Madrid to spread the new literary theories, much as the
Cénacle had done in Paris. The members of the Parnasillo
met in a wretched little café to avoid public attention.
Here were to be found Bretón de los Herreros, Estébanez
Calderón, Mesonero Romanos, Gil y Zárate, Ventura de la
Vega, Espronceda and Larra. The influence of Spanish epic
and dramatic poetry had been important in stimulating the
growth of romanticism in England, Germany and France. In
England, Robert Southey translated into English the
poem and the chronicle of the Cid and Sir Walter Scott
published his Vision of Don Roderick; in Germany, Herder's
translation of some of the Cid _romances_ and the Schlegel
brothers' metrical version of Calderón's dramas had called
attention to the merit of the earlier Spanish literature;
and in France, Abel Hugo translated into French the
_Romancero_ and his brother Victor made Spanish subjects
popular with _Hernani_ and _Ruy Blas_ and the _Légendes
des siècles_. But Spain, under the despotism of Ferdinand
VII, the "Tyrant of Literature," remained apparently
indifferent or even hostile to its own wonderful
creations, and clung outwardly to French
neo-classicism.[2] Böhl von Faber,[3] the German consul at
Cadiz, who was influenced by the Schlegel brothers,
had early called attention to the merit of the Spanish
literature of the Golden Age and had even had some of
Calderón's plays performed at Cadiz. And in page xxxvi
1832 Durán published his epoch-making _Romancero_. In 1833
Ferdinand VII died and the romantic movement was hastened
by the home-coming of a number of men who had fled the
despotism of the monarch and had spent some time in
England and France, where they had come into contact with
the romanticists of those countries. Prominent amongst
these were Martínez de la Rosa, Antonio Alcalá Galiano,
the Duke of Rivas and Espronceda.
[Footnote 2: Cf. _l'Épopée castillane_, Ramón Menéndez
Pidal, Paris, 1910, pp. 249-252.]
[Footnote 3: The father of Fernán Caballero.]
In this period of transition one of the first prominent
men of letters to show the effects of romanticism was
Francisco MARTÍNEZ DE LA ROSA (1787-1862). Among his
earlier writings are a _Poética_ and several odes in honor
of the heroes of the War of Independence against the
French. After his exile in Paris he returned home imbued
with romanticism, and his two plays, _Conjuración de
Venecia_ (1834) and _Abén Humeya_ (1836: it had already
been given in French at Paris in 1830), mark the first
public triumph of romanticism in Spain. But Martínez de
la Rosa lacked force and originality and his works merely
paved the way for the greater triumph of the Duke of
Rivas. Ángel de Saavedra, DUQUE DE RIVAS (1791-1865), a
liberal noble, insured the definite triumph of romanticism
in Spain by the successful performance of his drama
_Don Álvaro_ (1835). At first a follower of Moratín and
Quintana, he turned, after several years of exile in
England, the Isle of Malta and France, to the new romantic
school, and casting off all classical restraints
soon became the acknowledged leader of the Spanish
romanticists. Among his better works are the lyric _Al
faro de Malta_, the legendary narrative poem _El moro
expósito_ and his _Romances históricos_. The _Romances_
are more sober in tone and less fantastic,--and it should
be added, less popular to-day,--than the legends of page xxxvii
Zorrilla. After a tempestuous life the Duke of
Rivas settled quietly into the place of director of the
Spanish Academy, which post he held till his death.
José de ESPRONCEDA (1808-1842) was preëminently a
disciple of Byron, with Byron's mingling of pessimism and
aspiration, and like him in revolt against the established
order of things in politics and social organization. His
passionate outpourings, his brilliant imagery and the
music of his verse give to Espronceda a first place
amongst the Spanish lyrical poets of the nineteenth
century. Some of his shorter lyrics (e.g. _Canto á
Teresa_) are inspired by his one-time passion for Teresa
with whom after her marriage to another he eloped from
London to Paris. The poet's best known longer works are
the _Diablo mundo_ and the _Estudiante de Salamanca_,
which are largely made up of detached lyrics in which the
subjective note is strikingly prominent. Espronceda was
one of those fortunate few who shine in the world of
letters although they work little. Both in lyric mastery
and in his spirit of revolt, Espronceda holds the place in
Spanish literature that is held in English by Byron. He
is the chief Spanish exponent of a great revolutionary
movement that swept over the world of letters in the first
half of the nineteenth century.
José ZORRILLA (1817-1893) first won fame by the reading
of an elegy at the burial of Larra. Zorrilla was a most
prolific and spontaneous writer of verses, much of which
is unfinished in form and deficient in philosophical
insight. But in spite of his carelessness and shallowness
he rivaled Espronceda in popularity. His verses are not
seldom melodramatic or childish, but they are rich in
coloring and poetic fancy and they form a page xxxviii
vast enchanted world in which the Spaniards still delight
to wander. His versions of old Spanish legends are
doubtless his most enduring work and their appeal to
Spanish patriotism is not less potent to-day than when
they were written. Zorrilla's dramatic works were
successful on the stage by reason of their primitive
vigor, especially _Don Juan Tenorio_, _El Zapatero y el
rey_ and _Traidor, inconfeso y mártir_. This "fantastic
and legendary poet" went to Mexico in 1854 and he remained
there several years. After that date he wrote little and
the little lacked merit.
Gertrudis Gómez de AVELLANEDA (1814-1873) was born in Cuba
but spent most of her life in Spain. Avellaneda was a
graceful writer of lyrics in which there was feeling and
melody but little depth of thought. With her the moving
impulse was love, both human and divine. Her first volume
of poems (1841) probably contains her best work. Her
novels _Sab_ and _Espatolino_ were popular in their day
but are now fallen into oblivion. Some of her plays,
especially _Baltasar_ and _Munio_, do not lack merit.
Avellaneda is recognized as the foremost poet amongst the
women of nineteenth-century Spain.
Two of the most successful dramatists of this period,
García Gutiérrez and Hartzenbusch, were also lyric poets.
Antonio GARCÍA GUTIÉRREZ (1813-1884), the author of _El
trovador_, published two volumes of mediocre verses.
Juan Eugenio HARTZENBUSCH (1806-1880) was, like Fernán
Caballero, the child of a German father and a Spanish
mother. Though an eminent scholar and critic, he did not
hesitate in his _Amantes de Teruel_ to play to the popular
passion for sentimentality. He produced some lyric verse
of worth. Manuel BRETÓN DE LOS HERREROS (1796-1873) was
primarily a humorist and satirist, who turned from page xxxix
lyric verse to drama as his best medium of
expression. He delighted in holding up to ridicule the
excesses of romanticism. Mention should be made here of
two poets who had been, like Espronceda, pupils of Alberto
Lista. The eclectic poet MARQUÉS DE MOLINS (Mariano Roca
de Togores: 1812-1889) wrote passively in all the literary
genres of his time. VENTURA DE LA VEGA (1807-1865) was
born in Argentina, but came to Spain at an early age. He
was a well-balanced, cautious writer of mediocre verses
that are rather neo-classic than romantic.
A marked reaction against the grandiose exaggerations of
later romanticism appears in the works of José SELGAS
y Carrasco (1824-1882), a clever writer of simple,
sentimental verses. At one time his poetry was highly
praised and widely read, but for the most part it is
to-day censured as severely as it was once praised. Among
the contemporaries of Selgas were the writer of simple
verses and one-time popular tales, Antonio de TRUEBA
(1821-1889) and Eduardo BUSTILLO, the author of _Las
cuatro estaciones_ and _El ciego de Buenavista_. Somewhat
of the tradition of the Sevillan school persisted in the
verses of Manuel CAÑETE and Narciso CAMPILLO (1838-1900)
and in those of the poet and literary critic José AMADOR
DE LOS RÍOS.
The Sevillan Gustavo Adolfo BÉCQUER (1836-1870) wrote
perhaps the most highly polished Spanish verse of the
nineteenth century. His _Rimas_ are charged with true
poetic fancy and the sweetest melody, but the many
inversions of word-order that were used to attain to
perfection of metrical form detract not a little from
their charm. His writings are contained in three small
volumes in which are found, together with the _Rimas_, a
collection of prose legends. His prose work is page xl
filled with morbid mysticism or fairy-like mystery. His
dreamy prose is often compared to that of Hoffmann and his
verses to those of Heine, although it is doubtful if he
was largely influenced by either of these German writers.
Bécquer sings primarily of idealized human love. His
material life was wretched and it would seem that his
spirit took flight into an enchanted land of its own
creation. Most human beings love to forget at times their
sordid surroundings and wander in dreamland; hence the
enduring popularity of Bécquer's works and especially of
the _Rimas_. Bécquer has been widely imitated throughout
the Spanish-speaking world, but with little success. In
this connection it should be noted that the Spanish poets
who have most influenced the Spanish literature of the
nineteenth century, both in the Peninsula and in
America, are the Tyrtaean poet Quintana, the two leading
romanticists Espronceda and Zorrilla and the mystic
Bécquer.
Like most writers in Latin lands, Juan VALERA y Alcalá
Galiano (1824-1905) and Marcelino MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO
(1856-1912) began their literary career with a volume or
two of lyric verses. Valera's verses have perfect metrical
form and evince high scholarship, but they are too learned
to be popular. The lyrics of Menéndez y Pelayo have also
more merit in form than in inspiration and are lacking in
human interest. Both authors turned soon to more congenial
work: Valera became the most versatile and polished of all
nineteenth century Spanish writers of essays and novels;
and Menéndez y Pelayo became Spain's greatest scholar in
literary history. The popular novelist, Pedro Antonio de
ALARCÓN (1833-1891), wrote lyrics in which there is a
curious blending of humor and skepticism. page xli
The foremost Spanish poet of the closing years of the
nineteenth century was Ramón de CAMPOAMOR y Campoosorio
(1817-1901) who is recognized as the initiator in Spain
of a new type of verse in his _Doloras_ and _Pequeños
poemas_. The _doloras_ are, for the most part, metrical
fables or epigrams, dramatic or anecdotal in form, in
which the author unites lightness of touch with depth
of feeling. The _pequeño poema_ is merely an enlarged
_dolora_. Campoamor disliked Byron and he disliked still
more the sonorous emptiness that is characteristic of too
much Spanish poetry.[4] In philosophy he revered Thomas
à Kempis; in form he aimed at conciseness and directness
rather than at artistic perfection. His poetry lacks
enthusiasm and coloring, but it has dramatic interest.
[Footnote 4: Menéndez y Pelayo (_Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Am._,
I, p. lv) says: "Al fin españoles somos, y á tal profusión
de luz y á tal estrépito de palabras sonoras no hay entre
nosotros quien resista."]
The poets Manuel del PALACIO (1832-1895) and Federico
BALART (1831-1905), though quite unlike in genius, won the
esteem of their contemporaries. Palacio wrote excellent
sonnets and epigrams. In his _Leyendas y poemas_ he proved
his mastery of Spanish diction; he had, moreover, the
saving grace of humor which was so noticeably lacking in
Zorrilla's legends. The poet and literary critic, Balart,
achieved fame with his _Dolores_, in which he mourns with
sincere grief the death of his beloved wife. Mention
should also be made of the following poets who deserve
recognition in this brief review of the history of Spanish
lyric poetry: Vicente Wenceslao QUEROL (1836-1889), a
Valencian, whose _El eclipse, Cartas á María_, and _La
fiesta de Venus_, evince a remarkable technical skill
and an unusual correctness of diction; Teodoro page xlii
LLORENTE (cf. p. 279); José GALIANO ALCALÁ whose verses
have delicate feeling and lively imagination; Emilio
FERRARI (b. 1853), the author of _Abelardo é Hipatia_
and _Aspiración_; the pessimistic poets, Joaquín María de
BARTRINA (1850-1880) and Gabino TEJADO; Salvador RUEDA (b.
1857), author of _El bloque_, _En tropel_ and _Cantos
de la vendimia_; and the poet and dramatist, Eduardo
MARQUINA.
After the death of Campoamor in the first year of the
twentieth century, the title of _doyen_ of Spanish
letters fell by universal acclaim to Gaspar NÚÑEZ DE ARCE
(1834-1903). Núñez de Arce was a lyric poet, a dramatist
and a writer of polemics, but first of all a man
of action. With him the solution of political and
sociological problems was all-important, and his literary
writings were mostly the expression of his sociological
and political views. Núñez de Arce is best known for his
_Gritos del combate_ (1875), in which he sings of liberty
but opposes anarchy with energy and courage. As a satirist
he attacks the excesses of radicalism as well as the vices
and foibles common to mankind.[5] As a poet he is neither
original nor imaginative, and often his ideas are unduly
limited; but he writes with a manly vigor that is rare
amongst Spanish lyric poets, most of whom have given first
place to the splendors of rhetoric.
[Footnote 5: Speaking of Núñez de Arce's satire, Juan
Valera says humorously, in _Florilegio de poesías
castellanas del siglo XIX_, Madrid, 1902, Vol. I, p. 247:
«Está el poeta tan enojado contra la sociedad, contra
nuestra descarriada civilización y contra los crímenes y
maldades de ahora, y nos pinta tan perverso, tan vicioso
y tan infeliz al hombre de nuestros días, atormentado por
dudas, remordimientos, codicias y otras viles pasiones,
que, á mi ver, lejos de avergonzarse este hombre de
descender del mono, debiera ser el mono quien se
avergonzara de haberse humanado.»]
Most writers on the history of European literatures have page xliii called attention to the fact that at the
beginning of the nineteenth century there was a great
outpouring of lyricism, which infused itself into prose
as well as verse. When this movement had exhausted itself
there came by inevitable reaction a period of materialism,
when realism succeeded romanticism and prose fiction
largely replaced verse. And now sociological and
pseudo-scientific writings threaten the very existence of
idealistic literature. And yet through it all there has
been no dearth of poets. Browning in England and Campoamor
in Spain, like many before them, have given metrical form
to the expression of their philosophical views. And other
poets, who had an intuitive aversion to science, have
taken refuge in pure idealism and have created worlds
after their own liking. To-day prose is recognized as
the best medium for the promulgation of scientific or
political teachings, and those who are by nature poets are
turning to art for art's sake. Poetry is less didactic
than formerly, and it is none the less beautiful and
inspiring.
The _Notes_ to this volume contain historical sketches of
the literatures of Argentina (p. 279), Colombia (p. 285),
Cuba (p. 291), Ecuador and Peru (p. 296), Mexico (p. 307),
and Venezuela (p. 315). It is to be regretted that lack of
space has excluded an account of the literatures of other
Spanish-American countries, and especially of Chile and
Uruguay.
III
SPANISH VERSIFICATION
Spanish versification is subject to the following general
laws:
(1) There must be a harmonious flow of syllables, in which
harsh combinations of sounds are avoided. This page xliv
usually requires that stressed syllables be separated by
one or more unstressed syllables.[6]
[Footnote 6: By stress is meant secondary as well as
primary syllabic stress. Thus, _en nuestra vida_ has
primary stress on _vi-_, and secondary stress on _nues-_.]
(2) Verse must be divided into phrases, each of which can
be uttered easily as one breath-group. The phrases are
normally of not less than four nor more than eight
syllables, with a rhythmic accent on the next to the last
syllable of each phrase.[7] Phrases of a fixed number of
syllables must recur at regular intervals. There may or
may not be a pause at the end of the phrase.
[Footnote 7: The unstressed syllable may be lacking, or
there may be two unstressed syllables, after the rhythmic
accent. See under _Syllabication_.]
(_a_) In the n-syllable binary line the phrases may recur
at irregular intervals. In lines with regular ternary
movement phrasing is largely replaced by rhythmic
pulsation (cf. p. lxx).
(3) There must be rime of final syllables, or final
vowels, recurring at regular intervals.
(_a_) In some metrical arrangements of foreign origin the
rimes recur at irregular intervals, or there is no rime
at all. See the _silva_ and _versos sueltos_ under
_Strophes_.
Whether normal Spanish verse has, or ever had, binary
movement, with the occasional substitution of a "troche"
for an "iambic," or vice-versa, is in dispute.[8] That is,
whether in Spanish verse, with the usual movement, (1)
the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables is
essential, or whether (2) the mere balancing of page xlv
certain larger blocks of syllables is sufficient. For
instance, in this line of Luis de León:
ya muestra en esperanza el fruto cierto,
is there regular rhythmic pulsation, much less marked
than in English verse, doubtless,--but still an easily
discernible alternation of stressed and unstressed
syllables? If so, there must be secondary stress on _es-_.
Or is _ya muestra en esperanza_ one block, and _el fruto
cierto_ another, with no rhythmic stresses except those on
_-anza_ and _cierto_?
[Footnote 8: There are in Spanish certain types of verses
in which there is regular ternary movement throughout.
These are treated separately. Cf. p. lxx.]
The truth seems to be that symmetry of phrases (the
balancing of large blocks of syllables) is an essential
and important part of modern Spanish versification; but
that, in musical verse of the ordinary type, there is
also a subtle and varied binary movement, while in some
recitative verse (notably the dramatic _romance_ verse)
the binary movement is almost or quite negligible.[9]
[Footnote 9: A count of Spanish verses (none from drama),
by arbitrarily assuming three contiguous atonic syllables
to be equal to-[/-]-(with secondary stress on the middle
syllable), gave the following results (cf. _Romanic
Review, Vol. III_, pp. 301-308):
Common syllabic arrangements of 8-syllable lines:
(1) / _ / _ / _ / (_): Esta triste voz oí.
(2) _ / _ / _ _ / (_): Llorando dicen así.
(3) _ / _ _ / _ / (_): Mi cama las duras peñas.
Of 933 lines, 446 (nearly one-half) were in class (1); 257
in class (2); and 191 in class (3). The remaining lines
did not belong to any one of these three classes.
Common syllabic arrangements of 11-syllable lines:
(1) _ / _ / _ / _ / _ / (_): Verás con cuánto amor llamar
porfía.
(2) / _ / _ _ / _ / _ / (_): Cuántas veces el ángel me
decía.
(3) / _ _ / _ / _ / _ / (_): Este matiz que al cielo
desafía.
Of 402 lines, 216 (slightly more than one-half) were in
class (1); 94 were in class (2); and 75 in class (3). The
remaining lines did not belong to any one of these
three classes. Note that, in these arrangements of the
11-syllable lines, the irregularities in rhythm are found
only in the first four syllables.]
page xlvi
Some poets have used at times a quite regular binary
movement in Spanish verse; but they have had few or no
followers, as the effect was too monotonous to please the
Spanish ear. Thus, Solís:
Siempre orillas de la fuente
Busco rosas á mi frente,
Pienso en él y me sonrío,
Y entre mí le llamo mío,
Me entristezco de su ausencia,
Y deseo en su presencia
La más bella parecer.
(p. 53, ll. 6-12)
The Colombian poet, José Eusebio Caro, wrote much verse
thus, under the influence of the English poets.
On the other hand, some recent "decadent" poets have
written verses in which the principle of symmetry of
phrases, or of a fixed number of syllables, is abandoned,
and rhythm and rime are considered sufficient to make the
lines musical. Thus, Leopoldo Lugones (born 1875?), of
Argentina, in verses which he calls «_libres_» (cf.
_Lunario sentimental_, Buenos Aires, 1909):
Luna, quiero cantarte
¡Oh ilustre anciana de las mitologías!
Con todas las fuerzas de mi arte.
Deidad que en los antiguos días
Imprimiste en nuestro polvo tu sandalia,
No alabaré el litúrgico furor de tus orgías
Ni su erótica didascalia,
Para que alumbres sin mayores ironías,
Al polígloto elogio de las Guías,
Noches sentimentales de _mises_ en Italia.
(_Himno á la luna_)
This is largely a harking back to primitive conditions,
for in the oldest Castilian narrative verse the rule of
"counted syllables" apparently did not prevail. Cf. the
_Cantar de mío Cid_, where there is great irregularity in
the number of syllables. And, although in the page xlvii
old _romances_ the half-lines of eight syllables largely
predominate, many are found with seven or nine syllables,
and some with even fewer or more. The adoption of the rule
of "counted syllables" in Spanish may have been due to one
or more of several causes: to the influence of medieval
Latin rhythmic songs;[10] to French influence; or merely
to the development in the Spanish people of a feeling for
artistic symmetry.
[Footnote 10: Such as:
Stabat Mater dolorosa
Juxta crucem lachrymosa
Dum pendebat filius.]
Other poets of to-day write verses in which the line
contains a fixed number of syllables or any multiple of
that number. Thus, Julio Sesto (_Blanco y Negro_, Nov. 5,
1911):
¡Cómo desembarcan..., cómo desembarcan
esas pobres gentes...!
Desde la escalera de la nave todo Nueva York abarcan
de un vistazo: muelles, río, casas, puentes...
Y después que todos sus cinco sentidos
ponen asombrados en ver la ciudad,
como agradecidos,
miran á la estatua de la Libertad.
¡Ella es la Madona, ella es la Madona,
que de la Siberia saca á los esclavos,
que á los regicidas la vida perdona,
y que salva á muchos de contribuyentes, pobres, perseguidos,
subditos y esclavos!...
(_La tierra prometida_)
Spanish poets have often tried to write verses in
classical meters with the substitution of stress for
quantity. Thus, Villegas in the following hexameters:
Seis veces el verde soto coronó su cabeza
de nardo, de amarillo trebol, de morada viöla,
en tanto que el pecho frío de mi casta Licoris
al rayo del ruëgo mío deshizo su hielo.[11]
[Footnote 11: Apparently _trebol_ instead of _trébol_.
These lines are quoted by Eugenio Mele, in _La poesia
barbara in Ispagna_, Bari, 1910.]
page xlviii
José Eusebio Caro wrote similar hexameters, and, strange
to say, made alternate lines assonate:
¡Céfiro rápido lánzate! ¡rápido empújame y vivo!
¡Más redondas mis velas pon: del proscrito á los lados,
haz que tus silbos susurren dulces y dulces suspiren!
¡Haz que pronto del patrio suelo se aleje mi barco!
(_En alta mar_)
The number of these direct imitations is large; but few
succeeded. They are, at best, foreign to the spirit of
Castilian poetry.
In singing Spanish verses two facts are of especial
interest: that, where the rules of prosody require
synalepha, hiatus sometimes occurs (especially in opera),
thus:
Recógete--ese pañuelo.
(Olmedo, _Folk-lore de Castilla_, p. 133)
Y el pájaro--era verde.
(Ledesma, _Cancionero salmantino_, p. 53)
And that musical accents do not necessarily coincide with
syllabic stresses, even at the end of a phrase. Thus,
¡Cuántas vèces, vida mìa,
Te asomàrás al balcòn![12]
¡Cuerpo buèno, alma divìna,
Qué de fàtigas me cuèstas!
¡Bendiga Dios ese cuerpò,
Tan llenísimo de gracià!
(Hernández, _Flores de España_)
[Footnote 12: The grave accent mark (`) indicates a strong
musical accent.]
page xlix