Poet, Humanist, and Mystic_ (_Publications of the Modern Language
Association of America_, vol. XIV, No. 2); and Blanco-García’s recent
treatise on León. See also English poetical versions of several of
León’s lyrics made by H. Phillips (Philadelphia, 1883).
*Page 97.*—ll. 14-15. An extremely venturesome _enjambement_. But the
entity of _mente_ in adverbs is always clear to the Spanish mind.
l. 24. This poem has been rendered into English verse by W. C. Bryant.
Cf. Ticknor, II, 88.
l. 30. *agora*, i.e., *ahora*.
*Page 100.*—l. 6. *el arrebatado*, i.e., _the sudden, violent and
abnormal movement_.
ll. 12-13. The Bears are, of course, boreal constellations and regularly
above the horizon.
l. 26. León here deals with an unhistorical legend of Arabic origin,
according to which the Moors were introduced into Spain in 711, through
the treachery of an injured father, Count Julian, whose daughter,
sometimes called _Cava_, King Roderick was said to have seduced. The
Spanish poet imitates the situation in Horace’s ode, _Pastor quum
traheret per freta navibus_.
*Page 101.*—l. 14. *Constantina*: a town of the province of Seville.
l. 17. *Sansueña*: the Spanish kingdom of Sansueña figures in the
legends dealing with Charlemagne, and has been identified with
Saragossa; cf. the _Don Quijote_, II, ch. xxvi. For an identification
with Saxony cf. F. Hanssen, _Sobre la poesía épica de los Visigodos_,
Santiago, 1892.
l. 19. *dende*: equivalent to the modern *desde*.
*Page 102.*—l. 12. *el hercúleo estrecho*, _the Strait of Gibraltar_.
l. 19. *el puerto ... sagrado*: the port of Tarifa.
l. 21. *el alta sierra*: el was used as the feminine article even before
adjectives in earlier Spanish.
l. 30. *Betis*: the Latin river _Bætis_, the modern _Guadalquivir_.
*Page 103.*—l. 2. *luces*, i.e., *días*.—*haces*, _ranks_.
l. 6. Churton (_l. c._, II, 245) has made a poetical translation of the
_Noche serena_.
*Page 104.*—l. 22. *luz*: i.e., Mercury.