Part 27

ÁNGEL DE SAAVEDRA, DUQUE DE RIVAS. Romanticism triumphed in Spain through the efforts of the Duke of Rivas, who won the day for its doctrines in the drama with his _Don Álvaro_, in narrative poetry with his _Moro expósito_, and in lyric poetry with his _Faro de Malta_. Exiled during the reign of Ferdinand, because of his liberal sentiments, he visited England, France and Italy, and came into direct contact with the Romantic movements in those countries. When allowed to return to Spain, he straightway extended the movement into that land. As an epico-lyric or narrative poet, he has revived many legends found in the romantic history of Spain. A well-known episode is related in the poem on p. 258. Cf. the _Obras completas_ of Rivas, published by the _Real Academia Española_, Madrid, 1854-55; the unfinished edition in the _Colección de escritores castellanos_; Wolf, _Floresta de rimas_, vol. II; and see the essays by Cañete and Pastor Díaz prefixed to vol. I of the _Obras completas_; Blanco-García, 2ª ed., I, 129 ff.

*Page 259.*—l. 10. *duque de Borbón*: Charles, duc de Bourbon and Constable of France, being ill treated by his monarch Francis I., renounced allegiance to him, and entered the Spanish service. He played a large part in the defeat of Francis by Charles V., at Pavia, in 1525.

*Page 260.*—ll. 17-18. Velasco, Constable of Spain, defeated Padilla at Villalar, April 23, 1521, thus ending the _comunero_ troubles: cf. note to p. 230, l. 9.

*Page 267.*—l. 9. *Desque*, i.e., *Desde que*.

l. 33. *Lacio*, _Latium_, i.e., Italy. In 1825, Rivas left London for Italy, intending to settle in Rome; but the Italian government expelled him and he then sought refuge in Malta.

*Page 268.*—l. 18. *Córdoba*: Rivas was a native of Cordova.

JOSÉ DE ESPRONCEDA. Considered by many as the most illustrious lyric poet of Spain in the nineteenth century. In Espronceda, the author of the _Estudiante de Salamanca_, of the fragmentary lyrico-dramatic poem _El diablo mundo_, and of various short lyrics, are represented both that romantic element of revolt against social and literary conventions which in England is so strongly marked in Byron, and the element of Bohemianism which characterizes many of the French romanticists. Exiled by reason of his liberal opinions, he spent some time in England—where he became deeply imbued with Byronism—and eloped thence to Paris with Teresa, another man’s wife, and the subject of the pathetic and wonderfully harmonious _Canto á Teresa_. Scepticism, despair and the note of cloyed sensual satiety are everywhere present in the poetry of this ill-starred singer. Back in Spain again, he died at the early age of thirty-two years, after a short and stormy career in politics and journalism. For his poetical methods he owes much to Byron, but he is no servile imitator: his loudest note—that of revolt against the conventional—emanates from his own inner nature. Cf. his _Obras poéticas_, etc., Madrid, 1884, with an essay by Escosura prefixed; and see E. Rodríguez Solís, _Espronceda, su tiempo, su vida y sus obras_, Madrid, 1883; E. Piñeyro, _Un imitador español de Byron_ (in his _Poetas famosos_, etc., Madrid, 1883); Blanco-García, I, 154 ff.

*Page 270.*—l. 27. This poem in _octavas reales_ forms the second canto of the _Diablo mundo_.

*Page 272.*—l. 16. *orador de Atenas*: i.e., Demosthenes.

*Page 273.*—l. 29. *florece*: seems to be used here as an active verb, _covers with flowers_.

*Page 275.*—l. 13. *por banda*, _on each side_.

l. 28. *Stambul*: the Turkish name of Constantinople.

MANUEL DE CABANYES. A Catalonian who wrote in Spanish. A pupil of Horace, he disdained the modern verse forms (cf. p. 279, ll. 22-23) and sought to domesticate the classic metres in Spanish prosody. He was unaffected by the literary movement of his time, probably because he died young. Cf. the collection of his lyrics entitled _Preludios de mi lira_ (1833); Menéndez y Pelayo, _Odas de Q. Horacio Flaco, traducidas é imitadas_, etc., Barcelona, 1882, pp. 372 ff.; and see Torres Amat, _Diccionario de escritores catalanes_; Blanco-García, I, 103 ff.

*Page 280.*—l. 1. *cisne de Ofanto*: Horace. *Cisne* is a term regularly applied to poets in Spanish.

l. 3. *opresor*: Augustus.

JOSÉ ZORRILLA. A dramatist and poet who takes rank with the most eminent literary figures of the Spanish nineteenth century. He is less remarkable for pure lyrism than for his epico-lyric or narrative strains. Like Rivas, he has done much to revive the ancient legends of Spain, giving them a modern poetical garb. His romantic dramas, and especially the _Don Juan Tenorio_, are among the most successful of the period. Cf. his _Obras dramáticas y líricas_, Madrid, 1895; the edition of his _Poesías escogidas_, published by the _Academia de la lengua_, Madrid, 1894; and see the essay on him by Flórez in Novo y Colsón’s _Autores dramáticos contemporáneos_, Madrid, 1881, I, 169 ff.; Blanco-García, I, 197 ff.

*Page 284.*—l. 9. Lines recited by the poet over the grave of Larra (_Fígaro_), the essayist, at the burial of that unfortunate genius (1837).

JUAN EUGENIO HARTZENBUSCH. A romantic dramatist—author of the sentimental _Amantes de Teruel_—-and a lyric poet of modest pretensions. His _Poesías_ form vol. I of his _Obras_ in the _Colección de escritores castellanos_ (Madrid, 1887): cf. Blanco-García, I, 233 ff.

*Page 287.*—l. 21. *Sombra*, etc.: an allusion to Calderón’s drama, _La vida es sueño_.

*Page 288.*—l. 1. *patrio Manzanares*: Calderón was born in Madrid, through which flows the river Manzanares.

MANUEL BRETÓN DE LOS HERREROS. The most eminent dramatist of the period following that of Romanticism. He was very prolific, producing over one hundred and seventy-five plays. The satiric element is the prevailing one in his lyrics, the earlier of which imitate the manner of Iglesias and Meléndez Valdés. Cf. his _Poesías_, etc., in vol. V of the edition of his works, Madrid, 1883-84; and see the Marqués de Molins’ _Bretón de los Herreros_, _recuerdos de su vida y de sus obras_, Madrid, 1883; Blanco-García I, 272 ff.

*Page 288.*—l. 9. *Fábula al canto*, i.e., _Here’s a fable at hand_ (to prove the point).

*Page 289.*—l. 21. *Fraile mostense*: or *fraile premonstratense*, i.e., a member of an order of canons founded by St. Norbert in France in 1120.

JOSÉ MARÍA HEREDIA. The Cuban patriot and poet. Exiled from his beloved island, he spent several years in the United States and then went to Mexico, where he occupied several important judicial offices. His masterpiece is the beautiful ode on Niagara, visited by the poet during his residence in the United States. Cf. the edition of his _Obras_, New York, 1875: and see Menéndez y Pelayo, _Antología de poetas hispano-americanos_, vol. II, pp. 15 ff. (poems), pp. xiv ff. (an excellent essay on Heredia), and a biography by A. Bello, London, 1857.

PLÁCIDO (GABRIEL DE LA CONCEPCIÓN VALDÉS). Valdés, best known by his pseudonym of _Plácido_, was a Cuban mulatto of little training, but of true poetic instinct. He was tried and executed on a charge of conspiracy against the Spanish government of which he was entirely innocent. He is said to have composed in prison and recited on the way to his execution the mournful, resigned _Prayer_ here published. Cf. the edition of his _Poesías_, Palma de Mallorca, 1847: and see Menéndez y Pelayo, _Poetas hispano-americanos_, II, xxxiii ff. and 69 ff.

*Page 294.*—l. 15. *tu*: note the combination of the possessive pronoun, second person singular, with verbs of the second person plural, a not infrequent combination in the spoken Spanish of America.—*Heliaca estrella*, _the heliacal star_, which rises and sets with the sun.

CAROLINA CORONADO. A poetess, recently residing in Portugal, whose verse revives the mystic strains of Luis de León and St. Theresa. Cf. her _Poesías_, Madrid, 1843 and 1852; and see Blanco-García, I, 193 ff.; E. Castelar, _Étude biographique_ (French translation), Lisbon, 1887.

*Page 295.*—l. 5. *Gévora*: a river flowing through Portugal and through the province of Badajoz in Spain.

GERTRUDIS GÓMEZ DE AVELLANEDA. A Cuban who spent the greater part of her life in Spain in the society of the most eminent writers of the time, Avellaneda was the most distinguished Spanish poetess of the nineteenth century. In her earlier poems she is manifestly under the influence of the French romanticists (Hugo, Lamartine, Chateaubriand); in her later verse she is dominated rather by Quintana. Some of the mystic elevation of the poets of the sixteenth century is seen in her religious lyrics (_Á la Cruz, Á la Ascensión_, etc.). As a novelist and dramatist, Avellaneda likewise holds a high place in Spanish literature. Cf. her _Obras literarias_, Madrid, 1869; Menéndez y Pelayo, _Poetas hispano-americanos_, II, 87 ff., xxxix ff.; Blanco-García, I, 190 ff.

ADELARDO LÓPEZ DE AYALA. A writer of the post-Romantic period, most noted for his psychological dramas. Though few in number, his lyrics, particularly his sonnets, are of high poetic worth. The sonnet here printed has been set to music and is sung every year at Madrid during the services in commemoration of the poet’s death. Cf. his _Obras completas_, Madrid, 1885 (poems in vol. VII); Blanco-García, _Historia_, II, 175 ff.

JOSÉ SELGAS Y CARRASCO. Poet, novelist and journalist, the author of _La primavera_ and _El estío_, two collections of verse pervaded by a gentle melancholy and innocuous pessimism. Cf. his _Poesías_, Madrid, 1882-83; Blanco-García, II, cap. II.

GUSTAVO ADOLFO BÉCQUER. Imbued with the spirit of Hoffmann in his prose legends and with that of Heine in his _Rimas_, but withal highly original, Bécquer is one of the most attractive figures in modern Spanish literature. To avoid bombast and verbosity, he discarded consonantal rhyme entirely, and made use of the simplest imagery possible. His strains have the mournful sentiment of the North and are more concerned with the inner workings of the poet’s own spirit than with concrete objects of the outer world. His tone is seldom gay or lively and never naturally so; in general the note of sadness sounds through the _Rimas_. Cf. his _Obras_, 5ª ed., Madrid, 1898 (with _Prólogo_ by Correa; _Rimas_ in vol. II); Blanco-García, II, 79 ff., 275 ff.

ANTONIO DE TRUEBA. A writer of charming novelettes of manners and a poet of the people, particularly of the people of his own Basque region. Unduly lauded and depreciated, he remains a pleasing poet of minor rank. Cf. his verse in the collections which he entitled _Libro de los cantares_ (Madrid, 1852) and _Libro de las montañas_; Blanco-García, II, 26 ff.

*Page 309.*—l. 16. *Higuer*: a cape of the province of Guipúzcoa, running into the Cantabrian sea.

VENTURA DE LA VEGA. Dramatist and poet; born in the Argentine Republic, he was trained in Spain, where he passed the greater part of his life, becoming private secretary to Isabel II. His imitations of the Hebrew poetry of the Bible are praiseworthy. In most of his verse he displays an eclectic tendency, a desire to combine the best in romanticism with the best in classicism. Cf. his _Obras poéticas_, Paris, 1866; Menéndez y Pelayo, _Poetas hispano-americanos_, IV, 105 ff. (poems), cxlv. ff. (essay on Vega): J. Valera, _Personajes ilustres:—Ventura de la Vega_, etc., Madrid, 1891; Blanco-García, I, 315 ff.

ANDRÉS BELLO. A Venezuelan by birth, the most important author that South America has yet produced, being remarkable as a poet, grammarian, jurist and patriot. Cf. his _Obras completas_, Santiago de Chile, 1881-85; his poems in the _Colección de escritores castellanos_ (1881), and in Menéndez y Pelayo, _Poetas hispano-americanos_, II, 285 ff.: and see _ibid._, p. cxvii ff.; M. L. Amunátegui, Santiago de Chile, 1882.

RAMÓN DE CAMPOAMOR. The humoristic poet _par excellence_ of the Spanish nineteenth century, with a pseudo-philosophical tendency which is not to be taken too seriously. Under the name of _doloras_ he published a number of short poems humorous in tone, full of feeling and ever pointing some moral. Although he is said to have invented the _genre_, he has really but given a new name to an old _genre_ and developed it more than any one else had done. Cf. his _Obras escogidas_, Leipzig, 1885-86. There are many editions of his separate works. See also J. Valora: _Obras poéticas de Campoamor_ (in his _Estudios críticos sobre literatura_, etc., Seville, 1884, pp. 239 ff.); Peseux-Richard in the _Revue hispanique_, I, 236 ff.; Blanco-García, II, cap. V.

*Page 313.*—l. 13. This delightful poetical dialogue is a favorite piece for recitation purposes in Spain.

*Page 314.*—l. 20. *¡Quién supiera escribir!* _If I only knew how to write!_

*Page 316.*—l. 11. A sonnet on the Italian pessimistic poet, Leopardi, of the early nineteenth century.

JUAN VALERA Y ALCALÁ GALIANO. The most eminent Spanish man of letters now alive, justly famed as a novelist, poet and student of general culture. An extended diplomatic career has made him a most cosmopolitan spirit. Everywhere studying men and things, he has acquired an extreme catholicity of taste and has highly developed his powers of critical apperception. Menéndez y Pelayo deems _El fuego divino_, selections from which are given here, to be Valera’s best poem. Cf. his _Canciones, romances y poemas_, with notes by Menéndez y Pelayo, in the _Colección de escritores castellanos_, Madrid, 1885 (containing translations, also, of poems of Lowell, Whittier and other American and English writers); Blanco-García, II, cap. XXVI.

*Page 320.*—l. 17. *inclinada fuente*: so says the edition of 1885. But Señor Valera states that _inclinada_ is an error; he writes: “El primer verso dice _de la inclinada fuente_, y debe decir _de la increada fuente_.”

GASPAR NÚÑEZ DE ARCE. A popular Spanish poet of our times, widely read in both Spain and America. His most important volume of poems is the _Gritos del combate_ (8th ed. 1891), in which, with patriotic fervor, he cries out against the political evils rampant in Spain and inveighs against the agitators responsible for them. Longer poems than those contained in the _Gritos del combate_ are the _Vértigo_ (a great favorite for declamation purposes), the _Última lamentación de Lord Byron_, _La selva oscura_, etc. All have been reprinted in many editions. Núñez de Arce is also a dramatist of considerable power. Cf. Menéndez y Pelayo’s essay on him, published in vol. II of Novo y Colsón’s _Autores dramáticos contemporáneos_ (and in Menéndez y Pelayo’s _Estudios de critica literaria_, 1884); Blanco-García, II, 328 ff.

*Page 324.*—l. 1. This sonnet bears the date 6 _de Enero de_ 1866. In his notes (8th ed. p. 328) the author says: “Escrita y publicada en circunstancias azarosas y difíciles, cuando el sentimiento revolucionario estaba más vivo en la opinión.” All the poems here printed are from the _Gritos del combate_.

l. 15. *el monasterio*: i.e., the Escurial.

l. 25. *viento del Guadarrama*: a chill wind which sweeps over Madrid.

*Page 326.*—ll. 25-26. *hijo ... rey devoto*: Philip III. († 1621).

l. 29. *Aquel*, etc.: Philip IV. († 1665).

l. 33. *el monarca enfermizo*: Charles III. († 1700).

MARCELINO MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO. One of the most illustrious literary critics of our age, a scholar of rare erudition, a poet whose verse is ever harmonious and graceful. Several of his critical works have been mentioned in these notes. His best poems may be found in the volume _Odas, epístolas y tragedias_, Madrid, 1883. The humanistic bent of the man prevails even in his lyrics. Cf. Blanco-García, II, 601 ff.

*Page 331.*—l. 3. *Clitumno*: the Clitunno, an Umbrian river.

l. 22. *Menandro*: Menander, a Greek comic poet of the fourth century B.C.

*Page 332.*—l. 4. *Amador ... nada*: Leopardi, cf. note to p. 316, l. 11.

* * * * * *

Transcriber's note:

List of changes from the printed edition (the original text is in parentheses):

p. vii: “Respuesta” for “Respuesto” (Respuesto contra Alfonso)

p. viii: Hurtado de Mendoza’s “Soneto” in p. 75 missing in the printed book

p. x: “Canción” for “Cancíon” (Cancíon: La Tórtola)

p. xx: “Zorrilla” for “Zorilla” (Espronceda and of Zorilla)

p. xxvii: “_aí_” for “_ía_” (_ía_, a dissyllable by I, rule 3)

p. xxx: “por qué” for “porqué” (¿porqué callas?)

p. xxxiii: “ | huèle” for “ huèle” (buf[a, e]s|càrba, huèle)

p. xxxviii: “d[e u]n árbol” for “de [un á]rbol” (Escondìdo en el trònco de [un á]rbol)

p. xli: “assonance” for “assonnance” (all form a good assonnance)

p. xli: “Zorrilla” for “Zorilla” (as in Zorilla)

p. xliii: “eight” for “four” (less than four syllables)

p. l: “208” for “209” (Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de | 209)

p. li: “Zorrilla” for “Zorilla” (Zorilla, José)

p. 206, l. 4: “en” for “en en” (Y en en ronca voz, «Castellano,»—)

p. 290, l. 17: “huracán” for “hurracán” (Al acercarse el hurracán bramando)

p. 306, l. 44: “muertos!” for “muertos.” (Se quedan los muertos.)

p. 360: “l. 26.” missing in the printed book (*Page 82.*—*fora*, i.e., *fuera*.”)

p. 361: “Blanco-García’s” for “Blanco García’s” (and Blanco García’s recent treatise on León)

p. 369: “FÉLIX” for “FÉLIZ” (LOPE FÉLIZ DE VEGA CARPIO)

p. 371: “Olivares († 1645),” for “Olivares, († 1645)” (Olivares, († 1645) the favorite)

p. 377: “Galdós’s” for “Galdós’” (Cf. Galdós’ story of _Bailén_)

p. 378: “trisyllabic” for “tryssillabic” (Note that *suave* is generally tryssillabic)

p. 384: “Romanticism” for “Romantiticism” (Romantiticism triumphed in Spain)

p. 386: “Blanco-García” for “Blanco García” (Blanco García, I, 197 ff)

p. 390: “*Page 330.*—” removed (*Page 330.*—MARCELINO MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO)