Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Miranda van de Heijning,
Renald Levesque and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team.
MODERN SPANISH
LYRICS
_EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND
VOCABULARY_
BY
ELIJAH CLARENCE HILLS, PH. D., LITT.D.
_Professor of Romance Languages in Colorado College_
AND
S. GRISWOLD MORLEY, PH. D.
_University of Colorado_
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1913
Page iii
PREFACE
The present volume aims to furnish American students of
Spanish with a convenient selection of the Castilian
lyrics best adapted to class reading. It was the intention
of the editors to include no poem which did not possess
distinct literary value. On the other hand, some of the
most famous Spanish lyrics do not seem apt to awaken the
interest of the average student: it is for this reason
that scholars will miss the names of certain eminent poets
of the _siglo de oro_. The nineteenth century, hardly
inferior in merit and nearer to present-day readers in
thought and language, is much more fully represented.
No apology is needed for the inclusion of poems by
Spanish-American writers, for they will bear comparison
both in style and thought with the best work from the
mother Peninsula.
The Spanish poems are presented chronologically, according
to the dates of their authors. The Spanish-American poems
are arranged according to countries and chronologically
within those divisions. Omissions are indicated by rows of
dots and are due in all cases to the necessity of bringing
the material within the limits of a small volume. Three
poems (the _Fiesta de toros_ of Moratín, the _Castellano
leal_ of Rivas and the _Leyenda_ of Zorrilla) are more
narrative than lyric. The _romances_ selected are Page iv
the most lyrical of their kind. A few songs have been
added to illustrate the relation of poetry to music.
The editors have been constantly in consultation in all
parts of the work, but the preparation of the _Prosody_,
the _Notes_ (including articles on Spanish-American
literature) and the part of the _Introduction_ dealing
with the nineteenth century, was undertaken by Mr. Hills,
while Mr. Morley had in charge the _Introduction_ prior
to 1800, and the _Vocabulary_. Aid has been received from
many sources. Special thanks are due to Professor J.D.M.
Ford and Dr. A.F. Whittem of Harvard University, Don
Ricardo Palma of Peru, Don Rubén Darío of Nicaragua, Don
Rufino Blanco-Fombona of Venezuela, Professor Carlos
Bransby of the University of California, and Dr. Alfred
Coester of Brooklyn, N.Y.
E.C.H.
S.G.M.
Page v
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION:
I. Spanish Lyric Poetry to 1800
II. Spanish Lyric Poetry of the Nineteenth Century
III. Spanish Versification
ESPAÑA
ROMANCES:
Abenámar
Fonte-frida
El conde Arnaldos
La constancia
El amante desdichado
El prisionero
VINCENTE (GIL) (1470-1540?)
Canción
TERESA DE JESÚS (SANTA) (1515-1582)
Letrilla (que llevaba por registro en su breviario)
LEÓN (FRAY LUIS DE) (1527-1591)
Vida retirada
ANÓNIMO
Á Cristo crucificado
VEGA (LOPE DE) (1562-1635)
Canción de la Virgen
Mañana
QUEVEDO (FRANCISCO DE) (1580-1645)
Epístola satírica al conde de Olivares
Letrilla satírica
VILLEGAS (ESTEBAN MANUEL DE) (1589-1669)
Cantilena: De un pajarillo
CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA (PEDRO) (1600-1681)
"Estas que fueron pompa y alegría,"
Consejo de Crespo á su hijo
GONZÁLEZ (FRAY DIEGO) (1733-1794)
El murciélago alevoso page vi
MORATÍN (NICOLÁS F. DE) (1737-1780)
Fiesta de toros en Madrid
JOVELLANOS (GASPAR M. DE) (1744-1811)
Á Arnesto
MELÉNDEZ VALDÉS (JUAN) (1754-1817)
Rosana en los fuegos
QUINTANA (MANUEL JOSÉ) (1772-1857)
Oda á España, después de la revolución de marzo
SOLÍS (DIONISIO) (1774-1834)
La pregunta de la niña
GALLEGO (JUAN NICASIO) (1777-1853)
El Dos de Mayo
MARTÍNEZ DE LA ROSA (FRANCISCO) (1787-1862)
El nido
RIVAS (DUQUE DE) (1791-1865)
Un castellano leal
AROLAS (PADRE JUAN) (1805-1849)
"Sé más feliz que yo"
ESPRONCEDA (JOSÉ DE) (1808-1842)
Canción del pirata
Á la patria
ZORRILLA (JOSÉ) (1817-1893)
Oriental
Indecisión
La fuente
Á buen juez, mejor testigo
TRUEBA (ANTONIO DE) (1821-1889)
Cantos de pájaro
La perejilera
SELGAS (JOSÉ) (1821-1882)
La modestia
ALARCÓN (PEDRO ANTONIO DE) (1833-1891)
El Mont-Blanc
El secreto
BÉCQUER (GUSTAVO A.) (1836-1870)
Rimas: II
VII
LIII
LXXIII page vii
QUEROL (VINCENTE WENCESLAO) (1836-1889)
En Noche-Buena
CAMPOAMOR (RAMÓN DE) (1817-1901)
Proximidad del bien
¡Quién supiera escribir!
El mayor castigo
NÚÑEZ DE ARCE (GASPAR) (1834-1903)
¡Excelsior!
Tristezas
¡Sursum Corda!
PALACIO (MANUEL DEL) (1832-1895)
Amor oculto
BARTRINA (JOAQUÍN MARÍA) (1850-1880)
Arabescos
REINA (MANUEL) (1860-)
La poesía
ARGENTINA
ECHEVERRÍA (O. ESTEBAN) (1805-1851)
Canción de Elvira
ANDRADE (OLEGARIO VICTOR) (1838-1882)
Atlántida
Prometeo
OBLIGADO (RAFAEL) (1852-)
En la ribera
COLOMBIA
ORTIZ (JOSÉ JOAQUÍN) (1814-1892)
Colombia y España
CARO (JOSÉ EUSEBIO) (1817-1853)
El ciprés
MARROQUÍN (JOSÉ MANUEL) (1827-)
Los cazadores y la perrilla
CARO (MIGUEL ANTONIO) (1843-1909)
Vuelta á la patria page viii
ARRIETA (DIÓGENES A.) (1848-)
En la tumba de mi hijo
GUTIÉRREZ PONCE (IGNACIO) (1850-)
Dolora
GARAVITO A. (JOSÉ MARÍA) (1860-)
Volveré mañana
CUBA
HEREDIA (JOSÉ MARÍA) (1803-1839)
En el teocalli de Cholula
El Niágara
"PLÁCIDO" (GABRIEL DE LA CONCEPCIÓN VALDÉS) (1809-1844)
Plegaria á Dios
AVELLANEDA (GERTRUDIS GÓMEZ DE) (1814-1873)
Á Wáshington
Al partir
ECUADOR
OLMEDO (JOSÉ JOAQUÍN) (1780-1847)
La victoria de Junín
MÉXICO
PESADO (JOSÉ JOAQUÍN DE) (1801-1861)
Serenata
CALDERÓN (FERNANDO) (1809-1845)
La rosa marchita
ACUÑA (MANUEL) (1849-1873)
Nocturno: Á Rosario
PEZA (JUAN DE DIOS) (1852-1910)
Reír llorando
Fusiles y muñecas
NICARAGUA
DARÍO (RUBÉN) (1864-)
Á Roosevelt
page ix
VENEZUELA
BELLO (ANDRÉS) (1781-1865)
Á la victoria de Bailén
La agricultura de la zona tórrida
PÉREZ BONALDE (JUAN ANTONIO) (1846-1892)
Vuelta á la patria
MARTÍN DE LA GUARDIA (HERACLIO) (1830-)
Ultima ilusión
CANCIONES
La carcelera
Riverana
La cachucha
La valenciana
Canción devota
La jota gallega
El trágala
Himno de Riego
Himno nacional de México
Himno nacional de Cuba
NOTES
VOCABULARY[a]
[Transcriber's note a: The vocabulary section has
not been submitted for transcription.}
INTRODUCTION page xi
I
SPANISH LYRIC POETRY TO 1800
It has been observed that epic poetry, which is collective
and objective in its nature, always reaches its full
development in a nation sooner than lyric poetry, which is
individual and subjective. Such is certainly the case in
Spain. Numerous popular epics of much merit existed there
in the Middle Ages.[1] Of a popular lyric there are few
traces in the same period; and the Castilian lyric as an
art-form reached its height in the sixteenth, and again in
the nineteenth, centuries. It is necessary always to bear
in mind the distinction between the mysterious product
called popular poetry, which is continually being created
but seldom finds its way into the annals of literature,
and artistic poetry. The chronicler of the Spanish lyric
is concerned with the latter almost exclusively, though he
will have occasion to mention the former not infrequently
as the basis of some of the best artificial creations.
[Footnote 1: The popular epics were written in assonating
lines of variable length. There were also numerous monkish
narrative poems _(mester de clereçia)_ in stanzas of four
Alexandrine lines each, all riming _(cuaderna vía)_.]
If one were to enumerate _ab origine_ the lyric
productions of the Iberian Peninsula he might begin
with the vague references of Strabo to the songs of its
primitive inhabitants, and then pass on to Latin page xii
poets of Spanish birth, such as Seneca, Lucan and Martial.
The later Spaniards who wrote Christian poetry in Latin,
as Juvencus and Prudentius, might then be considered. But
in order not to embrace many diverse subjects foreign
to the contents of this collection, we must confine our
inquiry to lyric production in the language of Castile,
which became the dominating tongue of the Kingdom of
Spain.
Such a restriction excludes, of course, the Arabic lyric,
a highly artificial poetry produced abundantly by the
Moors during their occupation of the south of Spain; it
excludes also the philosophical and religious poetry of
the Spanish Jews, by no means despicable in thought or
form. Catalan poetry, once written in the Provençal manner
and of late happily revived, also lies outside our field.
Even the Galician poetry, which flourished so freely under
the external stimulus of the Provençal troubadours, can be
included only with regard to its influence upon Castilian.
The Galician dialect, spoken in the northwest corner of
the Peninsula, developed earlier than the Castilian of the
central region, and it was adopted by poets in other parts
for lyric verse. Alfonso X of Castile (reigned 1252-1284)
could write prose in Castilian, but he must needs employ
Galician for his _Cantigas de Santa María_. The Portuguese
nobles, with King Diniz (reigned 1279-1325) at their head,
filled the idle hours of their bloody and passionate lives
by composing strangely abstract, conventional poems of
love and religion in the manner of the Provençal _canso,
dansa, balada_ and _pastorela_, which had had such a
luxuriant growth in Southern France in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. A highly elaborated metrical system
mainly distinguishes these writers, but some of page xiii
their work catches a pleasing lilt which is supposed
to represent the imitation of songs of the people. The
popular element in the Galician productions is slight, but
it was to bear important fruit later, for its spirit is
that of the _serranas_ of Ruiz and Santillana, and of
_villancicos_ and eclogues in the sixteenth century.
It was probably in the neighborhood of 1350 that lyrics
began to be written in Castilian by the cultured classes
of Leon and Castile, who had previously thought Galician
the only proper tongue for that use, but the influence of
the Galician school persisted long after. The first real
lyric in Castilian is its offspring. This is the anonymous
_Razón feyta d'amor_ or _Aventura amorosa_ (probably
thirteenth century), a dainty story of the meeting of two
lovers. It is apparently an isolated example, ahead of its
time, unless, as is the case with the Castilian epic, more
poems are lost than extant. The often quoted _Cántica de
la Virgen_ of Gonzalo de Berceo (first half of thirteenth
century), with its popular refrain _Eya velar_, is an
oasis in the long religious epics of the amiable monk of
S. Millán de la Cogolla. One must pass into the succeeding
century to find the next examples of the true lyric. Juan
RUIZ, the mischievous Archpriest of Hita (flourished _ca_.
1350), possessed a genius sufficiently keen and human to
infuse a personal vigor into stale forms. In his _Libro de
buen amor_ he incorporated lyrics both sacred and profane,
_Loores de Santa María_ and _Cánticas de serrana_, plainly
in the Galician manner and of complex metrical structure.
The _serranas_ are particularly free and unconventional.
The Chancellor Pero LÓPEZ DE AYALA (1332-1407), wise
statesman, brilliant historian and trenchant page xiv
satirist, wrote religious songs in the same style and
still more intricate in versification. They are included
in the didactic poem usually called _El rimado de
palacio_.
Poetry flourished in and about the courts of the monarchs
of the Trastamara family; and what may be supposed a
representative collection of the work done in the reigns
of Henry II (1369-1379), John I (1379-1388), Henry III
(1388-1406) and the minority of John II (1406-1454), is
preserved for us in the _Cancionero_ which Juan Alfonso de
Baena compiled and presented to the last-named king. Two
schools of versifiers are to be distinguished in it. The
older men, such as Villasandino, Sánchez de Talavera,
Macías, Jerena, Juan Rodríguez del Padrón and Baena
himself, continued the artificial Galician tradition, now
run to seed. In others appears the imitation of Italian
models which was to supplant the ancient fashion.
Francisco Imperial, a worshiper of Dante, and other
Andalusians such as Ruy Páez de Ribera, Pero González de
Uceda and Ferrán Manuel de Lando, strove to introduce
Italian meters and ideas. They first employed the Italian
hendecasyllable, although it did not become acclimated
till the days of Boscán. They likewise cultivated the
_metro de arte mayor_, which later became so prominent
(see below, p. lxxv ff.). But the interest of the poets of
the _Cancionero de Baena_ is mainly historical. In
spite of many an illuminating side-light on manners,
of political invective and an occasional glint of
imagination, the amorous platitudes and wire-drawn
love-contests of the Galician school, the stiff allegories
of the Italianates leave us cold. It was a transition
period and the most talented were unable to master the
undeveloped poetic language. page xv
The same may be said, in general, of the whole fifteenth
century. Although the language became greatly clarified
toward 1500 it was not yet ready for masterly original
work in verse. Invaded by a flood of Latinisms, springing
from a novel and undigested humanism, encumbered still
with archaic words and set phrases left over from the
Galicians, it required purification at the hands of the
real poets and scholars of the sixteenth century. The
poetry of the fifteenth is inferior to the best prose of
the same epoch; it is not old enough to be quaint and not
modern enough to meet a present-day reader upon equal
terms.
These remarks apply only to artistic poetry. Popular
poetry,--that which was exemplified in the Middle Ages by
the great epics of the Cid, the Infantes de Lara and
other heroes, and in songs whose existence can rather be
inferred than proved,--was never better. It produced the
lyrico-epic _romances_ (see _Notes_, p. 253), which,
as far as one may judge from their diction and from
contemporary testimony, received their final form at
about this time, though in many cases of older origin. It
produced charming little songs which some of the later
court poets admired sufficiently to gloss. But the
cultured writers, just admitted to the splendid cultivated
garden of Latin literature, despised these simple wayside
flowers and did not care to preserve them for posterity.
The artistic poetry of the fifteenth century falls
naturally into three classes, corresponding to three
currents of influence; and all three frequently appear in
the work of one man, not blended, but distinct. One is
the conventional love-poem of the Galician school, seldom
containing a fresh or personal note. Another is the
stilted allegory with erotic or historical page xvi
content, for whose many sins Dante was chiefly
responsible, though Petrarch, he of the _Triunfi_, and
Boccaccio cannot escape some blame. Third is a vein of
highly moral reflections upon the vanity of life and
certainty of death, sometimes running to political satire.
Its roots may be found in the Book of Job, in Seneca and,
nearer at hand, in the _Proverbios morales_ of the Jew Sem
Tob (_ca_. 1350), in the _Rimado de Palacio_ of Ayala, and
in a few poets of the _Cancionero de Baena_.
John II was a dilettante who left the government of the
kingdom to his favorite, Álvaro de Luna. He gained more
fame in the world of letters than many better kings by
fostering the study of literature and gathering about him
a circle of "court poets" nearly all of noble birth. Only
two names among them all imperatively require mention.
Iñigo LÓPEZ DE MENDOZA, MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA (1398-1458)
was the finest type of _grand seigneur_, protector of
letters, student, warrior, poet and politician. He wrote
verse in all three of the manners just named, but he will
certainly be longest remembered for his _serranillas_, the
fine flower of the Provençal-Galician tradition, in which
the poet describes his meeting with a country lass.
Santillana combined the freshest local setting with
perfection of form and left nothing more to be desired in
that genre. He also wrote the first sonnets in Castilian,
but they are interesting only as an experiment, and had no
followers. Juan de MENA (1411-1456) was purely a literary
man, without other distinction of birth or accomplishment.
His work is mainly after the Italian model. The _Laberinto
de fortuna_, by which he is best known, is a dull allegory
with much of Dante's apparatus. There are historical
passages where the poet's patriotism leads him page xvii
to a certain rhetorical height, but his good intentions
are weighed down by three millstones: slavish imitation,
the monotonous _arte mayor_ stanza and the deadly
earnestness of his temperament. He enjoyed great renown
and authority for many decades.
Two anonymous poems of about the same time deserve
mention. The _Danza de la muerte_, the Castilian
representative of a type which appeared all over Europe,
shows death summoning mortals from all stations of
life with ghastly glee. The _Coplas de Mingo Revulgo_,
promulgated during the reign of Henry IV (1454-1474), are
a political satire in dialogue form, and exhibit for the
first time the peculiar peasant dialect that later became
a convention of the pastoral eclogues and also of the
country scenes in the great drama.
The second half of the century continues the same
tendencies with a notable development in the fluidity of
the language and an increasing interest in popular poetry.
Gómez Manrique (d. 1491?) was another warrior of a
literary turn whose best verses are of a severely moral
nature. His nephew JORGE MANRIQUE (1440-1478) wrote a
single poem of the highest merit; his scanty other works
are forgotten. The _Coplas por la muerte de su padre_,
beautifully translated by Longfellow, contain some
laments for the writer's personal loss, but more general
reflections upon the instability of worldly glory. It is
not to be thought that this famous poem is in any way
original in idea; the theme had already been exploited to
satiety, but Manrique gave it a superlative perfection of
form and a contemporary application which left no room for
improvement.
There were numerous more or less successful love-poets
of the conventional type writing in page xviii
octosyllabics and the inevitable imitators of Dante
with their unreadable allegories in _arte mayor_. The
repository for the short poems of these writers is the
_Cancionero general_ of Hernando de Castillo (1511). It
was reprinted many times throughout the sixteenth
century. Among the writers represented in it one should
distinguish, however, Rodrigo de Cota. His dramatic
_Diálogo entre el amor y un viejo_ has real charm, and
has saved his name from the oblivion to which most of his
fellows have justly been consigned. The bishop Ambrosio
Montesino (_Cancionero_, 1508) was a fervent religious
poet and the precursor of the mystics of fifty years
later.
The political condition of Spain improved immensely in
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (1479-1516) and the
country entered upon a period of internal homogeneity and
tranquility which might be expected to foster artistic
production. Such was the case; but literature was not the
first of the arts to reach a highly refined state. The
first half of the sixteenth century is a period of
humanistic study, and the poetical works coming from it
were still tentative. JUAN DEL ENCINA (1469-1533?) is
important in the history of the drama, for his _églogas,
representaciones_ and _autos_ are practically the first
Spanish dramas not anonymous. As a lyric poet Encina
excels in the light pastoral; he was a musician as well
as a poet, and his bucolic _villancicos_ and _glosas_
in stanzas of six-and eight-syllable lines are daintily
written and express genuine love of nature. The Portuguese
GIL VICENTE (1470-1540?) was a follower of Encina at
first, but a much bigger man. Like most of his compatriots
of the sixteenth century he wrote in both Portuguese and
Castilian, though better in the former tongue. He was
close to the people in his thinking and writing page xix
and some of the songs contained in his plays reproduce the
truest popular savor.
The intimate connection between Spain and Italy during the
period when the armies of the Emperor Charles V (Charles I
of Spain: reigned 1516-1555) were overrunning the latter
country gave a new stimulus to the imitation of Italian
meters and poets which we have seen existed in a premature
state since the reign of John II. The man who first
achieved real success in the hendecasyllable, combined in
sonnets, octaves, _terza rima_ and blank verse, was Juan
BOSCÁN ALMOGAVER (1490?-1542), a Catalan of wealth and
culture. Boscán was handicapped by writing in a tongue
not native to him and by the constant holding of foreign
models before his eyes, and he was not a man of genius;
yet his verse kept to a loftier ideal than had appeared
for a long time and his effort to lift Castilian poetry
from the slough of convention into which it had fallen was
successful. During the rest of the century the impulse
given by Boscán divided Spanish lyrists into two opposing
hosts, the Italianates and those who clung to the native
meters (stanzas of short, chiefly octosyllabic, lines, for
the _arte mayor_ had sunk by its own weight).
The first and greatest of Boscán's disciples was his close
friend GARCILASO DE LA VEGA (1503-1536) who far surpassed
his master. He was a scion of a most noble family, a
favorite of the emperor, and his adventurous career,
passed mostly in Italy, ended in a soldier's death. His
poems, however (_églogas, canciones_, sonnets, etc.),
take us from real life into the sentimental world of the
Arcadian pastoral. Shepherds discourse of their unrequited
loves and mourn amid surroundings of an idealized Nature.
page xx
The pure diction, the Vergilian flavor, the classic finish
of these poems made them favorites in Spain from the
first, and their author has always been regarded as a
master.
With Garcilaso begins the golden age of Spanish poetry and
of Spanish literature in general, which may be said to
close in 1681 with the death of Calderón. It was a period
of external greatness, of conquest both in Europe and
beyond the Atlantic, but it contained the germs of future
decay. The strength of the nation was exhausted in
futile warfare, and virile thought was stifled by the
Inquisition, supported by the monarchs. Hence the
luxuriant literature of the time runs in the channels
farthest from underlying social problems; philosophy and
political satire are absent, and the romantic drama, novel
and lyric flourish. But in all external qualities the
poetry written during this period has never been equaled
in Spain. Its polish, color and choiceness of language
have been the admiration and model of later Castilian
poets.
The superficial nature of this literature is exhibited
in the controversy excited by the efforts of Boscán and
Garcilaso to substitute Italian forms for the older
Spanish ones. The discussion dealt with externals; with
meters, not ideas. Both schools delighted in the airy
nothings of the conventional love lyric, and it matters
little at this distance whether they were cast in lines of
eleven or eight syllables.
The contest was warm at the time, however. Sá de Miranda
(1495-1558), the chief exponent of the Italian school in
Portugal, wrote effectively also in Castilian. Gutierre de
Cetina (1518?-1572?) and Fernando de Acuña (1500?-1580?)
are two others who supported the new measures. One whose
example had more influence is Diego Hurtado de page xxi
Mendoza (1503-1575), a famous diplomat, humanist and
historian. He entertained his idle moments with verse,
writing cleverly in the old style but turning also toward
the new. His sanction for the latter seems to have proved
decisive.
Cristóbal de CASTILLEJO (1490-1556) was the chief defender
of the native Spanish forms. He employed them himself in
light verse with cleverness, clearness and finish, and
also attacked the innovators with all the resources of
a caustic wit. In this patriotic task he was for a time
aided by an organist of the cathedral at Granada, Gregorio
Silvestre (1520-1569), of Portuguese birth. Silvestre,
however, who is noted for the delicacy of his poems in
whatever style, was later attracted by the popularity of
the Italian meters and adopted them.
This literary squabble ended in the most natural way,
namely, in the co-existence of both manners in peace and
harmony. Italian forms were definitively naturalized in
Spain, where they have maintained their place ever since.
Subsequent poets wrote in either style or both as they
felt moved, and no one reproached them. Such was the habit
of Lope de Vega, Góngora, Quevedo and the other great
writers of the seventeenth century.
A Sevillan Italianate was Fernando de HERRERA
(1534?-1597), admirer and annotator of Garcilaso. Although
an ecclesiastic, his poetic genius was more virile than
that of his soldier master. He wrote Petrarchian sonnets
to his platonic lady; but his martial, patriotic spirit
appears in his _canciones_, especially in those on the
battle of Lepanto and on the expedition of D. Sebastian of
Portugal in Africa. In these stirring odes Herrera touches
a sonorous, grandiloquent chord which rouses the page xxii
reader's enthusiasm and places the writer in the first
rank of Spanish lyrists. He is noteworthy also in that
he made an attempt to create a poetic language by the
rejection of vulgar words and the coinage of new ones.
Others, notably Juan de Mena, had attempted it before, and
Góngora afterward carried it to much greater lengths; but
the idea never succeeded in Castilian to an extent nearly
so great as it did in France, for example; and to-day the
best poetical diction does not differ greatly from good
conversational language.
Beside Herrera stands a totally different spirit, the
Salamancan monk Luis DE LEÓN (1527-1591). The deep
religious feeling which is one strong trait of Spanish
character has its representatives in Castilian literature
from Berceo down, but León was the first to give it fine
artistic expression. The mystic sensation of oneness with
the divine, of aspiration to heavenly joys, breathes in
all his writings. He was also a devoted student of the
classics, and his poems (for which he cared nothing and
which were not published till 1631) show Latin rather than
Italian influence. There is nothing in literature more
pure, more serene, more direct or more polished than
_La vida del campo, Noche serena_ and others of his
compositions.
The other great mystics cared less for literature, either
as a study or an accomplishment. The poems of Saint
Theresa (1515-1582) are few and mostly mediocre. San Juan
de la Cruz, the Ecstatic Doctor (1542-1591), wrote the
most exalted spiritual poems in the language; like all the
mystics, he was strongly attracted by the Song of
Songs which was paraphrased by Pedro Malón de Chaide
(1530-1596?). It is curious to note that the stanza
adopted in the great mystical lyrics is one page xxiii
invented by Garcilaso and used in his amatory fifth
_Canción_. It has the rime-scheme of the Spanish
_quintilla_, but the lines are the Italian eleven-and
seven-syllable (cf. pp. 9-12). Religious poems in more
popular forms are found in the _Romancero espiritual_
(1612) of José de Valdivielso, and in Lope de Vega's
_Rimas sacras_ (1614) and _Romancero espiritual_ (1622).
There were numerous secular disciples of Garcilaso at
about the same period. The names most deserving mention
are those of Francisco de la Torre (d. 1594?), Luis
Barahona de Soto (1535?-1595) and Francisco de Figueroa
(1536?-1620), all of whom wrote creditably and sometimes
with distinction in the Italian forms. Luis de Camoens
(1524?-1580), author of the great Portuguese epic _Os
Lusiadas_, employed Castilian in many verses with happy
result.
These figures lead to the threshold of the seventeenth
century which opened with a tremendous literary output in
many lines. Cervantes was writing his various novels;
the romance of roguery took on new life with _Guzmán de
Alfarache_ (1599); the drama, which had been developing
rather slowly and spasmodically, burst suddenly into full
flower with Lope de Vega and his innumerable followers.
The old meter of the _romance_ was adopted as a favorite
form by all sorts and conditions of poets and was turned
from its primitive epic simplicity to the utmost variety
of subjects, descriptive, lyric and satiric.
From out this flood of production--for every dramatist was
in a measure a lyric poet, and dramatists were legion--we
can select for consideration only the men most prominent
as lyrists. First in the impulse which he gave to
literature for more than a century following stands Luis
de ARGOTE Y GÓNGORA (1561-1627), a Cordovan page xxiv
who chose to be known by his mother's name. His life was
mainly that of a disappointed place-hunter. His abrupt
change of literary manner has made some say that there
were in him two poets, Góngora the Good and Góngora the
Bad. He began by writing odes in the manner of Herrera and
_romances_ and _villancicos_ which are among the clearest
and best. They did not bring their author fame, however,
and he seems deliberately to have adopted the involved
metaphoric style to which Marini gave his name in Italy.
Góngora is merely the Spanish representative of the
movement, which also produced Euphuism in England and
_préciosité_ in France. But he surpassed all previous
writers in the extreme to which he carried the method, and
his _Soledades_ and _Polifemo_ are simply unintelligible
for the inversions and strained metaphors with which they
are overloaded.
His influence was enormous. Gongorism, or _culteranismo_,
as it was called at the time, swept the minor poets
with it, and even those who fought the movement most
vigorously, like Lope and Quevedo, were not wholly free
from the contagion. The second generation of dramatists
was strongly affected. Yet there are few lyric poets worth
mentioning among Góngora's disciples for the reason that
such a pernicious system meant certain ruin to those who
lacked the master's talent. The most important names are
the Count of Villamediana (1580-1622), a satirist whose
sharp tongue caused his assassination, and Paravicino y
Arteaga (1580-1633), a court preacher.
Obviously, such an innovation could not pass without
opposition from clear-sighted men. LOPE DE VEGA
(1562-1635) attacked it whenever opportunity offered, and
his verse seldom shows signs of corruption. It page xxv
is impossible to consider the master-dramatist at length
here. He wrote over 300 sonnets, many excellent eclogues,
epistles, and, in more popular styles, glosses,
_letrillas, villancicos, romances_, etc. Lope more than
any other poet of his time kept his ear close to the
people, and his light poems are full of the delicious
breath of the country.
The other principal opponent of Gongorism was Francisco
GÓMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS (1580-1645), whose wit and
independence made him formidable. In 1631 he published
the poems of Luis de León and Francisco de la Torre as a
protest against the baleful mannerism in vogue. But he
himself adopted a hardly less disagreeable style, called
conceptism, which is supposed to have been invented by
Alonso de Ledesma (1552-1623). It consists in a strained
search for unusual thoughts which entails forced
paradoxes, antitheses and epigrams. This system, combined
with local allusions, double meanings and current slang,
in which Quevedo delighted, makes his poems often
extremely difficult of comprehension. His _romances de
jaques_, written in thieves' jargon, are famous in Spain.
Quevedo wrote too much and carelessly and tried to cover
too many fields, but at his best his caustic wit and
fearless vigor place him high.
There were not lacking poets who kept themselves free from
taint of _culteranismo_, though they did not join in
the fight against it. The brothers Argensola (LUPERCIO
LEONARDO DE ARGENSOLA, 1559-1613, BARTOLOMÉ LEONARDO DE
ARGENSOLA, 1562-1631), of Aragonese birth, turned to
Horace and other classics as well as to Italy for their
inspiration. Their pure and dignified sonnets, odes and
translations rank high. Juan MARTÍNEZ DE JÁUREGUI page xxvi
(1583-1641) wrote a few original poems, but is known
mainly for his excellent translation of Tasso's _Aminta_.
He too succumbed to Gongorism at times. The few poems of
Francisco de RIOJA (1586?-1659) are famous for the purity
of their style and their tender melancholy tone. A little
apart is Esteban Manuel de VILLEGAS (1589-1669), an
admirer of the Argensolas, "en versos cortos divino,
insufrible en los mayores," who is known for his attempts
in Latin meters and his successful imitations of Anacreon
and Catullus.
The lyrics of CALDERÓN (1600-1681) are to be found mostly
in his _comedias_ and _autos_. There are passages which
display great gifts in the realm of pure poetry, but
too often they are marred by the impertinent metaphors
characteristic of _culteranismo_.
His name closes the most brilliant era of Spanish letters.
The decline of literature followed close upon that of the
political power of Spain. The splendid empire of Charles
V had sunk, from causes inherent in the policies of that
over-ambitious monarch, through the somber bigotry of
Philip II, the ineptitude of Philip III, the frivolity of
Philip IV, to the imbecility of Charles II; and the death
of the last of the Hapsburg rulers in 1700 left Spain in
a deplorably enfeebled condition physically and
intellectually. The War of the Succession (1701-1714)
exhausted her internal strength still more, and the final
acknowledgment of Philip V (reigned 1701-1746) brought
hardly any blessing but that of peace. Under these
circumstances poetry could not thrive; and in truth the
eighteenth century in Spain is an age devoted more to the
discussion of the principles of literature than to the
production of it. At first the decadent remnants of page xxvii
the _siglo de oro_ still survived, but later the
French taste, following the principles formulated by
Boileau, prevailed almost entirely. The history of Spanish
poetry in the eighteenth century is a history of the
struggle between these two forces and ends in the triumph
of the latter.
The effects of Gongorism lasted long in Spain, which, with
its innate propensity to bombast, was more fertile soil
for it than other nations. Innumerable poetasters of the
early eighteenth century enjoyed fame in their day and
some possessed talent; but the obscure and trivial style
of the age from which they could not free themselves
deprived them of any chance of enduring fame. One may
mention, as the least unworthy, Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo
(1662-1714) and Eugenio Gerardo Lobo (1679-1750).
Some one has said that the poetry of Spain, with the
exception of the _romances_ and the drama of the _siglo
de oro_, has always drawn its inspiration from some other
country. Add to the exceptions the medieval epic and the
statement would be close to the truth. First Provence
through the medium of Galicia; then Italy and with it
ancient Rome; and lastly France and England, on more than
one occasion, have molded Spanish poetry. The power of
the French classical literature, soon dominant in Europe,
could not long be stayed by the Pyrenees; and Pope,
Thomson and Young were also much admired. Philip V, a
Frenchman, did not endeavor to crush the native spirit in
his new home, but his influence could not but be felt. He
established a Spanish Academy on the model of the French
in 1714.
It was some time before the reaction, based on common
sense and confined to the intellectuals, could take deep
root, and, as was natural, it went too far and condemned
much of the _siglo de oro_ entire. The _Diario page xxviii
de los literatos_, a journal of criticism founded in 1737,
and the _Poética_ of Ignacio de Luzán, published in
the same year, struck the first powerful blows. Luzán
(1702-1754) followed in general the precepts of Boileau,
though he was able to praise some of the good points in
the Spanish tradition. His own poems are frigid. The
_Sátira contra los malos escritores de su tiempo_ (1742)
of Jorge Pitillas (pseudonym of José Gerardo de Hervás, d.
1742) was an imitation of Boileau which had great effect.
Blas Antonio Nasarre (1689-1751), Agustín Montiano
(1697-1765) and Luis José Velázquez (1722-1772) were
critics who, unable to compose meritorious plays or
verse themselves, cut to pieces the great figures of the
preceding age.
Needless to say, the Gallicizers were vigorously opposed,
but so poor were the original productions of the defenders
of the national manner that their side was necessarily the
losing one. Vicente García de la Huerta (1734-1787) was
its most vehement partisan, but he is remembered only for
a tragedy, _Raquel_.
Thus it is seen that during a century of social and
industrial depression Spain did not produce a poet worthy
of the name. The condition of the nation was sensibly
bettered under Charles III (reigned 1759-1788) who did
what was possible to reorganize the state and curb the
stifling domination of the Roman Church and its agents
the Jesuits and the Inquisition. The Benedictine Feijóo
(1675-1764) labored faithfully to inoculate Spain, far
behind the rest of Europe, with an inkling of recent
scientific discoveries. And the budding prosperity,
however deceitful it proved, was reflected in a more
promising literary generation. page xxix
Nicolás FERNÁNDEZ DE MORATÍN (1737-1780) followed the
French rules in theory and wrote a few mediocre plays in
accordance with them; but he showed that at heart he was a
good poet and a good Spaniard by his ode _Á Pedro
Romero, torero insigne_, some _romances_ and his famous
_quintillas_, the _Fiesta de toros en Madrid_. Other
followers of the French, in a genre not, strictly
speaking, lyric at all, were the two fabulists, Samaniego
and Iriarte. F. María de SAMANIEGO (1745-1801) gave to the
traditional stock of apologues, as developed by Phaedrus,
Lokmân and La Fontaine, a permanent and popular Castilian
form. Tomás de IRIARTE (1750-1791), a more irritable
personage who spent much time in literary polemics, wrote
original fables (_Fábulas literarias_, 1781) directed not
against the foibles of mankind in general, but against the
world of writers and scholars.
The best work which was done under the classical French
influence, however, is to be found in the writers of the
so-called Salamancan school, which was properly not a
school at all. The poets who are thus classed together,
Cadalso, Diego González, Jovellanos, Forner, Meléndez
Valdés, Cienfuegos, Iglesias, were personal friends thrown
together in the university or town of Salamanca, but they
were not subjected to a uniform literary training and
possessed no similarity of style or aim as did the men of
the later Sevillan school.
José de CADALSO (1741-1782), a dashing soldier of great
personal charm killed at the siege of Gibraltar, is
sometimes credited with founding the school of Salamanca.
He was a friend of most of the important writers of his
time and composed interesting prose satires; his verse
(_Noches lúgubres_, etc.) is not remarkable. FRAY DIEGO
GONZÁLEZ (1733-1794) is one of the masters of page xxx
idiomatic Castilian in the century. He admired Luis de
León and imitated him in paraphrases of the Psalms. The
volume of his verse is small but unsurpassed in surety of
taste and evenness of finish. The _Murciélago alevoso_ has
passed into many editions and become a favorite in Spain.
The pure and commanding figure of JOVELLANOS (1744-1811)
dominated the whole group which listened to his advice
with respect. It was not always sure, for he led Diego
González and Meléndez Valdés astray by persuading them to
attempt philosophical poetry instead of the lighter sort
for which they were fitted. He was in fact a greater man
than poet, but his satires and _Epístola al duque de
Veragua_ are strong and dignified.
Juan MELÉNDEZ VALDÉS (1754-1817) was on the contrary a
greater poet than man. Brilliant from the first, he was
petted by Cadalso and Jovellanos who strove to develop his
talent. In 1780 he won a prize offered by the Academy for
an eclogue. In 1784 his comedy _Las bodas de Camacho_, on
a subject suggested by Jovellanos (from an episode in _Don
Quijote_, II, 19-21), won a prize offered by the city of
Madrid, but failed on the stage. His first volume of poems
was published in 1785; later editions appeared in 1797 and
1820. He attached himself to the French party at the time
of the invasion in 1808, incurred great popular odium and
died in France. He is the most fluent, imaginative poet of
the eighteenth century and is especially successful in the
pastoral and anacreontic styles. Fresh descriptions of
nature, enchanting pictures of love, form an oasis in
an age of studied reasonableness. His language has been
criticized for its Gallicisms. José IGLESIAS DE LA CASA
(1748-1791), a native of Salamanca and a priest, wrote
much light satirical verse, epigrams, parodies page xxxi
and _letrillas_ in racy Castilian; he was less successful
in the graver forms. Nicasio ÁLVAREZ DE CIENFUEGOS
(1764-1809) passes as a disciple of Meléndez; he was a
passionate, uneven writer whose undisciplined thought and
habit of coining words lead to obscurity. Politically he
opposed the French with unyielding vigor, barely escaped
execution at their hands and died in exile. The verse of
Cienfuegos prepared the way for Quintana. Differing
from him in clarity and polish are Fr. Sánchez Barbero
(1764-1819) and Leandro F. de Moratín, the dramatist
(1760-1828).
One curious result of rationalistic doctrines was the
"prosaism" into which it led many minor versifiers. These
poetasters, afraid of overstepping the limits of
good sense, tabooed all imagination and described in
deliberately prosy lines the most commonplace events. The
movement reached its height at the beginning of the reign
of Charles IV (1788-1808) and produced such efforts as
a poem to the gout, a nature-poem depicting barn-yard
sounds, and even Iriarte's _La música_ (1780), in which
one may read in carefully constructed _silvas_ the
definition of diatonic and chromatic scales.
II
SPANISH LYRIC POETRY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Early in the nineteenth century the armies of Napoleon
invaded Spain. There ensued a fierce struggle for the
mastery of the Peninsula, in which the latent strength and
energy of the Spaniards became once more evident. The page xxxii
French devastated parts of the country, but they
brought with them many new ideas which, together with the
sharpness of the conflict, served to awaken the Spanish
people from their torpor and to give them a new
realization of national consciousness. During this period
of stress and strife two poets, Quintana and Gallego,
urged on and encouraged their fellow countrymen with
patriotic songs.
Manuel José QUINTANA (1772-1857) had preëminently the
"gift of martial music," and great was the influence
of his odes _Al armamento de las provincias contra los
franceses_ and _Á España después de la revolución de
marzo_. He also strengthened the patriotism of his people
by his prose _Vidas de españoles célebres_ (begun in
1806): the Cid, the Great Captain (Gonzalo de Córdoba),
Pizarro and others of their kind. In part a follower
of the French philosophers of the eighteenth century,
Quintana sang also of humanity and progress, as in his ode
on the invention of printing. In politics Quintana was a
liberal; in religious beliefs, a materialist. Campoamor
has said of Quintana that he sang not of faith or
pleasures, but of duties. His enemies have accused him
of stirring the colonies to revolt by his bitter sarcasm
directed at past and contemporaneous Spanish rulers, but
this is doubtless an exaggeration. It may be said that
except in his best patriotic poems his verses lack lyric
merit and his ideas are wanting in insight and depth; but
his sincerity of purpose was in the main beyond question
and he occasionally gave expression to striking boldness
of thought and exaltation of feeling. In technique
Quintana was a follower of the Salamancan school.
The cleric Juan Nicasio GALLEGO (1777-1853) rivaled
Quintana as a writer of patriotic verses. A liberal in
politics like Quintana, Gallego also took the page xxxiii
side of his people against the French invaders and against
the servile Spanish rulers. He is best known by the ode
_El dos de mayo_, in which he exults over the rising of
the Spanish against the French on the second of May,
1808; the ode _Á la defensa de Buenos Aires_ against the
English; and the elegy _Á la muerte de la duquesa de
Frías_ in which he shows that he is capable of deep
feeling. Gallego was a close friend of Quintana, whose
salon in Madrid he frequented. Gallego wrote little, but
his works are more correct in language and style than
those of Quintana. It is interesting that although the
writings of these two poets evince a profound dislike and
distrust of the French, yet both were in their art largely
dominated by the influence of French neo-classicism. This
is but another illustration of the relative conservatism
of belles-lettres.
In the year 1793 there had been formed in Seville by a
group of young writers an Academia de Letras Humanas to
foster the cultivation of letters. The members of this
academy were admirers of Herrera, the Spanish Petrarchist
and patriotic poet of the sixteenth century, and they
strove for a continuation of the tradition of the earlier
Sevillan group. The more important writers of the later
Sevillan school were Arjona, Blanco, Lista and Reinoso.
Manuel María de ARJONA (1771-1820), a priest well read in
the Greek and Latin classics, was an imitator of Horace.
José María BLANCO (1775-1841), known in the history of
English literature as Blanco White, spent much time in
England and wrote in English as well as in Castilian.
Ordained a Catholic priest he later became an Unitarian.
The best-known and most influential writer of the group
was Alberto LISTA (1775-1848), an educator and page xxxiv
later canon of Seville. Lista was a skilful artist and
like Arjona an admirer and imitator of Horace; but his
ideas lacked depth. His best-known poem is probably a
religious one, _Á la muerte de Jesús,_ which abounds in
true poetic feeling. Lista exerted great influence as a
teacher and his _Lecciones de literatura española_ did
much to stimulate the study of Spanish letters. Félix José
REINOSO (1772-1814), also a priest, imitated Milton in
_octava rima_. As a whole the influence of the Sevillan
school was healthful. By insisting upon purity of diction
and regularity in versification, the members of the school
helped somewhat to restrain the license and improve the
bad taste prevailing in the Spanish literature of the
time. The Catalonian Manuel de CABANYES (1808-1833)
remained unaffected by the warring literary schools and
followed with passionate enthusiasm the precepts of the
ancients and particularly of Horace.
In the third decade of the nineteenth century romanticism,
with its revolt against the restrictions of classicism,
with its free play of imagination and emotion, and with
lyricism as its predominant note, flowed freely into Spain
from England and France. Spain had remained preëminently
the home of romanticism when France and England had
turned to classicism, and only in the second half of the
eighteenth century had Spanish writers given to classicism
a reception that was at the best lukewarm. Now romanticism
was welcomed back with open arms, and Spanish writers
turned eagerly for inspiration not only to Chateaubriand,
Victor Hugo and Byron, but also to Lope de Vega and
Calderón. Spain has always worshiped the past, for Spain
was once great, and the appeal of romanticism was page xxxv
therefore the greater as it drew its material largely
from national sources.