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The Poetic Styles Of Miguel De Barrios
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The Poetic Styles Of Miguel De Barrios
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This dissertation has been 64— 12,456
m icrofilm ed exactly as received
MOOLICK, Charles Jam es, 1916—
THE POETIC STYLES OF MIGUEL DE BARRIOS.
U niversity of Southern California, Ph.D ., 1964
Language and Literature, modern
University Microfilms, Inc., A nn Arbor, Michigan
Copyright by
CHARLES JAMES MOOLICK
1964
THE POETIC STYLES OF MIGUEL DE BARRIOS
by
Charles James Moolick
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Spanish)
June 1964
U N IV E R S IT Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L IF O R N IA
T H E G R A D U A T E S C H O O L
U N IV E R S IT Y P A R K
L O S A N G E L E S , C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, •written by
..........Qbaxlg.§..Jarnfi.§..Mff.Q.U.9.k...........
under the direction of hx&....Dissertation C om
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
w " Dean
D a t e . . . . J . u n e * . . 1 . 9 . 6 . 4 ...... ........
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
U/ -
..
PREFACE
The following pages are the outcome of years of carefulj
i I
study of Castilian baroque verse, the reading of stimulating!
I
books by the greatest student of Gongora, Don Damaso Alonso,
' i
and the allure of the great poets and dramatists of a goldenj
century. The study of Miguel de Barrios, a minor poet in a j
great tradition, has been so rewarding that this disserta- ,
tion has justified itself in its process of gestation. Its |
!
author can make no greater claim for it than that it is the |
honest celebration of a poet of genuine merit. j
!
My acknowledgments are due to various persons. The
I
| first of these are the chairman and members of my disserta- j
tion committee, Professors Everett W. Hesse and Dorothy
jMcMahon of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portu- |
i i
guese, and Professor Edward N. O'Neil of the Department of |
j j
(classics at the University of Southern California. Their |
i
i
intelligent and sensitive direction of this project will be
' i
(gratefully remembered. Professor Kenneth R. Scholberg of j
i ;
|Ohio State University, an authority on Barrios, has been
j
| most generous in giving me information and lending me
jprecious microfilms, without which much of my work would
jhave been impossible. Miss Clara L. Penney of the Hispanic
i
I
Society of America has also supplied me with valuable bib
liographical information and encouragement. The Libraries j
j i
of the Hispanic Society of America and Columbia University
have kindly provided me with microfilms of Barrios' works.
Long conversations with Professor Richard Popkin of the
University of California at San Diego have helped me immeas-
i
urably in understanding the Jewish Colony of Amsterdam. I
|also received from him certain manuscript poems of Miguel de
Barrios. Mr. Robert Earle Smith of Chaffey College gave me
Porras Barrenechea1s work on Garcilaso Inca in Montilla.
Mr. Samuel Brier of Claremont has helped me with some prob
lems of Jewish history. To all of these I offer my most I
i I
heartfelt thanks.
I should like to mention gratefully one other person,
I
i i
ithe late Professor Ernest H. Templin of the University of |
[California at Los Angeles, who first introduced me to the
i
I
istudy of Spanish baroque literature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION
|
Page j
PREFACE................................................. 11
I
II. OCTAVAS. MIDDLE STYLE: THE GEOGRAPHIC ;
DESCRIPTIONS 18 !
III. OCTAVAS. HIGH BAROQUE STYLE: THE j
PANEGYRICS................................. 31
IV. OCTAVAS. PLAIN STYLE: THE MORAL POEMS . . . 61
V. THE PETRARCHAN CANCION AND MINOR j
ITALIAN FORMS 79 ]
VI. THE SONNETS 97 |
VII. THE SONNETS: TEMPORAL STRUCTURE 115 j
VIII. THE SONNETS: RHETORICAL STRUCTURE 133 ,
IX. THE MASQUES 148 j
X. NATIVE METERS: NARRATIVE, WEDDING, AND j
PORTRAIT POEMS ............................. 164!
XI. NATIVE METERS: MORAL, ARTISTIC, AND
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS ........................ 187
XII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION .................... 213
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................ 233
I
I
t
]
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
i
I
i
| The cross-currents of fifteenth and sixteenth century
i
jpoetry, combining popular Castilian and modified Provengal
and Galician traditions with Petrarchan motives and Italian-
ate forms, continue into the seventeenth century. (Jose F. !
jMontesinos defines the baroque as "el arte de no renunciar
a nada."^) There is no contemporary body of European poetry
comparable in either bulk or excellence to that produced in
i
'Spanish during these centuries, outside of England. The j
enormous quantity of verse that survives in manuscript or
Iprinted form demands to be read, studied, and classified ;
and the information derived from these studies to be made ,
i !
i I
I !
|available. This is especially so since there has been a j
radical shift of taste in the present century comparable to
that which took place in the eighteenth century and which
; i
i
i
! ^Primavera v flor de los meiores romances recoqidos
por el licdo. Arias Perez (Madrid. 1621). Reimpreso direc-
tamente de la primera edicion. ed. Jose F. Montesinos
(Valencia, 1954), p. lxxxix.
1
; ” “ ~ ' 2
i
|has obscured so many of the values of seventeenth century
i
i
poetry.
I
Of the three major poets of the early seventeenth cen-
jtury, Lope, Gongora, and Quevedo, only the second is being
ladequately edited and studied. Less important poets have j
jscarcely been glanced at. Editors of selected works and
S j
janthologies have naturally expurgated poems written in "bad !
j
taste." It has come to the point where a serious investi- I
i !
i
gator pricks up his ears at any casual mention of "bad
taste" in the standard sources. Whole sections of the works
of major poets and complete generations of minor poets have
jbeen interred in a common grave under that caption. We
!
i
icannot, for example, ignore such a current as the word-
juggling stream that includes what Montesinos calls concep- .
I
p
i tismo sacro in Lope and Ledesma, and still understand what ;
|We read in any poet who follows them.
I
; Damaso Alonso tells us that, for him, the first axiom
I
of criticism is that no period is esthetically mistaken;
that is, that there are certain mysterious cravings, dif- j
! I
i ■ !
| ^ j
^Lope de Vega, Poesias liricas. ed. Jose F. Montes inos , j
Clasicos Castellanos. 68, 75 (Madrid, 1941-1952), I, 1; II, j
xl, xlv, li. The prefaces are dated 1925 and 1926. j
ferent in each moment, and that art tends to fill them as
| !
I 3
jmatter tends to occupy a vacuum. It has been the custom to
|
condemn a writer for any of his writings that we do not !
junderstand, in the sense that they do not fulfill any of ourl
cravings, or any cravings that we are able readily to appre
ciate. But Lope and Ledesma, Gongora and Quevedo, Barrios j
j |
! ■ j
;and La Torre Sevil were not mistaken. They were not making j
errors of taste when writing in certain styles, even though ;
these styles ceased to have pertinence for most readers
after the first third of the eighteenth century. It is |
tather that critics of more recent times have traditionally
i
had a kind of selective color-blindness. For the same rea- j
:son, the reading of anthologies and selected works can only
i.
give us a distorted view of such a rich and varied period. j
It would be much better, for example, to read two or three,
of Lope's volumes of verse as he published them than to read
a major selection taken from all of them (or indeed from allj
the consecrated writers of the period) in order to find out !
I ■■ I
j i
Jwhat Lope's verse and the verse of Lope's time is like. j
! i
iNeither can we scorn such collections of almost anonymous i
j i
I I
j |
j j
j
^Damaso Alonso and Jose M. Blecua, Antoloqia de la
poesfa espanola. Poesia de tipo tradicional (Madrid, 1956),
p. ix.
{material as the poetic contests and civic rejoicings or
i
i
ilamentations for religious and political events and royal }
| |
{births and deaths.^ Precisely the collections of occasional!
verse written by good, bad, and mediocre poets at one time
{and to one purpose can give us the material to study a given|
I
jgeneration in a given place, without being misled by the j
i
jglamor of the genius of a great poet. Then those poets of
whom we possess considerable bodies of verse can be studied (
: i
! |
with a real knowledge of the background which produced them
j |
{and we can arrive at a valid assessment of their personal
contribution.
Miguel de Barrios, like the major poets of the follow
ing century, is a major poet of a minor period. The purpose
: !
of this dissertation is to study his poetic styles in rela-
; |
jtionship to the poetic climate that existed during his life-i
time, as far as that can be determined in view of the almost
I I
!
(total lack of studies relating to the period and of modern
(editions of works published during his life, and the inac- j
cessibility of major libraries in which the original edi-
( i
i
^There is a partial list of such sources, almost com
pletely within the period when Barrios was publishing, in
Jose Simon Diaz and Luciana Calvo Ramos, Siglos de oro:
Indice de iustas poeticas. Cuadernos Bibliocrraficos V
(Madrid, 1962).
i ' 1
tions of such works may be located. This poetic climate is j
| j
also predicated on the works of poets who preceded him and j
i
I
wrote, in various romance languages and in Latin. j
| Since baroque literature is not an isolated phenomenon !
jlimited to Spain, such light as can be got from editions of :
contemporary and earlier writers, and the distinguished
studies of them which have been appearing during the mid-
! i
twentieth century and before in accessible languages, has |
i |
been gratefully accepted.
! , !
Miguel de Barrios, born in Montilia near Cordoba in
1635 and baptized on November 3 of that year, was one of the
j t
bine children of Simon (Jacob Levi) de Barrios and Sebasti-
i
ana (Sara) Valle. It is not clear whether the family was
Spanish or Portuguese, though one grandfather had lived in
Portugal.
We don't know how long Miguel de Barrios lived in his
jnatal city of Montilla, but he always retained an affection j
! - i
I
for it, celebrating it in verse at least twice. Speaking of
(Cordoba, he writes;
Tres ciudades esplendidas domina,
y mi patria Montilla es la primera,
siempre grata al amante de Ericina,
del inclito Pompeyo hija guerrera:
de su fuerte castillo en la ruina
no recibe desmayo, antes prospera,
I porque en sus generosos moradores
| tiene con gran lealtad muros mejores.
Antes se hallo entre montes levantada:
crece agora entre campos florecientes
por el Magno A g u i l a r 5 amplificada,
j corte de sus excelsos descendientes:
de siete mil vecinos ilustrada
j obtiene hermosas calles, dulces fuentes,
dos plazas con sabrosos alimentos,
una iglesia, ocho hermitas, seis conventos.
Cria los hijos sabios y briosos,
rica de huertas, fertil de ganados:
Pales aqux en rediles provechosos,
| Pomona alii con frutos regalados:
son los de sus higueras tan famosos,
que exceden a los mas aventajados:
! dando Isis franca y Libero cumplido
oro trillado y nectar e x p r i m i d o . 6
The other passage is his sonnet "A la muy noble y leal
|
jciudad de Montilla":
Mi gran patria Montilla, verde estrella
del cielo cordobes, agrado a Marte
con las bellezas de la diosa Astarte,
del fuego militar aurea centella.
San Francisco Solano es hijo della,
i padre el Magno Pompeyo, lustre el arte,
por Baco y Ceres del Elisio parte,
y por Felipe el Grande ciudad bella.^
! Corte es de los famosos descendientes
^Presumably the Gran Capitan. Gonzalo Fernandez de
jCordoba.
|
j ^Coro de las Musas (Brussels, 1672), p. 141.
^Philip IV raised Montilla !ro the category of city in j
1630; see Kenneth R. Scholberg, Foesia reliqiosa de Miguel
de Barrios (Columbus, [1962]), p. 3.
7
del Alonso que en una del sol cumbre
murio matando mahometanas gentes.
Da con su fama al moro pesadumbre,
j de hojas marciales y astros elocuentes
sombra a las deas y a las musas lumbre.
(Coro, pp. 196-197)
j
I Raul Porras Barrenechea describes Montilla in the pre-
i
vious century as follows:
! La villa de Montilla, situada en la region andaluza
a ocho leguas de Cordoba, se alza, como otras villas
airosas de la region, sobre la suave pendiente de los
cerros, rodeando con su ocre cinturon de tejados la
antigua fortaleza o castillo medioeval. De esta posi-
cion erguida, sobre el suave declive de los montes
beticos, provienen los nombres y la traza ascensional
de las dos villas inmediatas a Cordoba: Montilla y
Montemayor. (p. xvi)
Montilla was held feudally by the Marques de Priego:
: Toda la vida de Montilla estaba subordinada en el
siglo XVI al castillo y a los raarqueses. El pueblo
lo forman unos tres mil vecinos agricultores o vina-
teros, que trabajan en los pagos vecinos de vinas y
olivares y en las huertas aledanas. La clase diri-
gente la forman los funcionarios nombrados por los
raarqueses, algunos criados de estos, los clerigos y
frailes de la parroquia y de los tres conventos— San
Agustfn, San Francisco y la Compania— , los medicos,
licenciados y los vecinos del pueblo o buenos hombres
pecheros que forman la multitud. La autoridad esta-
tal de los marqueses esta representada por el Alcalde
| Mayor, los jueces y alguaciles, los miembros del Ca-
! bildo, Alcaldes y Regidores y los escribanos. La al-
ta clase social la forman los hidalgos, los que por
j la simple presentacion de su carta ejecutoria se ha-
| llaban exentos del pago de sisa de carne y de pesca-
| do, recibian una cuota de sal y devengaban quinientos
j maravedxs de renta. Al lado de estos se iba formando
una nueva clase social de los burgueses enriquecidos
por el trabajo y el trafico mercantil. Aquellos ve
cinos cuyas rentas ascendiesen a mas de cien marave-
8
d£s eran llamados a formar la clase de los "Caballe
ros contiosos," los que tenian la obligacion de ser-
vir al rey en caso de guerra y de disponer para los
! alardes militares de un morrion, un arcabuz, una pica
y un caballo, como los caballeros de linaje. Los Ca
balleros contiosos o de premia eran inscritos en un
| libro de la guerra en el Cabildo y tenian derecho a
ser elegidos alcaldes de la villa por sorteo. . . .
Todas las autoridades y funcionarios dependian, pues,
de los marqueses senores de la villa y del estado de
Priego y eran nombrados "por el tiempo que fuere
j nuestra voluntad." No hay en la villa un solo asomo
de independencia o de libertad comunal. Los acuerdos
del Cabildo son comunicados al marques y este, ha-
biendo visto lo acordado por el Alcalde Mayor, el
I Consejo del Estado y el Consejo y Regimiento de la
villa, le confiere vigencia, diciendo: "lo apruebo y
confirmo y doy licencia para que se haga y cumpla."
(pp. xviii-xix)
He ends his description with this curious note:
En este estado feudal no se hallan, como en otras
i ciudades espanolas, judios ni moriscos, salvo los es-
clavos de esta nacion. (p. xix)8
In this feudal city Barrios was born under the rule of
i
jAlonso Fernandez de Cordoba (1588-1645), a mute, who had
Q
inherited in 1606. It would be interesting to verify what
Barrios' father's position was in the Montillan scheme of
things. It could not have been too humble if the men of the
family used the title don and became captains in the Spanish
8E1 Inca Garcilaso en Montilla (1561-1614) (Lima,
1955), pp. xvi, xvii-xix.
8Porras Barrenechea, Inca Garcilaso. p. xviii.
I ' ......" '. '... 9
(Army, as Miguel and one of his brothers did.
i
Montilla was the birthplace of the Gran Capitan. Gon-
zalo Fernandez de Cordoba, and of San Francisco Solano. It I
|was also the home of the Argote family and Gongora's father.;
(Garcilaso Inca, one of the greatest Spanish colonial writ
ers, lived there for fifty-three years (1561-1614), and j
j
j i
'wrote there the first book written by an American in Spain, j
his translation of the Dialogos de amor of Leon Hebreo.^® j
I
i 1
Leo the Hebrew, Judah Leo Medigo, or Jehuda Abravanel, once j
i !
(physician to the Great Captain in Naples, was a Sephardic
' 11 1 p
jjew. Barrios' first book, Flor de Apolo. was dedicated
to Antonio Fernandez de Cordoba, under whom he served in
I
(Flanders, and who was one of his principal protectors. As
late as 1686 Barrios was of service to a member of the Fer-
i
j , ,,
inandez de Cordoba family. It seems clear that throughout (
his military service in Flanders, and even later, Barrios
i
Jwas attached to the ruling family of his native town. This
lOporras Barrenechea, Inca Garcilaso. pp. 281-282.
11-Max Margolis and Alexander Marx, History of the Jew
ish People (New York and Philadelphia, 1956), p. 502.
l^Brussels, 1665.
l-^Scholberg, Poesia reliqiosa. p. 15.
'......... ' .'.. 1C
jfact may throw light on Barrios' motivation for establishing
;himself in the Low Countries in the first place.
|
i
The most illustrious name connected with Montilla is |
jthat of Cervantes, who was there in December of 1591 and |
; j
istayed in the vicinity for some months, which doubtless |
! furnished him with the basis for the horrendous experiences j
i
|
of the dog Berganza with a pupil of the witch known as la
Camacha de Montilla. when this perro sabio spent a night !
1 14 !
there in the Coloauio de los perros. j
It seems very likely that important information about
Barrios' family and their circle could be found in a search
.of the local archives similar to the able and fruitful one
made by Porras Barrenechea in respect to Garcilaso Inca and
his family and associates.
It is usually considered that, as marranos and crypto- |
Jews, the family members were not safe from the Inquisition ;
I !
!in Spain. Whether for this reason or another, Miguel de I
; i
iBarrios left for Italy, while the rest of the family moved j
i
jto North Africa. He was converted to Judaism through the
j i
influence of an aunt in Leghorn and circumcized there. It j
!
|
I i
i t
I
l^Porras Barrenechea, Inca Garcilaso. pp. 236-250;
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Obras completas (Madrid,
1952), pp. 1001, 1013-1019.
iwas also in Leghorn that he married Debora Vaez, the Anarda
of his Coro de las musas (Brussels, 1672).
j
On a colonization venture in 1660, Barrios and his wife!
left Leghorn for Tabago in the West Indies, then a Dutch
possession. After her death there, he abandoned the pro- j
i
Iject. i
| j
When he returned to Europe, Barrios went to the Low i
i t
Countries. In 1662 he married Abigail de Pina, the Belisa
i
: I
of Coro de las musas. Although she continued to live in
; j
^Amsterdam, Barrios became a captain in the Spanish Army and j
took up residence in Brussels, spending time with his familyj
j . j
when he could. Three children were born of this union, a
son and two daughters. The first daughter died in infancy, i
Things soon began to go wrong in Amsterdam. His wife's]
family passed rapidly from prosperity to poverty. The false
jMessiah, Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676), disrupted Jewish life
land caused irreparable damage to the community in Amsterdam.!
i i
jThis imposter or self-deluded religious leader was born in !
i i
i ;
iTurkey and, in the course of his ministry, aroused the
I
!
jSephardic communities into religious frenzy. At the height
i
I '
jof his success, he was forced to become a Moslem to save hisj
i
life, and was given the post of the sultan's doorkeeper.
i
!
The disappointment of his followers was such that the I
12
J
iSephardic communities of Europe and the Near East never
1 S
jfully recovered/
■ i
Meanwhile Barrios carried on his military and literary 1
jcareer in Brussels, where he published Flor de ApoIq in 1665:
and Coro de las musas seven years later. He was protected
|and favored by a series of Spanish and Portuguese nobles, to
t
i
j
Whom he dedicated his works. At the same time he also ad-
| I
dressed verse to important members of the Sephardic communi-j
i j
! |
ty in Amsterdam.
|
About 1674 he gave up his commission in the Spanish
Army and moved permanently to Amsterdam, where he was known
as Daniel Levi de Barrios. It was in that year that he had ;
a mental breakdown accompanied by religious delusions brought
on by the mission and apostasy of Sabbatai Zevi. This kept j
! I
j i
him from any constructive work for nearly two years. In |
1682 and 1685 he suffered relapses with delusions and hallu-
j !
(cinations. His economic situation was often desperate and j
; j
he attempted to use all his former and current connections j
-^Margolis and Marx, History of the Jewish People, pp.
558-577; Paul Goodman, History of the Jews (New York, 1959),
pp. 129-131; Cecil Roth, A History of the Marranos (New York
and Philadelphia, 1959), pp. 249-251; Julius H. Greenstone,
The Messiah Idea in Jewish History (Philadelphia, 1906), pp.
214-224; Scholberg, Poesxa reliqiosa. pp. 24-25. s
jto recoup his fortunes. These efforts met with so little
■ i
Isuccess that he had on occasion to resort to public charity.J
; ' i
In 1676 the literary Academia de los Sitibundos was
founded with Barrios as an officer, an honor which was most
important to him, as it meant recognition by his own people . j
| |
;This was followed by a new Academia de los Floridos in 1685 j
i !
i
I ,
|in which both he and his son Simon were officers.
During all this time he published a great deal. Un- j
fortunately, much of this publication is quite deceptive.
]
|That is to say, after publishing a new nucleus of material
in honor of a new patron, he would make up a volume with
printed material already on hand, so that sometimes no two j
copies would have the same contents, and the appearance of aj
new work may be partly or largely illusory. Some of his
best work nevertheless appeared in company with cabalistic j
vagaries and innumerable potboilers.
I |
In 1686 his second wife Abigail de Pina, then blind I
! |
| from cataracts, died, and his daughter Ribca continued to i
|
manage his house. His son died in 1688 in the Barbadoes. |
I i
jBarrios' last known publication was dated 1699. He died on j
' 16 I
|March 2, 1701 at the age of sixty-five. !
|
! j
; i
! i
i ■ j
J ^This summary of Barrios' life is based on three J
14
! Kayserling finds Miguel de Barrios, the gay young
Spanish captain, and Daniel Levi, the poor, pious Jew so !
i . !
different as almost to be two different persons and writers:;
Miguel de Barrios, der Hauptmann in Brussel, der
Dichter in der Arraee, und Daniel Levi de Barrios, der j
bittende und bettelnde Poet, Miguel, der freie lockre ;
Geist und Daniel Levi, der glaubige Jude, der kabba- j
| listische Versemacher, der Sanger und Lobredner jiidi-
| scher Akademiker und reicher Juden, Miguel, der Drama-
tiker und Daniel Levi, der religiose Komodienschreiber,
sind so verschieden, so getheilt, dass man fast glauben j
konnte, die Person sei nicht allein in ihrer religiosen
Anschauung, sondern auch in ihrer Denk- und Dichtungs- ’
weise eine ganz andere geworden. (Sephardim. p. 267)
i
There is certainly a contrast between typical works of j
the two periods, but in the miscellaneous section of his j
i
iPoesia reliqiosa de Miguel de Barrios (pp. 223-248), Schol- j
berg has been able to select moral and religious texts from j
the earlier period which fit well with later religious works;
and demonstrate the continuity of Barrios' work. !
The seventeenth century, into which Barrios was born, |
secondary sources: Scholberg, Poesia reliqiosa. pp. 3-42;
M[eyer Moritz] Kayserling, Sephardim. Romanische Poesien der
Juden in Spanien (Leipzig, 1859), pp. 256-288 and Biblioteca
iEspanola-Portugueza-Judaica (Strasbourg, 1890), p. 16.
jFactual matter is adjusted to Scholberg's study, which in
corporates much material not available to Kayserling.
Barrios' wife's blindness is taken from "La memoria renueva ;
el dolor" in his Estrella de Jacob (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 31.1
iwas a period of religious intolerance, of wars, plagues, anc
! i
t
jpersecution. The Great Plague of London (1664-1665), with I
- i
; i
its 68,596 recorded deaths, was not an isolated phenomenon, j
The Thirty Years' War (.1618-1648) was a central one among
|the many wars which grew out of the unrest and rivalries of *
I the century. In France the Edict of Nantes, promulgated in j
! i
i i
:1598, had promised religious and political freedom to the j
i ' j
Huguenots, but was revoked in 1685 after a persecution in
! j
which France lost more than 400,000 inhabitants and the !
;Edict no longer had any reason to exist.
i
In some aspects the contemporary writer whose career
leasts more light than any other on the environment surroundH
i I
| j
!ing Barrios' life is John Bunyan (1628-1688), whose reli- j
gious delusions and apocalyptic hopes are parallel to those
of Barrios. For it was an apocalyptic period overshadowed !
by the expected advent of the Messiah, the conviction of
sin, and the idea of the destruction of the world. For the j
Sephardic Jews the tragic results of the coming of Sabbatai !
i
i
Zevi and the influential heresies of Spinoza led to exagger-j
i
: t
ated orthodoxy with a long decadence of their rich culture. j
j I
|On the other hand, the Jews were excited by the idea of the I
existence of other bodies of their coreligionists in the
16;
17 I
relatively unknown lands beyond the Atlantic Ocean. \
' i
i
There is a detailed bibliography of Barrios' works by
1 f t 1ft
Kayserling and another by Scholberg. The latter also
Isupplies an analysis of the contents of the various vol- !
i ■ !
20
iumes. The body of this dissertation is devoted to an
analysis of specifically poetic works from a stylistic point
of view.
Because of inaccessibility of texts, quotations are ;
■ i
: I
full enough to illustrate the points under discussion. All j
, I
^Spanish texts are modernized as to spelling, though not as |
i
to language. Certain archaisms of spelling, such as della j
i
for de ella. have been retained. Where Barrios' accentua- i
i ■ ■ ■ ■ ;
i . i
I I
i i
tion of words is not now standard, as determined through use!
17
Many ideas expressed m this dissertation about the j
Amsterdam Jewish colony and its ideological life stem from
conversations with Professor Richard Popkin, some of whose
jstudies in the archives of Amsterdam center on the career of
tearrios' sometimes estranged friend, Dr. Baltasar (Ishak) '
lOrobio de Castro.
For hopes based on America, see Menasseh ben Israel, i
Esperanza de Israel, ed. Santiago Perez Junquera (Madrid,
1881), especially pp. 1-16, the "Relacion de Aharon Levi,
alias, Antonio de Montezinos." This is a reprint of the
Amsterdam edition of 5410 (1650).
ISBiblioteca. pp. 16-26.
■^Poesia reliqiosa. pp. 351-354.
20poes£a reliqiosa. pp. 43-80.
of versification, IAnibal for Anibal. democracia for demo-
cracia), I have followed the poet's usage. Obvious errors
have been corrected without comment. Punctuation has been
jmodified wherever it seemed desirable, in order to facili- j
Itate comprehension of the text. The numeration of Coro de j
las musas is interrupted by various series of pages with
inumbers enclosed in curves. For convenience in citation,
|
(394), for example, is replaced by 394a.
! CHAPTER II
OCTAVAS. MIDDLE STYLE:
THE GEOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS
1 The verse of Miguel de Barrios is written in various
styles rather than in one. This was usual in poets through-
! :
1 i
out the whole renaissance period. The most important divi- j
i
isions of Barrios' poetic writings are those in serious styl^
and those in jocose or satirical style. It is useful to
!
divide the former into high baroque, middle, and plain
: i
I
styles. His high baroque style shows a density of ornamen- j
tation roughly equivalent to that of such works of Gongora |
I I
as the Soledades. the Polifemo. and many of the sonnets.
His middle style makes abundant use of the same devices, ;
ibut does not sustain the decorative density of the strictly j
I
i
high-style works . In his plain style the shift of emphasis j
|
! , |
|is more significant. There is a special earnestness of
I
i
;tone, and the various stylistic devices to be discussed are
1
used primarily to enhance meaning rather than to produce j
|
sensuously decorative effects.
19|
i |
; I
One of the Italianate forms most used in the Coro de J
I i i
las musas and elsewhere in Barrios' writings is the octava j
I . i
i |
real or octava rima (a stanza of eight hendecasyllables I
jrimed ABABABCC). Rengifo speaks of this form as follows: i
Es muy usado en Espana, y muy a proposito en las co-
medias para razonamientos y oraciones y fuera de ellas
| para descripciones, encomios, eglogas, y para historias I
! seguidas, y hay de ellas varias sonadas. Cuanto las con- j
sonancias, los seis versos primeros han de ir torcidos ;
[terciados], y los dos postreros consonantes entre si, y
han de rematar la octava con alguna sentencia o dicho !
que deje con sabor y gusto al que la lee. j
Barrios and his contemporaries often used it as a vehicle j
1 !
where later writers might well have selected prose. Such
writing includes much of that part of Barrios' poetical
!production sometimes impugned as prosaic. It is not clear J
: |
how much validity there is to such a charge. Nowadays we
rarely write in verse anything that is not, in a very nar- ;
row sense, lyrical. If a baroque writer expressed in octa-
ivas what we would choose to express in prose, it is probab-
i
lly, at least in part, anachronistic to find it prosaic. The
^Brussels, 1672.
t i
I ^Juan Diaz Rengifo, Arte poetica espanola (Barcelona,
1759), pp. 91-92. This edition repeats the additions of
Joseph Vicens made as early as 1703 which, though posterior j
to Barrios' death, are pertinent to the problems in hand ;
since they represent usages of the period in which Barrios !
worked. j
j
I ... ' .... 20
use of a dignified and decorative verse form was at that
; i
; i
time suitable to such pretentious projects as those in i
I
question and, like other embellishments, is part of the
jprocess of amplification. More to the point are questions
such as the following: Was he able to express facts, ideas,!
; I
or impressions tersely and elegantly in verse? Is it good
!verse? Can we read these passages with satisfaction? What
; j
is the intrinsic worth of his completed projects?
; i
Since Barrios' feeling for the octava was such that he j
|never descended to jocose or satirical writing in this form,
j it proves to be an excellent medium in which to study his
serious style. In his poetical works the octavas may be j
! I
divided stylistically into three'groups. The first major i
i
group appears mostly in the Coro de las musas. It is writ- j
t
ten in middle style and consists of geographic and histori- |
cal writings. The second consists of three panegyrical i
| i
poems in high baroque style, two of which were published in ,
j 3 |
ithe Flor de Apolo and the third as the Corte real genealo- j
I i
I I
* 4
qica v panegrrica a don Francxsco de Mora v Corte Real.
j |
The third group contains philosophicomoral writings in j
! i
s t
| (
o
Brussels, 1665.
^Amsterdam?, 1674?
■ 21
I
plain style, largely from Barrios' later, Jewish period. j
All three groups are written in serious style, varying with
I
the subjects they treat according to the requirements of
decorum.
With two exceptions of little moment, these passages
! in the Coro are all of one type, thumb-nail history and geoJ
|
jgraphical description in middle style, panegyric in tone.
! ■
The fact that this is in middle rather than high baroque
style is no doubt due principally to the amount of compres- j
ision necessary to include all the desired data in a rela- j
itively small space. The great bulk of this writing is founcj
5
under the advocation of Terpsicore, the Geographic Muse.
^Attributions of function to individual Muses in seven
teenth-century Spain are sometimes traditional, sometimes
arbitrary. With Barrios three Muses are treated tradition
ally with little or no variation: Urania, musa celeste:
Erato, musa amorosa? and Thalia, musa comica. Three others
are little changed, or the change is at least explicable:
Clio is the musa paneqirica. rather than the Historical
Muse, which may merely indicate an attitude toward history. ,
Euterpe, usually the Muse of Lyric Poetry or Music, is the j
musa pastoril. possibly because she was sometimes thought tq
preside over music of pipes or flutes (see Francisco Pomey, ;
S.J., Pantheum Mvthicum. seu Fabulosa Deorum Historia
[Frankfurt, 1738], p. 153). Melpomene is the musa funebre I
instead of being the Tragic Muse, an understandable varia
tion. Three others seem completely arbitrary: Terpsichore
as musa geografa. Polymnia as musa lxrica. and Calliope as
musa moral. Calliope, however, is given the same function |
as in Quevedo's published verse, not printed until 1670,
two years before Coro de las musas. j
22 j
I
i i
jHer collaboration with Barrios produced 124 pages of his- j
i
Itorical and geographic material in octavas divided into j
1 !
I !
twenty-one metros. which treat the history of Spain and Por-j
itugal with descriptions of their various regions (pp. 53-
i
176) .
! i
I
This industrious Muse was by no means exhausted in the
i
[copious section meted out to her. Her ubiquitous hand is
irecognizable in lengthy passages devoted to England, Charles!
i I
II, and his Portuguese queen in the introductory masque,
^ i
"Panegxrico a las xnclitas y soberanas majestades de la Grar}
I
Bretana, Carlos Segundo y dona Caterina de Portugal." What \
appear to be sections of a projected panegyric-geographical ;
iwork describing continental Europe from Italy to Holland
occupy no small part of the "Elogios de xnclitas ciudades y |
personas illustres," dedicated to Clio, the Panegyric Muse.
; A "Descripcion de las Islas Terceras" figures in the sec-
i
tion "Gracias del Parnaso" (pp. 604-605). There is also a i
|
!separate Historia v descripcion de la celebre v ducal ciuda
i
i
jde Florencia. which is found in numbers nine and ten of the|
"Book of Pamphlets" in the Columbia University Library and j
j !
i is also inserted in the Aplauso metrico of the Library of j
23
j
rthe Hispanic Society of America. A description of Hungary
| I
: * !
in thirty-five octavas is called "Triunfo cesareo en la |
i I
descripcion universal de Panonia y conquista de la ciudad de|
~ 7
a 2. de septiembre de 1686. anos." All of these may ;
Ivery properly be discussed together. I
Barrios successfully achieved really remarkable com-
jpression in historical narrative. His mastery of and facil-
; i
ity in the forms he used is everywhere in evidence. j
; j
Often he attempted to state all he had to say about a |
i
; I
person or situation with epigrammatical sharpness in a |
jsingle stanza. Here is his account of Don Pedro of Portugal
I
!
and Ines de Castro:
I
Tuvo Pedro de Astrea la balanza
y sintio la aurea flecha de Cupido,
, alii con rectitud todo templanza,
I aqui a la bella Ines todo rendido:
tomando en sus contrarios gran venganza, J
muerto la corono mas encendido: |
que donde el amor firme se cautiva, j
| aun extinta la cfausa el fuego aviva. |
! (Coro 167.ii) j
i
The sententious quality of the last couplet is much in tha
i C.
Dated in the Introduction: Amsterdam, Feb. 7, 1674.
I
^In the unnumbered introductory pages of Antonio
Pizarro de Oliveros. Cesareo carro triunfal (Amsterdam:
yacomo de Cordova, 1687).
24
spirit of Rengifo1s instructions.
Many of the octavas are somewhat broken up because he
(
had so much material to cover in so little space. In the
following stanza, for example, he mentions a series of
jotherwise unrelated happenings to sum up a historical per-
Bertoldo entonces, aleman Vulcano,
! fraguo las que primero uso el veneto
armas de fuego. Emperador persiano
i Tamorlan prendio al turco Bayaceto.
A1 flojo Vencislao quito el germano
i trono Roberto. Todo estaba inquieto,
! ardiendo por discordias y sofismas,
el mundo en guerras y la iglesia en scismas.
| (Coro 117.ii)
jThe short sentences and run-on verses give a restlessness I
j j
to the stanza in keeping with the subject it treats.
Commonly the last line of the stanza is intentionally
i
:decorative and is often a bipartite verse.
Florencia, flor del mundo, no sin cuanta
1 docta escribe y marcial delinea hoja,
da a Minerva en la paz su verde planta,
y a Mavorte en la lid su planta roja:
una con negras Ixneas muda canta,
otra con ramo vencedor despoja,
en cielo de artes, en vergel de amores,
sol de fragancias, rosa de esplendores.
(Florencia 17.i)
i
I
In spite of the necessity for compression, Barrios i
uses all the devices of high-style lyric verse of the per-
I
I
iod, with altisonant metaphor, hyperbaton, balance (usuallyj
jbisymmetrical) of words, ideas, personages, events, and j
metrical units with other such devices as quotation or near
quotation of Gongora and other poets.
i Decorative use of metaphor is specially common in the j
i I
|introd\ictions to the various metros. The introduction to
|the summary of Portuguese history contains an extended i
!
’ mythological metaphor in which Europe-Europa is converted
into the dragon slain by her brother, Cadmus.
|
La bella Europa, vuelta en la serpiente
que enojo a Cadmo, su famoso hermano,
; del dios ceruleo guarda la gran fuente,
por el Cefiro verde y Boreas cano:
con piel umbrosa al Asia floreciente
! da la cola en la parte del Solano:
al Africa acomete por el Noto,
boca el estrecho y silbo su alboroto.
Cuantos dientes al evo le presenta,
naciones son que ilustran a Castalia; I
j los pies en Grecia y en Finlandia asienta; J
una ala es Chersoneso, otra ala Italia; j
en Rusia y Alemania se sustenta '
el vasto cuerpo de laureles; Galia I
deste dragon garganta se pregona, j
1 cabeza Espana, y Portugal corona. j
| (Coro 164.i-ii)
I
In another poem describing Rome he uses a more elaborate
mythological-metaphorical passage based on the Venus-Mars-
i
jAdonis theme. Here, as often, the metaphor is the structur-
|
al basis for the stanza.
De Mars (que es el espin contra el lozano
cazador que le quiso herir de celos)
26
A more
jwhich he calls the Azores "verdes estrellas de ceruleo
t
j
|cielo" (Coro 604.ii.8).
Another device, which soon becomes tedious, is the use ;
i
; 1
of mythological, biblical, and historical epithets applied '
to the persons about whom he writes. These are often
doubled, forming bipartite verses:
Jason paciente, Tifis animoso
! (Coro 119.iii.8)
Diana con valor, Palas sin suerte
(Coro 123.iii.8)
| Leones Saturno contra Jove hispano
(Coro 114.iv.8)
j Joab florentin, etrusco Ravellaque i
I (Florencia 25.iii.8) !
■ i
I Conspicuous hyperbaton is not rare here. For example, j
we are told that "la de Savonarola brillo ciencia" (Floren
cia 24.i.6). In one of the stanzas already quoted there is
a good example of a less strained use of hyperbaton:
i
I j
Bertoldo...
fraguo las que primero uso el veneto
armas de fuego.
...... _________________________________ -.. (Coro 117_._ii.l-v3)____ ___
hijo el de Remo valeroso hermano
le dio el muro, al contrario los recelos;
nombrose Marcia del planeta insano
que cerdoso en los b^licos desvelos
al Adonis del mundo hincando el diente
se divulgo de Dios espada ardiente.
(Coro 181.ii)
casual use of metaphor is the descriptive verse in
27
^This device is not so much used in these poems as in certain
fathers written in high baroque style.
Balance of various kinds is one of Barrios' favorite
structural devices. If he speaks of Cortes, he must also !
! I
mention Pizarro and balance his statements almost architec- :
I
j
jtonically:
j
! El gran Cortes y el gran Pizarro suma
I gloria alcanzaron con audacia altiva;
uno, postrando al indio Motezuma,
i otro, puniendo al inga Atabuliba,
trompa a la fama, a la memoria pluma,
! hace que cante aquel, este que escriba
| como rindio al imperio mexicano,
y trajo a Espana el cetro peruano.
j (Coro 125.ii)
The two Castiles receive very similar treatment:
Nombre da a entrambos el castillo de oro
que en campo rojo con marcial denuedo
por armas traen en manos del decoro,
siendo sus cortes Burgos y Toledo;
| una, planta de Brigo, oye al sonoro
Arlanza, undosa lira en verde enredo;
imperial otra, al Tajo se presents,
j del arrojado hebreo hija opulenta.
| (Coro 135.iii)
Just as Barrios balanced verses and pairs of verses, he
also used many bipartite verses in which the two approxi-
|
mately equal divisions of the hendecasyllable balance each !
i
I
other, sometimes in chiastic word order. These practices j
!
I
are abundantly illustrated above. Such verses are ordinar
ily the last of each stanza and appear so frequently as to
28
I lose in effectiveness, taking on a somewhat mechanical
quality. Tripartite verses are less common, though simi
larly used. In the following example Barrios plays the
i
tripartite final verse against the preceding bipartite j
verse, thus producing an agreeable and ingenious effect.
i
! Poblaron los bravos y ardidosos
I tinacrios, aborigenes, sabinos,
y pelasgos, tomando belicosos
| del rey Latino el nombre de latinos;
despues con los de Troya heroes famosos
alcanzo Roma ilustres peregrinos,
serpiente astuta, jabali guerrero,
real ave, fiel paloma, gran lucero.
(Coro 180.iii)
! Quadripartite verses are rarer, but are found doubled (and
jcorrelated) in the final couplet of the following stanza.
i
La parte principal que nombre y fama
da al unico en Italia gran ducado,
Florencia, a la que el Cefiro mas ama,
el nombre debe de sus pies estrado;
por el riego del Arno se proclama
fluencia en territorio celebrado,
academia, palestra, silla, y corte
i de Palas, Venus, Ceres, y Mavorte.
! (Florencia 30.ii)
!
In respect to the device of quotation, I shall give
only one example: "que estrellas pace en campo de zafiros"
t
I(Coro 61.i.2). Barrios wrote for a cultivated audience that
j |
idolized Gongora, and from whom he certainly expected famil-j
j j
iarity with the celebrated sixth verse of the first Soledad J
|
Consequently decorations borrowed from Gongora (or Calderon)!
I .............. " . '.. ' """ 29
]
jwere expected to be recognized and were part of contemporary
[Versifiers' stock in trade. This is not entirely dissimilar
!
I
!
in method to T . S. Eliot's studding his Wasteland with quo- j
tations. Damaso Alonso discusses Villamediana's quotation !
' 8
jof Gongora as homage to the great Cordovan.
| Nevertheless, with all his skill in expression and com-
jpression, and in spite of the important and colorful persons
i i
involved in the stirring events he mentioned, Barrios rarely
j
if ever achieved anything really memorable in this vein. As
might have been suspected, both the inspiration and the
[quality of such large amounts of verse, even by so facile a
! I
[versifier, vary greatly. His histories turn out to be hur-
i
i
ried summaries with interminable lists of rulers. The geo
graphical descriptions follow a repetitious pattern that j
! j
includes boundaries, coats of arms, geographic accidents,
and cities. Influential families connected to the regions
j i
iare singled out for praise. There are long series of properi
i
names of people and places. The dates, time, latitude and
longitude, and other such data, however ingeniously con-
jtrived, are somewhat unwieldy in verse.
^Gongora v el "Polifemo." 4th ed. (Madrid: Gredos,
1961), I, 61.
! Barrios had an affection for Portugal akin to his love
!for Spain. His feeling for the different regions, however,
I
I
Ivaries greatly, and his best description, written with more
Warmth, abundance, and ingenuity than any other, is his
"Descripcion de la fertil Andalucia," his patria chica.
Though none of these poems integrally merits a position in
a poetic anthology of his works, certainly selections might
j
be gleaned from the various descriptions. His best work
I
i
lies elsewhere.
i
I
i
I
i
CHAPTER III
OCTAVAS. HIGH BAROQUE STYLE:
THE PANEGYRICS
A series of three panegyrics constitutes a second
j
group of poems in octavas. Two of these appeared in Bar-
i
I
:rios' first book of verse, Flor de Apolo (Brussels, 1665),
|the first (pp. 3-9) dedicated to the Muses, the second (pp.
111-34) dedicated to Don Luis de Benavides. The third, Corte
real genealogica v panecririca a don Francisco de Mora v j
Corte Real, was probably printed in Amsterdam in 1674, since
it appears in association with Historia v descripcion de
I
! |
jFlorencia (Amsterdam, 1674) and is a more mature work than
the two poems of the Flor de Apolo.
i
! i
! These compositions are written in high baroque style,
ia style with more concentrated ornamentation (or amplifica
tion) than that of the geographical descriptions already
!
^This is the term suggested by Frank J . Warnke in
European Metaphysical Poetry (New Haven and London, 1961),
p . 3.
31
32
discussed. This style of writing is somewhat relieved by
an ironic tone in the twenty-nine octavas of the "Panegiricoj
j
a las musas," in which the burlesque feeling permits the
perpetration of a type of pun which Barrios uses consistent-;
ly in less serious types of verse, but which only occurs
twice in his octavas; "aun al sol dan con lagrimas en-ojos"|
t
2
(p. 7). This poem describes a dream in which Barrios as- j
cends to the "sacro monte" of the Muses, and is saved from
|
the wrath of Apollo, aroused by his impudence in presenting j
3
himself there, through the kind intercession of Clio, who
O
The fragmentation of words to produce double meanings j
was common during the period, even occurring in Latin. John|
Owen (ca. 1560-1622), whose work was very popular in Spain !
at the time, and was translated by Francisco de la Torre
Sevil, Joseph Morell, and many others, including Barrios, j
used the device in Book I, No. 54 of his epigrams: i
"Juris-prudentes prudentes jure vocantur;/ Tam bene cum
studeant, provideantque sibi" in Epicrrammatum loan. Oweni
(Amsterdam, 1674), p. 9. Joseph Morell used the same devices
in his translation of one of his own Latin epigrams, "De losj
ojos de Cristo cubiertos de saliva en su pasion" in Poesias j
selectas de varios autores latinos (Taragona, 1684), p. 102:
Los ojos flemas de horror
cubriendo a Cristo afligido:
' • j !
ya que por mi asi es-cupido j
podra ser mi Ciego Amor. I
Though this epigram is subject to criticism in respect to
taste at any time except during the period in which it is
written, the subject could hardly be more serious. |
•^See Chapter II, note 5.
33
I
jthen perforins a symbolic baptism on him with water from the
fount of Castalia. The poem casts some light on the young
i
poet's literary ideals, but is stylistically less interest
ing than the longer one that follows it. j
The "Panegirico al excelentisimo senor don Luis de j
; i
: • i
Benavides . . ." is written in a high baroque style which
jnever falters. Many of the octavas give special pleasure
because of their poetic craftsmanship. But it is a symphony;
I
; j
which continuously relies on full orchestra, fortissimo.
i !
jThe minor historical figure of Spain's military decadence, j
;to which it is dedicated, is so thoroughly overstated that j
! . I
interest flags as we follow him from one glorious triumph
! i
i 1
to another. (How could such a demigod ever have failed |
■ s
jagainst merely human adversaries?) Nor are we always con- |
vinced of the importance of Barrios' literary feelings to
ward this notable, though he seems truly to have admired
i I
!rank, power, wealth, and noble lineage. On the other hand, !
we have here a marvellously wrought and monumental show
piece .
i
The poem abounds in apt imagery and well-turned phras
es, in tiresome circumlocutions and dreary epithets. On one
hand we find a delicacy and strength of expression, on the
other we are asked to glory in horrific quantities of shed
r ' .... 34
|
blood. This is an illustration of the baroque contrast be
tween the beautiful and the grotesque. There is nowhere any
relief, any change of manner or pace.
The first stanza imitates with great success, and no
; |
Ifalse note, the style of Gongora's dedications of the Poli-
femo and the Soledades:
i
| Si en dulce plectro, altisono y canoro,
si en blanda voz, armonico y suave,
si en lira de marfil con trastes de oro
j ha de sonar ahora el canto grave;
benigno inspire el rutilante coro
j de las que en Helicon, mudado en ave,
! vieron herir al hijo de Medusa
la fuente que dio nombre a cada musa.
| (11.i)
|Thd next three stanzas complete the dedication in the same
i
style.
The second section is composed of eighteen stanzas of
ipraise with a slight framework of Benavides' biography, am- |
plified with a flood of classical allusion, vitiated by an i
j !
almost complete lack of substance. He is acclaimed for his j
: |
jlineage, wisdom, erudition, rectitude, and ability as writ
er, soldier, hunter, and philosopher.
The third section deals with his victory over General
Menin, who is killed in the battle. It consists of seven j
i
stanzas. Though the action is amplified and placed on a
heroic level, the presence of narrative saves this section |
|from some of the diffuseness of the preceding one.
!
In the fourth section, consisting of four stanzas,
i
i
Benavides takes Lens, now in northern France, and is sent as
ja reward to govern Milan. In the eleven stanzas of the
ififth section, he beats back the French and holds Milan suc-j
cessfully against them. Here Barrios gives a remarkably
i
|vivid picture of the battle, showing considerable epic tal-
ent. j
' i
Then, in a three-stanza interlude, section six, which
I accurately bisects the poem, Benavides is conquered by Love I
in allegorical battle, and married to a lady who, to match
her husband, is heroic in stature.
i 9
i
With thirty-three stanzas, the seventh section is the |
longest and the most rewarding. However important or unira-
j
portant the action may be historically, these stanzas carry (
military reporting in high baroque style to truly epic lev-
i
el. Whatever the reasons may be for Barrios' failure to
( j
I
capitalize on Spain's heroic past in the historical sections
jof the Coro de las musas.^ he showed great epic promise here
I
I
’in the verse of his youth, a promise that was unfortunately
I
I
never to be fulfilled.
4Brussels, 1672.
36
: I
i I
I Without transition we pass into the eighth and last
section, ten stanzas of applause for which we are completely
prepared by the stirring events that precede, so that we
feel no letdown as we reach the end. j
Miguel de Barrios was much given to the revising, ruth-;
less cutting, and rewriting of his verse. This poem, for
j
lone reason or another, did not benefit from revision and
reprinting in the "Musica de Apolo" of the Coro de las mu-
sas. the real second edition of the Flor de Apolo. As it !
stands, however, it gives an early example of high baroque
istyle in Barrios' octavas and is well worth a detailed sty
listic analysis.
i
The work is neatly divided into ninety octavas and
ninety-two sentences. Eighty-eight of these sentences are j
! i
I |
precisely one stanza long. In thirty-nine stanzas there is ;
a colon, a semicolon, or a period dividing the octava into
I ^ 1
two equal parts at the end of the fourth verse. Normally
|the verses are end-stopped. Sometimes, however, as many as!
! i
Ihalf the verses in a stanza will run on ostentatiously. j
! i
iRun-on ( eniambement) is the exception and not the rule and
!
i
i
i
!
^For a discussion of the binary movement of the octava.
see Damaso Alonso, Estudios v ensavos crongorinos (Madrid,
1955), pp. 200-220.
|is used basically as a stylistic device, producing contrast
with the greater number of stanzas, where run-on is used
i
I
little or not at all and where the effect is based on an
epigrammatic neatness of finished, individual verses. The
f
verse usually functions as a basic unit, as the stanza so
jrigorously does, reinforced by the sentence structure. In
j
|the following example the variation from a somewhat restles
i
stanza with frequent run-ons to a more normal, more static
type of stanza points up the change of subject as we pass
|from section four to section five:
No haciendo tal destrozo en los centauros
como tu en esta lid, el gran Teseo
le feuda a tu valor mayores lauros,
| y el Cesar espanol te da el trofeo
| de regir a Milan: sin que de Aglauros
te muerda el serpentino devaneo,
dura ruina de quien llega a verse,
enojando a Mercurio, sangre de Herse.
|
Gozoso el milanes con tu venida
: no teme la francesa vigilancia,
que entonces con astucia prevenida
aspiraba rendir la fiel constancia
que por no poder mas, de si homicida,
hiciera de Milan nueva Numancia,
si tu, del Anibal de Francia estrago
a Casal no tornaras en Cartago.
(19.iv-20.i)
There are remarkably few finite verbs here, sometimes
as few as two per stanza. ’ This phenomenon slows the action
and paints a static picture. When Barrios wrote in high
m
38
baroque style, he was writing as the disciple of the Gongora
: |
of the Polifemo and the Soledades. in each of which the ac
tion is mainly an excuse for painting a series of pictures. |
Here the action is much more important, but there is never
theless a definite attempt to have these stanzas approach j
•his models in static quality. It is as if he were display
ing slides to us, not motion pictures. The following exam
ple shows the extreme limit of the tendency described:
Don Antonio de Cordoba, famoso
en cuanta accion anima esclarecido
ya el rayo de su aliento belicoso,
j ya el metal de su fama retorcido;
i de titan simulacro es luminoso
i dejando al enemigo (si rendido
| por los ardores de su impulso airado)
i Fiton sangriento, Icaro abrasado.
| (26.iv)
The opposite tendency is the conspicuous use of verbs,
i
j
often in Latinized word order. Verbs in final position seemj
to come in clusters and may appear to be deliberately set I
|
ioff against a radically different sentence arrangement, and
to be used consciously as a stylistic device. This word
order must have been used partly for the sake of approaching
•the stylistic effect of the Latin classics, partly also to
I
jgive an ornate and temporally retarded style. In the exam-
i i
| •
pie two contiguous stanzas show a complete contrast in the I
placing of verbs in their clauses in a sort of virtuoso I
39
display of the handling of language effects. This is not
jdissimilar to the use of inversion in musical composition.
Al conde de Gramont que destrozaste,
cuanto belico ardid reconociste,
el triunfo de las manos le quitaste
| con la victoria que a tus pies le diste;
j pues aunque militar lo aprisionaste,
! y fue tanta la gloria que tuviste
en veneer su valor esclarecido,
el la tuvo mayor en ser vencido.
Mengua la gente, crece el alboroto,
recelose Pluton, reino Megera,
| estremeciose Telus, gimio el Noto,
y la Parca afilando su tisera
corta de vivo muro el lienzo roto
| vertiendo rojos mares de manera
que por cantar el triunfo deseado
sale despues el vencedor a nado.
j (31.i-ii)
j Another imitation of Latin syntax is the suppression of
articles as in the following passages:
De caliente carmin, marcial Timante,
! lineas formando en inmortales bronces, j
que de tu nombre son anal brillante, !
impetiiosa la violencia entonces
con espada voraz de muro errante
corta a las puertas los vitales gonces,
que desmintiendo presunciones locas,
almas respiran por sangrientas bocas.
(18.ii)
] Circular de soldados horizonte
la cogio en medio, cuando incontrastable
con evidencias de fogoso Bronte,
rayos de plomo exhala formidable...
(10.iv.1-4)
In this poem Barrios makes much use of visual imagery,
40
!
but in the manner of engravings in black and white rather
than paintings in full color. (Dark and light are men-
I
i • '
tioned, never black or white.) Sometimes there is some I
I i
jsuggestion of color from a colored substance, gold twice,
i :
!ivory once, blood many times. But gold and ivory are used i
-primarily for richness of texture, while blood, often not j
iliteral, is a sort of leitmotif of the poem. The adjective \
i ;
; - i
|saneriento is used eight times, but usually in a sense clos^
to "bloodthirsty." Mar sanariento is "blood" by paraphrase.
Other substitutes for the word sangre are grana de Tiro. j
I
purpura. caliente carmin. roio humor, and rojos mares. Pur-
I i
pureando means "staining with blood." The purpureo of pur- ;
! !
! A * I
pureo v tragico horizonte likewise means "bloody." The onl^|
I
|other words which might seem to denote color are verdores j
; i
i i
and verde. Verdores refers to shrubbery and grass as an
abstract and poetic substitute, whereas verde is used to
I I
■ |
state indirectly, and therefore poetically, the metamorpho-j
i
; f
jsis of a human being into a plant. Flowers, likewise, are
I
imentioned with no suggestion of color or variety. Lis is
|
|merely a substitute word for a Frenchman. For all the sen-
! j
!sitivity to color demonstrated here, Barrios may well have
been color-blind. The following fragment, a complete stan- !
I
i
za, engraves a picture while exploring a metaphorical idea j
41
| (a battle simile):
Cual las olas que en pielago erizado
I se suceden con prisa tan furiosa
que levantan Nembrot risco nevado
en la espalda de Tetis espumosa, j
hasta que un gigante inanimado, !
hallando resistencia peligrosa, ;
sobre las penas arrojando yelo, i
embravecido monstro, escupe al cielo.
(25.i)
Aside from the flood of almost mechanically augmenting
or amplifying metaphors in which Felipe IV, the German em-
i !
i i
peror, Benavides, and the family of the latter are likened j
I j
ito heavenly bodies, with the intrusion of an occasional j
phoenix, lion, or eagle, flamboyant metaphor and simile are
used primarily for one purpose in this poem. The basic pur-
i
ipose is to make battle scenes vivid and moving and, secon- j
darily, to embellish the poem and raise its style, to am
plify it. Like the stanza quoted in the preceding para
graph, they are highly pictorial though not colorful and,
lof the five senses, they appeal only to sight, though there j
|is certainly a kinesthetic element to their thrust and j
| • |
Jsurge. They impart movement rather than a static quality.
I
i
iThere is a series, including the example above, of impres- j
i
sive similes introduced by cual and comparing military ac- !
tion to natural forces:
i
! Cual por los aires el cometa ardiente
42
! que amenazando con violencia clara
! le pronostica a temerosa gente
| la rliina del cetro o la t’ iara;
j tal del cuarto planeta el excelente
hijo, echando centellas de su cara,
lleva en la vista y en la espada fuerte
miedo al que huye, al que le espera rauerte.
j (26.ii)
j
! Hurtado (no a esta lid), Mavorte hispano,
| (cual impetu de intrepido torrente
| que al rapido de espumas monstro cano
; se lleva cuanto Ismaro eminente
a su violencia se resiste en vano)
de su furor desata la corriente
! deshaciendo a sus pies cuanto provoca
en mar sangriento respirante roca.
, (28.iii)
j
jThe metaphor of the last verse is equally notable. In other
isimiles the comparison is with a bird or beast of prey:
| Tus leones, instando en su combate,
! (cual nebli que en el aire se levanta
hasta que el vuelo de la garza abate,
: segandole en las unas la garganta)
j al muro suben que tu impulso bate...
(18.i.1-5)
: Cual de tigre, pequena semejanza
que colera sangrienta no difiere,
con las unas se arroja a la venganza,
hasta que mata o batallando muere,
tal la gente enemiga se abalanza
a tus escuadras y de modo hiere
que cuando de veneer esta mas cierta
a tus manos por yerro se halla muerta.
(21.ii)
Metaphor is equally vigorous.
La selva corre de pulsadas lanzas
por el campo de armas ocupado...
(25.ii.l-2)
43
| I
como el humo en el aire se esparcia,
vio la batalla el sol por celosia.
| Dando la espalda al Cefiro siiave
con pies de pino y alas no de pluma,
medio pez el bajel y medio ave,
levantando cristal corta la espuma... !
(25.iii.7-iv.4)
lit is only in the last example that the literary style in-
i !
i
I terferes, or may interfere, with the directness of impact of
the imagery, so that the reader may be betrayed into think
ing of expressive devices and ornamentation, of Gongora and ;
Calderon. .
The whole panegyric bristles with classical allusions,
as has already been suggested. They referred to a body of
i i
^knowledge common to the poet and his public, and were there-;
|
fore a means, related to metaphor, for suggesting much more !
*
than the poet has time to state, while decorating and ampli^1
fying the passage. One of the salient characteristics of
jBarrios' technique of literary allusion here is the use of I
I j
indirection by failing to name the figure to whom he al-
I
ludes. Here is a sampling of these allusions by paraphrase:
t
l ei hiio de Medusa (ll.i.7) "Pegasus," el hiio de Caliope
, j
i sonoro (15.rii.l) "Orpheus," el que a Andromeda dio vida j
I i
I !
i
(15.iv.6) "Perseus," la hiia de Peneo (16.iv.l) "Daphne,
i.e. laurel," el hiio de Latona (16.iv.3) "Apollo," el
|................... " ” ' ...... 44
i
rrqido planeta (18.iii.l) "Mars," las nueve nietas del to-
i
nante ideo (22.i.2) "Muses, Jove," el hermano de Paris (22.
iiii.l) "Hector," el hermano de Anteros (22.iv.l) "Eros," el 1
I
j nieto de la espuma (23.ii.l) "Eros," el abrasado hiio de j
I ;
iClemene (24.ii.5) "Phaeton," el que ignxfero esposo fue de
j juno (30.i.2) "Jove," de Saturno el mayor hiio (32.iv.7)
|"Jove," and la siempre diosa alada (34.i.4) "Victory." The j
i j
density of allusion may be appreciated in the following j
| j
stanza: !
i
I Si riges al Bucefalo arrogante,
rasgandole su ijar punta buida
(porque al Boreas corriendo se adelante),
j no temes de Faetonte la caxda;
fijandote en la silla, tan constante
j que sxmil al que a Andromeda dio vida,
! en el padre te afirmas de Aganipe;
nuevo Alejandro de otro gran Filipe.
| (15.iv) j
| The epithets used to characterize Benavides and his j
officers are usually classical but are sometimes biblical or
|
taken from other non-classical literary sources. Those
! i
japplied directly to Benavides are: generoso Alcides (12.i. :
i
3), catolico Solon, magno Virqilio (13.iv.8), Julio en las |
!
|armas. en las letras Numa (14.i.S), Platon del norte. Aaui- I
i
les de Castilla (14.iii.8), David hispano. Salomon sequndo j
I I
(15.ii.8), nuevo Alejandro de otro gran Filipe (15.iv.8),
I
j
marcial Timante (18.ii.l), hispano Arturo (19.iii.2), and !
Cipion cristiano (22.iii.8). He is also told, "pareciste
l
Bernardo si el [Frete] Orlando" (30.iii.8). Those applied
to his officers are: nuevo Rugero (26.iii.3), Fiton san-
griento. Icaro abrasado (26.iv.8), Cierzo animado (27.ii.
j2), hispano Ulises (27.ii.5), Hector flamenco (28.ii.l),
[Mavorte hispano (28.iii.l), nuevo Cid (29.ii.l), and Milon
j
iflamenco (29.ii.7).
As in the octavas in middle style, Barrios used the
j
devices of parallelism and anaphora almost constantly from
(the first three verses of the first stanza (already quoted
in its entirety) all of which begin with the words si en...
I and of which the first two are rigorously, the third loose
ly parallel. This sets the feeling for the entire poem.
jln the second section the implied or explicit contrast of
I
i
|the pen and the sword, of civic and military virtues is am-
iplified with the devices of anaphora and chiasmus through
|
|a whole series of parallelistic and antithetic expressions:
j Cuanta ignora la escuela, cuanta sabe
j cientxfica elegancia (que destila
j por retorico labio en voz suave,
! el que con ciencia abstracts la ventila)
en tus contemplaciones tiene Have;
y si es tu Clio, singular Sibila,
de su anuncio feliz te hace el consilio,
catolico Solon, magno Virgilio.
(13.iv)
- 46
con la espada tal vez, tal con la pluma,
Julio en las armas, en las letras Numa.
No se te emboza la moral doctrina,
ni erudicion armigera te falta,
una por la atencion que te ilumina,
otra por la sapiencia que te exalta...
(14.i.7-ii.4)
lo que ignoran cientificos entiendes,
lo que ocultan filosofos alcanzas...
(14.iii.3-4)
no hay docta Aspasia, no hay atroz Altea,
que por sentencia justa y merecida
no tenga aquella gloria, esta suplicio,
llegando al tribunal de tu jiiicio.
(15.i.5-8)
Escribiendo con purpura francesa
(vertida por tu impulso ejecutivo),
que de rendir armigero no cesa
cuanto enemigo se presenta altivo,
no hay a tu acero reservada empresa,
ni a tu fama, senor, esento archivo,
pues postra invicto, y sube sin recelo,
al mundo tu valor, tu nombre al cielo.
(16.iii)
The dual correlation, which is a moving force in these pas
sages, is especially conspicuous in the last two verses
quoted.
i
j One of the commonest devices for constructing stanzas
!or briefer passages is the addition of antithesis to anti
thesis as in the following examples:
|
j Tuviste oriente en el ocaso iberio,
pues allx espira el astro rubicundo
y tu naces, honor del hemisferio.
(12.iv.2-4)
47
iHere the original contrast of oriente and ocaso in a single i
j |
verse is reinforced by the parallel use of the verbs espira
i
and naces in the following two verses.
i
Lleno de angustia, si de sangre falto,
clamo el rendido, y por fatal herida
a ver la muerte se asomo la vida.
(17.ii.6-8)
i
In the preceding example the additional contrast of chiastic
word order in verse six and parallel word order in verse
jeight increases the density of decorative effect.
!
Menin rendido, no sin la victoria,
con soberbia humildad se siente ufano,
que como triunfas con tan alta gloria
es dicha ser vencido de tu mano;
! ya de tus hechos la inmortal memoria,
tiniebla del frances, luz del hispano,
con lo que mata a uno a otro da vida,
mientras mas admirada, mas temida.
(18.iv)
j El marques de Monroy sus alemanes
j anima, desmayando la osadia
de cuantos con anhelos, con afanes,
buscando gloria encuentran agonia:
don Miguel, ejemplar de capitanes,
como el nombre de Cordoba obtenia,
del grande hereda el belico ejercicio,
ascenso a Espana, a Francia precipicio.
(28.iv)
Each of these stanzas illustrates the use of antithesis in
I
developing the effect of the total structural unxt, the
complete stanza.
The use of hyperbaton is quite moderate here. Aside
48
i
ifrom even less pretentious uses, it usually takes the form
jof a prepositional phrase in de moderately displaced:
i
que adornan de tus armas el castillo
(13.iii.2) j
| de Feronia aumentando los verdores
| (16.i.7)
| si tu, del Anibal de Francia estrago
| (20.i.7)
I de la batalla en el sangriento seno
(30.iv.5)
i
two verses contain more complicated hyperbaton:
ni al que con Ganimedes vuela harpia
(16.ii . 4)
t
que al rapido de espumas monstro cano
j (28.iii.3)
i
For a seventeenth century work, however, these examples may
be seen as the lack of, rather than the presence of, con
spicuous hyperbaton. This may be partly because the tight
structure of the octava does not lend itself to the use of
j i
l !
; j
jhyperbaton as freely as does the looser structure of the |
i i
silva and the cancion. Certainly hyperbaton is used more
freely by Barrios in other Italianate forms.
Another factor, more notable for its paucity than its
abundance, is the use of those typical stylistic formulas of
!
i
Gongora, of which there are relatively few examples in this j
t
I
panegyric: I
.... . " ' “.." " : ' 49
gente no (en forma) en hechos amazona
(19.ii.4)
expiran, si no luces, fulminadas
violencias. . . . .
(20.iii.3-4)
violento no, magnanimo atropella
(22.iv.2)
quedo, si no anegado, prisionero
el mariscal...
(30.iii.4-5)
contra el que roba lusitano toro,
a Europa no...
(32.i.2-3)
A typically baroque device, catachresis appears in this
Ipoem. As in Crashaw's "Upon the Body of Our B[lessed] Lord
jNaked and Bloody," blood is referred to as a garment.^ An
animal cannot escape Benavides' fire,
vistiendose en el fin que le amenaza
j el de grano de Tiro, tu de caza.
(16.ii.7-8)
In the following examples blood is the ink with which Bena-
ivides writes history or the paint with which he, as an ar
tist, paints on bronze his annals.
escribiendo con purpura francesa
(16.iii.1)
De caliente carmin, marcial Timante,
J . R . Tutin, ed., The Poems of Richard Crashaw. The
Muses1 Library (London, n.d.), p. 109.
I lineas formando en inmortales bronces
que de tu nombre son anal brillante...
[ (18.ii.l-3)
i
j
In the final example the meaning of hoia "leaf" is applied
i
jto the "blade" of a sword and then extended by inference to j
the "page" of a book. Benavides' victories over the French
i
lare too many for the winged goddess,
con estar todas escritas
en la hoja invencible de tu espada... j
(34.1.5-6) |
i j
■ !
There are examples of other figures of rhetoric and j
i
isyntax that have a certain interest. Some examples of oxy-
Imoron are "soberbia humildad" (18.iv.2), "prision majestuo-
i
|Sa" (23.ii.7), and "diga el silencio" (27.iv.5). There is
ian occasional zeugma such as:
le dio paso a tu enojo y a su muerte
(26.ii.8)
A better example is the use of vestir in the first example
|under catachresis above. Litotes is represented in such a
verse as:
j
y en tu acero de rojo humor no enjuto
(26.1.5)
.
As for metonymy and synecdoche, Barrios refers to his poeti
cal activity and ability as making music and therefore "el
plectro mfo" (12.ii.5) and mentions a "retorico labio." I
j
Other examples are: j
I ya con la espada o plomo acelerado
| (16.ii.1)
[
j mas fiado en la espada que en la suerte
: (23.iv.8)
Apostrophe, however, is precluded by the fact that the whole!
jpanegyric, beginning with the second stanza, is one long
I
j i
japostrophe to Benavides. The tone almost completely elimi- |
! . I
nates a device of which Barrios and his contemporaries were j
very fond, the rhetorical question.
! |
The use of hiatus is such that it can often be ex- !
plained as reestablishing the original Latin pronunciation, j
t
Sbut not always. Riiina is used four times, impetuosa and J
! f
i suave twice each. Other examples of hiatus in u are buida, i
j i
! !
I iiiicio. Liiis . maiestiioso. ruido. and virtuoso. Those in i. j
i
are tiara- , brioso. and Diana. Many of these are almost j
[identical with their classical Latin form. However, as
i maiestuosus seems not to have existed in classical Latin,
! ;
i ;
I maiestuoso could only be established by analogy. Juicio
i |
land ruido came into Spanish with the loss of an inter vocal icj
| |
jd, and g respectively. Buida is remote from any classical |
i |
Latin cognate. This leaves Luis and br ioso to be explained,)
!
one from the Germanic, the other from the Celtic, each hav- j
ing lost at least one intervocalic consonant. On the other
hand the characteristic diphthongs ue and ije, which origi- |
nated after Vulgar Latin had become differentiated into Cas-j
tilian, are not here resolved into their components. The
explanation based on the reconstitution of the classical
Latin diphthong is too simple to explain the whole phenom
enon. The effect, however, is highly literary. j
Curiously at variance with this use of hiatus is Ba-
i
j
rrios' practice in respect to a whole series of words which j
are now considered to have their stress on the antepenult
I
!
and all of which have eo or ea after the principal stress
of the word: cesareo. Boreas. lineas. herculeo. etereo. ;
i
purpureo. and anolineo. These vowels here consistently form|
j
diphthongs so that all these words are treated as having
feminine endings. (None of them occur as rime-words.) !
Although all the rimes in Barrios' octavas are femi- j
i
nine, there is much use of words with the stress on the !
antepenult (esdruiulas) within the verses . More than half
s
I
of these have their stress on the sixth syllable of the
I
verse, which is the more common of the two possible second- |
ary stresses in the Spanish hendecasyllable. Curiously the i
|
other, the fourth syllable, is here never reinforced by an j
j
esdruiula. The tertiary stress, when the secondary stress
is on the fourth syllable, will be on the sixth, eighth, or |
possibly the seventh syllable. The seventh and eighth j
( ' .' ..... 53
I |
{syllables are not here reinforced by esdruiulas. When the
secondary stress is on the sixth syllable, there will be a j
tertiary stress on the first, second, third, or fourth syl- i
lable. Here more than one-fourth of the esdruiulas rein
force the second syllable and one-ninth the third syllable.
This is partly due in each case to Barrios ' fondness for j
! . j
■beginning a verse with a gerund and a personal or reflexive !
; i
pronoun affixed. The hendecasyllable with a tertiary stress!
I i
on the first syllable is a highly specialized verse, often
used as the initial verse of a sonnet because of its em- j
phatic character. There are two examples where the first j
■syllable is emphasized by an esdruiula. It is no coinci-
i !
‘ dence that they both occur on the initial verses of their {
respective octavas. Verses containing esdruiulas often comej
I
in groups. The examples show one incidence each of the four
positions:
; |
Caucaso de centellas animadas
; (20.iii.1)
haciendose inmortal en las memorias
(29 . iii.8)
estrechandose mas, quedo mas alto
(20.iv.8)
violento no, magnanimo atropella
(22.iv.2)
The presence of the esdruiula in a hendecasyllable increases
54
j I
' I
| I
the sonority of the verse and helps to emphasize the special]
characteristic of the sub-variety to which it belongs. j
|
Barrios' use of the hendecasyllable is at this early period |
I already impeccable.
Somewhat difficult to assess is the rime-pattern, the j
|correspondences among the rimes themselves. To include the |
I I
I consideration of the stressed vowels within the verse as
1 j
well as that of the actual end-rimes, as one would have to
] j
do in writing verse, is pertinent but so complicates the
; I
jproblem as to make it totally unmanageable in a poem of thisj
!length. The mere analysis of the end-rimes in respect to j
; l
ftheir correspondence with the other rimes within the stanza j
i I
and the preceding or following stanza shows that most of
them correspond to some other within this limit with rime
| i
or full assonance. Only about one in ten fails to corres- |
pond to one of these other eight rimes at least to the ex
tent of having the same stressed vowel. They correspond no-tl
; i
i
only by assonance and rime but also by correspondence of
consonants with a change of vowels. All these things are I
I
j |
jimportant in the impression the verse makes upon the hearer :
or reader. The results of this analysis can only be pre- '
sented meaningfully through some of the more conspicuous
j
examples of such patterning. So as not to make these j
'inordinately long, some are presented merely with their j
I
i ;
jrime-words, others in full, to show how they affect the j
!
structure of the passages concerned. j
I
Adora, Albania, honora, Alemania, Aurora, Urania, ;
vano, mano. I
Impera, norte, venera, corte, esfera, consorte, j
asalto, alto. j
| Flores, castillo, mayores, Carrillo, honores, caudi-
| llo, denuedo, Toledo.
Sabe, destila, suave, ventila, Have, Sibila, consi-
lio, virgilio. (13.i-iv) ■
jln these four stanzas the words that rime with adora and I
impera correspond in sound because of the -r- reinforced by j
those that rime with norte and flores. Those that rime with
i
i vano and asalto correspond by assonance as do those that
j
|rime with norte and flores or castillo and consilio. Those j
j i
that rime with Albania and vano correspond because of the '
j-n— and the stressed vowel as do those that rime with des
tila and consilio because of the -.1- and the stressed vowel,
jprobably reinforced by those that rime with castillo. The
correspondence is more obvious when more than one consonant ,
! !
jis involved as with the rimes -ancia and -encia in the fol- I
j I
|lowing examples: j
j Maravilla, arogancia, cuchilla, Francia, Castilla,
! jactancia, vencidas, vidas.
Valencianas, eminencia, castellanas, violencia, huma-
nas, resistencia, altares, militares.
(29.i-ii)
{The following passage, quoted in full, shows a prolonged
play on -d-. It is interesting that the -r- and - 1 - that
occur in the only intrusive rimes are closely related pho-
hetically to the -d-. Such semi-grammatical play in rime-
{schemes is not rare in Italian sonnets.
j Templo y filo previenes a tu espada,
| contra el que roba lusitano toro
I a Europa no, la parte levantada
que a su rey natural pierde el decoro
opuesto a su grandeza, dilatada
| por tu valor (grabado en lineas de oro),
si del cuarto, que es real, estoque agudo,
l de su excelsa corona excelso escudo,
i
Con xmpetu rugiente y erizado
el imperio de Glauco, mas herido
de fiera pena que de viento airado,
i a Jupiter se queja de tu olvido,
| porque solo en la tierra, coronado
| de triunfos, sobre el trono esclarecido
que a rendirte sus plumas sube Palas,
a la fama le das mayores alas.
La tostada region, el clima helado,
tiemblan a los amagos de tu espada,
, si la desatas, rayo fulminado,
j si la cines, centella sosegada,
! nueva conquista te destina el Hado,
j previendo que a sus filos reservada,
en la imaginacion del que lo duda,
probando su verdad, mata desnuda.
(32.i-iii)
The sound of this poem varies from a sort of idyllic
smoothness where classical feeling is very strong to a
roughness born partly of the crackling of consonant clus
ters, certain harsh alliterations, and the rasping of -r-
| ............ '.' “ .....' . 57
(and -rr-. and partly to certain disturbances of rhythm,
jsometimes related to the use of esdruiulas. The latter ef
fect tends to accompany a certain grotesque verse-content.
jThe smooth effect is observable in the first two stanzas and
also in the following example, which possesses a certain j
jrarefied ideal quality, highly literary in nature:
1 Cuando sales de caza a la floresta
; siguiendo al bruto por quien triste llora
Cipariso, hecho ya planta funesta,
j en esta ave sin plumas voladora,
la luz te deja de la diosa honesta
y Cefalo pareces a la Aurora,
de Feronia aumentando los verdores,
que cuando sale el sol crecen las flores.
I (16.i)
(This contrasts sharply with such passages as the following: I
: I
I j
! cual impetu de intrepido torrente, |
que al rapido de espumas monstro cano...
I (28.iii.2-3)
embravecido monstro escupe al cielo
(25.i.8) !
| terremoto de montes encontrados j
! (25.iii.1) !
i i
I
Alliteration achieves smooth effects as with m in the fol
lowing verse:
' del que mas es amada es mas temida
(15.1.4)
Assonance produces various effects. The most obvious exam-i
i
j
pie of its use binds the last verse of one stanza with the I
; ‘.......” " .. ' ....... ” 58
first of the next through the last six syllables of the two
i
Iverses, with only one unstressed vowel in each that fails to
i
correspond:
a ver la muerte se asomo la vida.
! Turbada Flora se asombro este dia...
i (17.ii.8-iii.l)
I
j Related to both meaning and sound is the ambiguity that
icomes from use of homonyms. This is done on various levels,!
but the most graceful example comes from the amorous inter- j
i
. lude that bisects the poem:
mas iquien si no con rayos Catalina
propagando tu estirpe, humana dea,
en las puertas del cielo y de la fama
para entrar en tu pecho ardiente llama?
| (23.i.5-8)
Here ardiente llama must not only be construed as "ardently
jknocks" but also as "burning flame."
Another form of this type of word-play, on a lower
! level, because it does not often enrich meaning greatly, is |
the name-pun, of which Barrios was never to tire. Of the
!
jtwo examples cited, the first is mere play; the second is
(somewhat ingeniously developed into a metaphor.
Hurtado (no a esta lid), Mavorte hispano
(28.iii.1)
De Colmenar el conde, hispano Ulises,
hiere al frances Neomenes que osado
buscando en Colmenar (cual oso) presa,
'... ; '.." ‘ ....... 59
I le amargo la dulzura de la empresa.
(27.ii.5-8)
The Corte real genealoaica v panegirica is a better and
(more mature poem consisting of forty-nine octavas followed
by Gongora's sonnet, "Arbol de cuyos ramos fortunados." j
i |
jStylistically it varies significantly from the poem just
|
|
;analyzed in two important ways. It shows a use of color and
sumptuous materials which brings it much closer to Gongora
! |
in this respect. It also shows a fondness for tripartite j
! 7
verses and triple correlation that culminates m the fol-
i ^See Damaso Alonso and Carlos Bousono. Seis calas en la
J 1 1
jexpresion literaria espanola. 2nd ed. with additions (Ma-
jdrid, 1956), pp. 85-191, 243-359; Damaso Alonso, Poesia es- I
panola. Ensavo de metodos v limites estilisticos. 3rd ed.
(Madrid, 1957), pp. 433-440; Damaso Alonso, Estudios v en
savo s gonaorinos (Madrid, 1955), pp. 222-247; Jose Ares
Montes, Gonaora v la poesia portucruesa del sialo XVII (Ma
drid, 1956), pp. 219-232; Hoyt Hopewell Hudson, The Epigram
in the English Renaissance (Princeton, 1947), pp. 161-166.
j Correlation may be defined as the segmentation of a j
iseries of parallel statements so that corresponding parts
are grouped together, preferably in such an order that, by j
taking the first member of each group, we can reconstruct
the first statement, with the second member the second
statement, etc. This way of writing is part of the Petrar-
can tradition in European poetry, though much older in ori
gin. It is not merely in the poetic tradition, but is part
of seventeenth century instruction in rhetoric. See Fran
cisco de Castro, De Arte Rhetorica (Seville, 1625), pp. 149-j
150. Castro gives a famous example attributed to Virgil: I
Pastor, arator, eques, pavi, colui, superavi, j
Capras, rus, hostes, fronde, ligone, manu.
[lowing stanza:
i
Si deste, si de aquella, si de todos
dulce honor, noble origen, claro templo
a su efecto, a sus gracias, a sus modos
das pompa, das modestia, das ejemplo;
len que enigmas, que letras, o que apodos
I te admiro, te dibujo, te contemplo,
que escuses flechas, cxrculos, pinceles
a tu amor, a tu estrella, y a tu Apeles?
(15.iii)
These three poems are the only ones written in octavas
reales in which high baroque style is sustained throughout,
i
that I have found in the materials examined. It is a small
but significant part of Barrios' production in this form,
which he used only for serious purposes.
Hudson quotes a number of old translations into English of
this epigram, including the following:
A goteheard, plowman, knight, my goats, my fields, my
foes,
I fed, I tild, I kild, with bowes, with plowes, with
j blowes (p. 162).
Raymundo de Sola, in Llanto funebre . . . (Barcelona, 1689)
p.101, publishes the following curious example, a serpenti-
num called "In Obitu Mariae Luysae Hispaniarum Reginae":
genuit Gallia
Hesperiae Reginam Dives,
plorat Hispania
CHAPTER IV
|
OCTAVAS. PLAIN STYLE: THE MORAL POEMS
i
i
Thanks to Kenneth R. Scholberg's book, La poesla reli-
giosa de Miguel de Barrios.^ the octavas written on moral
themes are now largely in print in an excellent edition.
Although there are many single octavas scattered through ;
icertain religious works written in prose, apparently with
the function of emphasizing or summarizing the most impor
tant points, here we are only concerned with octavas organ
ized into longer poems.
| Barrios published translations of Psalms 19 and 55 of
i
jDavid and a paraphrase of the former, each with the curious !
title, "Al vencedor." The first of these appears in Coro de|
j |
l ias musas^ and is a translation of Psalm 19 (Vulgate Psalm
! I
i 18). This translation is in cancion form and will be men- j
tioned in Chapter V. The second one is his translation into
^Columbus, [ 1962 ].
^(Brussels, 1672), pp. 49-50.
61
i 6 2
\
octavas of Psalm 51 (Vulgate Psalm 50) in Estrella de Ja- !
cob. ^ reprinted in Poesia reliqiosa (pp. 175-177). Except j
! j
for a verse not in the original Hebrew, as noted by Schol-
jberg,^ this is a translation rather than a paraphrase,
twenty-one verses in seven stanzas, with a minimum of sty- j
jlistic elements contributed by Barrios. The third one is
i |
;his second translation or rather a paraphrase in octavas of ;
Psalm 19 (Vulgate Psalm 18) in Palma angelica de los campos
C
eliseos. He uses the Vulgate numeration in the earlier
j
publication in Brussels and not in the later publications inj
i
Amsterdam, which is, of course, significant. Most of the j
verses are so extended in their verse-paraphrase as to oc-
! I
i !
cupy one stanza apiece. Each verse is printed in Hebrew and;
in Spanish prose above its paraphrase. The octavas glitter,
i
but they do not have the density of decorative effect of
Barrios' verse in high baroque style. Neither is there much;
classical allusion, although this translation is perhaps
closer to middle than to plain style. The subject of the j
f ;
j . j
iPsalm is too decorative to be treated in completely plain
1 I
• j
f
l
J(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 56-57.
^Poesia reliqiosa. p. 347, note 72.
5(Amsterdam, 1688), pp. 57-63.
63
style. As an example I quote the third verse with its para
phrase:
No dicho, no palabras, sin (ellas) es oida su voz.
Metro ideal de esferico lenguaje
hacen por alto son de cuerdas mudas,
del diurno sombrero el sol plumaje,
los astros de la noche armas desnudas.
Sin hablar hablan con celeste traje
del sumo Amor, que flechas tira agudas
! a los amantes que oyen con la vista
! las voces aureas del luciente Harpista.
; (P. 58)
I
i
The metaphor based on the pompous seventeenth-century plumed!
:
hat is only a little less startling than the allusion to God
I
as a sort of Eros. |
I
i
Three poems in octavas. in addition to the translation
i
! . . i
jalready mentioned, occur in the Estrella de Jacob. Two of j
them, like the translation, occur in the section called
"Dias penitenciales" as the first and seventh "Actos de con-
tricion" (pp. 41-48, 61-64; Poesia reliqiosa. pp. 162-168,
180-183). The first of these is also a translation and
itherefore not very personal in style. The "Acto septimo de
I |
j i
jcontricion" is a genuine utterance of Barrios as we already !
know him, beginning with the first stanza:
j
Senor del mundo, mundo soy pequeno,
de ti cr’ iado para obedecerte:
soneme sol y tierra ya me sueno,
con rios que visible Cumbre vierte.
En las culpas luci y ya en mi despeno
lo que evaporo en nube se convierte,
| porque cuando las culpas tienen nube
el llanto entonces a tu gracia sube.
(p. 61)
The principal theme, the efficacy of tears in procuring
I ;
!
jpardon for sin, is, in a series of variations, the specific j
I ;
jtheme of each of the seventeen stanzas. The devices and !
| !
■conceits are Barrios' devices and conceits, but there is a
i
shift in style to agree with the shift in subject matter.
|The eighth is a key stanza:
■ Vi hermosuras, vi haciendas, vi manjares,
! que mi carne y demonio y mundo fueron;
vi que por ver mi lengua dio pesares,
que mis manos insultos cometieron,
que Jiice mis brazos de furiosos mares,
! que mis pies a pecar siempre corrieron,
j y todos por el ver, de tales modos
! que mis lagrimas hoy pagan por todos.
(P- 62)
i
The density of specifically decorative devices has de
creased, giving place to an earnestness of tone. This is
jBarrios' typical plain style. |
The remaining poem from the Estrella de Jacob is "Pro- j
videncia particular de Dios sobre Israel" (pp. 79-82, Poesia
reliqiosa. pp. 125-129). The first stanza is a "proposi-
I
jcion":
i
I
Dos favores al pueblo mas sublime
hace la Omnipotencia sin segunda;
con piedad una cuando lo redime,
con justicia otra cuando a Egipto inunda.
La competencia de ambos no se exime
de echar a los jiiicios su coyunda
para inquerir cual de los dos favores
del sumo Protector da mas fulgores.
(p. 79)
jln the other sixteen stanzas reasons are marshalled legal- i
I i
j i
iistically to show that God's mercy is greater than His capa-i
icity for punishing. Some of the arguments are based on i
! j
| i
jRabbinical doctrine with the functions of various angels. !
If Barrios lost in decorative effect by having to set clas- I
! I
sical mythology aside, he may have introduced the angels as !
a substitute.
Y la piedad de Dios es dos piedades
como de Micael son dos las alas,
una librando de penalidades
al pueblo y otra de inmuncidias malas:
dale asx dos gloriosas libertades --
el sumo Rey de las celestes salas, j
una del cuerpo con su mano interna,
otra del alma con su ley eterna.
(p. 80)
Another important moral poem in octavas appears in
! i
j j £1
iLibre albedno. It is a glosa on the following stanza:
Yo, ipara que naci? Para salvarme.
iQue tengo que morir? Es infalible.
iDejar de ver a Dios y condenarme?
Triste cosa sera, pero posible.
i Posible, iy duermo y r£o y quiero holgarme?
Posible, iy tengo amor a lo visible?
(Brussels, 1688), pp. 36-38; Poesia reliqiosa. pp.
157-158.
I iQue hago? iEn que me ocupo? iEn que me
encanto?
7
i Loco debo de ser, pues no soy santo.
! (p. 36)
!
Barrios' octavas continue with the same sort of series of
|
i
rhetorical questions and answers, in a form much like a
catechism. The second stanza of the glosa explores a typi
cally baroque idea based on the second verse of the octava
glossed.
iQue miro? Las mudanzas de la vida.
iQue escucho? Los avisos de la muerte.
|0h, que pena es pensar en la carda'.
i JOh, que horror esperar el golpe fuerte'.
iAdonde ire que escape de la herida?
De que la he de sentir todo me advierte.
iQue ha de llegar el mal? JLance terrible'.
; iQue tengo de morir? Es infalible.
| (pp. 36-37)
In style and theme this is very like certain sonnets of
Andreas Gryphius (1616-1664), in which the latter progresses!
from exclamation to exclamation or in which he asks the key
^Barrios may well have taken this octava from Baltasar ;
iGracian, Agudeza v arte de ingenio. ed. E. Correa Calderon j
(Madrid, 1944), Discurso xliii, p. 482. Edward M. Wilson, !
in his article, "Miguel de Barrios and Spanish Religious
Poetry," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 40:176-180, 1963, j
jstates, on the authority of Lope de Vega, that this stanza !
was written by Fray Pedro de los Reyes. It is important to j
remember that Barrios is not merely imitating Spanish Catho-j
lie religious poetry, but that he is continuing in the same
tradition, of which he is completely a part. The differencej
or change of beliefs influences little more than the subject}
matter.
67
I i
Iquestion, "What are we human beings after all?" The speci-i
! |
ific sonnets referred to are "Was sind wir menschen doch'.
j
j Q
ein wohnhaus grimmer schmertzen," and "O', wo bin ich? O',
jwas seh' ich? wach ich? trSumt mir? wie wird mir?"^
I
i
jBarrios consoles himself in the next two verses with a quo
tation, slightly altered, from a great sonnet by a great j
poet tormented by the same problem, Quevedo's "Todo tras si j
lo lleva el ano breve." As quoted by Barrios the verses
: |
are: j
Es la muerte forzosa y heredada.
Mas si es ley y quietud, ique me atormenta?
! . (P. 37)
i
i
i Scholberg also included an epistle in octavas to the
governors of the London community (pp. 230-232), which he
jreproduced from Triunfo del gobierno popular v de la anti- j
quedad holandesa.^ In it Barrios complained bitterly of
the indifference of the London community and of his impecu-
i i
i i
Inious lot in Amsterdam.
!
i i
; s I
; Quoted in George C. Schoolfield, The German Lvric of !
I the Barocrue in English Translation (Chapel Hill, 1961), p.
|l44. i
| i
j ^Quoted in Lowry Nelson, Jr., Baroque Lvric Poetry.
(New Haven, 1961), p. 28. ■
Amsterdam, 1683), pp. 123-126. i
" " 68
i
i
The most important of these moral works in octavas is j
lone on which Barrios worked for many years and quite obvi- I
busly intended to be his masterpiece. He printed it twice, ;
;each time without indicating date or place of publication.
The title of the first edition is Imperio de Dios en la
harmonia del mundo. Here the second edition, as edited byj
i p !
Scholberg, is used. It is called Imperio de Pros en el
teatro universal, and was probably printed in Amsterdam
around 1700. Barrios worked on this long poem (128 stanzas)
i I
ifor many years and rejected many stanzas which he had writ- j
13 i
ten for it. Scholberg discusses it at length. !
In the final form of the Imperio de Dios we have the
i ;
result of all that Barrios had learned about the octava and
the hendecasyllable in a lifetime of writing verse. The
I '
ipoetic expression is as nearly perfect as he was able to
make it after some thirty years of composition and revision.
!
I
I
By analyzing the stylistic elements here we come closest to i
|
finding out what Barrios intended his most serious philo- !
j
sophical and moral style to be. The poem is not simple
■^Brussels?, 1673?.
i l^poesia reliqiosa. pp. 185-221.
13poes£a reliqiosa. pp. 98-106.
i “ ........... 69
, I
because of the complexity of the ideas expressed. Without
|
being ornate, it is beautiful, in certain passages extremely
iso, and is no mere literary curiosity.
| The stanza is most rigorously divided after the fourth j
iverse.l^ This division is much more important than in the
"Panegrrico" studied in Chapter III. Here the stanza is !
typically divided into two equal sentences; there it con- I
i j
sisted of one sentence. The distinction is worth insisting !
i |
on, since here the mastery of form has lifted the author to '
Inew heights. Run-on is used quietly and simply, though j
i
I
never between the two half-stanzas. It is used unobtrusive-)
i
jly and occasionally, when the situation demands it, not as a j
\ i
I stylistic device. The idyllic smoothness and grotesque |
roughness of tone of the "Panegirico a Benavides" have alikd
disappeared.
Certain well-established pedantic tendencies in Bar-
i :
| I
rios' writing also appear in this poem but in diminished
i i
form. For example, he quotes a whole catalogue of pagan
■^The one apparent exception, stanza 83, is doubtless
mispunctuated. In the earlier edition, in which the stanza
is textually identical, it is divided into two sentences. !
The sense confirms this division. There are five other
stanzas in which this division into two parts is unimportant
because, as catalogues, they are divided into many more thaij
two parts. |
; ...' ....... ' ..... ' " 7 0
1
I
; |
writers on the nature of God in stanzas 11 to 13 with the j
addition of the Christian Camoens, "Homero lusitano," j
I ;
; j
paired off with Vergil. In stanzas 59 and 60 Barrios fol- 1
lows up a long-established and perhaps compulsive philologi
cal interest and gives the word for "god" in thirty-one
languages. Hebrew texts and words are used in stanzas 49-
:57, 79, and 84. The cabalistic (almost apocalyptic) pas- !
sages, however, were pretty thoroughly weeded out between
t
the two editions.
I
In Chapter III there was something to say in the anal- !
ysis of octavas in high baroque style about the suppression |
of finite verbs and the conspicuous use of verbs, especially
: j
in Latinized word order. No such devices are used in the
Imperio de Dios. In stanza 114 there is only one verb, but |
I j
the feeling is unrelated to the stylistic problems discussed
in the preceding chapter. This stanza is part of a pro-
itracted world-theatre metaphor:
Hablan el cielo de angeles vestido,
| el movimiento en varias distinciones,
las virtudes en talamo lucido,
el genero y lugar con mutaciones,
el amor y el objeto sin vestido,
la disension y paz con prevenciones,
el hado y el suceso con antojos,
con pies la accion y la pasion sin ojos. ,
The final, bipartite verse of the stanza just quoted,
; 71
i !
jembodying both chiasmus and antithesis, is curiously stepped
|down and inconspicuous compared to its counterparts in the
"Panegirico" or the geographical descriptions. On the other!
hand the effect of anaphora and parallelism is stepped up.
iThe latter phenomenon is possibly related to prolonged bib- ;
lical study. The opening verses of Psalm 19, both translat-i
! 1
ed and paraphrased by Barrios, are an excellent example of
!the kind of pattern on which such an influence would be
based. Bipartite and multipartite verses are used then,
but not as ostentatiously and ordinarily with less sensuous-!
I
!ly decorative effect. The change emphasizes play of meaning]
i !
more than play of sound or grammar. Their density in the
! !
j !
poem is also noticeably diminished. Stanza 53 is most un- |
usual in having four more or less perfectly bipartite vers- j
! i
les. It is also an excellent example, even with some dual
correlation, of the inconspicuousness of such verses in this.
El de Heloim que es superior instruye,
que angeles rige y que justicia ostenta
tanto en las gracias que les distribuye
como en la Ley con que los une y cuenta:
a unos el habla, a otros la fuerza influye
sobre el castigo y premio que presenta,
dando en aquel y este domicilio
temor su imperio y animo su auxilio.
Anaphora and parallelism, as mentioned above, have
jbecome more conspicuous. Rhetorical questions, which would
jseem unrelated to these considerations, are much used in ;
! 1
1 t
this poem and closely tied to these devices, as will be seeni
in the examples. Perhaps the most conspicuous example of
parallelism is stanza 110:
! iQuien sino Dios pudiera componerlo?
! iQuien sino Dios llegara a publicarlo?
! iQuien sino Dios hubiera de proveerlo?
iQuien sino Dios mostrara conservarlo? j
iQuien sino Dios supiera comprenderlo? j
j iQuien sino Dios bastara a gobernarlo?
Y enfin, iquien sino Dios desta manera
i no haciendo nada en s£, todo lo hiciera?
Stanza 24 makes less conspicuous use of anaphora:
! Veneer dragones es buscar su amparo
I y admitir Dios al que su amor procura
! mas que con rico don con amor claro,
mas que con grande estudio con fe pura:
tarde en la ira, en la clemencia raro,
penas detiene, glorias apresura, j
remora su justicia al ser velero, ]
iris su plazo del amor flechero.
Again dual correlation produces both parallel verses and
j j
(bipartite verses (or parallelism within the verse) as in !
I '
Iverses five and six. Stanza 102 shows parallel structure
I !
I
(between two half-stanzas, emphasized by parallel rhetorical
i
i
questions and terminating in a bipartite verse: '
I . |
j i
I Si de arrojada tmta no acontece I
que de s£ propias se hagan las pinturas, |
Icomo se haria en cuanto resplandece
el gran retablo de las lumbres puras?
Si a s£ nadie se mueve y permanece
el sol pincel de varias hermosuras,
iquien lo movio para esmaltar colores j
al cielo en luces y a la tierra en flores?
I
Antithesis has become gentler and subtler as in the first
and last verses of stanza 111: j
; i
Distinguiendo en lo grave y en lo leve
del vasto caos la concepcion soluble,
j el Padre universal que todo mueve
! lo llama a junta en lazo indisoluble.
! Pone medida a cuanto el ser le debe,
pero sin peso al ambito voluble,
prorrumpiendo en su planta y en su mano
el tiempo nino y el amor anciano.
! Aside from the citation of ancient authorities, there i
; |
I
is also an occasional reference, sometimes oblique, to paganj
; i
i i
deities. The density of this sort of classical allusion is 1
; !
jso low that it is a negligible factor in the poem. As for j
hyperbaton, the use of it is inconspicuous and slight.
jThere is nevertheless a curious example in stanza 112: !
La madre universal naturaleza
y el tiempo sacan la mistion en brazos, j
1 toda manos y ojos su cabeza, ]
| toda solturas y su boca lazos. j
!
Verse four can only be understood if recast in the word or- j
der of verse three. A series of similar uses in the space I
|
jof a few verses will be quoted from a silva in high baroque j
i :
! i
jstyle in Chapter V. Hiatus and other Latinizing tendencies i
lare likewise rare or absent here. There is, however, no
|
abandoning of decorative rhetorical patterns for the sake of
jseverity of expression. Witness verses one and eight of
i
stanza 123 which repeat each other in retrograde order, a
i
Jbaroque formula which would usually appear in a five-part
[correlation.
De cielo, fuego, y aire, de agua y tierra
consta el teatro endonde con voz santa
la paz discorde de concorde guerra
I del infinito Autor las glorias canta.
' Responde al cielo que su amor encierra
| y el cielo al elemento en que levanta
el menor mundo al Rey divino el vuelo
| de tierra, de agua, de aire, fuego, y cielo.
A special device not met in Barrios' works up to this
i
j
point is the parable or instructional anecdote, so common in
15
the wisdom-lxterature of the east. Stanza 71 is an exam
ple of such a tale:
A un sabio dijo un principe ignorante,
Muestrame a Dios. El sabio le responde,
Pon la vista en el mar de luz brillante.
No hay, dice el necio, vista que lo sonde.
Arguye el doctor Pues si un rutilante
criado del Criador asi se esconde
de tu mirar, icomo mirar espera
al que, oculto de todo, todo mira?
The most important difference between Barrios' high
baroque style in the "Panegirico" previously studied and his
Improbably the best known verse example in Spanish lit-!
erature of the Golden Age is the decima from La vida es j
sueno. "Cuentan de un sabio que un dia" (I,ii,253-262) in
Everett W. Hesse, ed., Calderon's La vida es sueno (New
York, 1961), pp. 11-12.
............ '.75
I
; i
jmoral or plain style in this poem is to be found in the al- j
tered use of figurative language. If the figures in Bar- i
rios' early verse in high baroque style were decorative and i
visual, pointing up picturesque qualities and having a de
scriptive function, here they are sober and intellectual,
|intended to illuminate the meaning of the passage. Althoughj
Ithe change in function and style of figurative language is I
so great, the use of imagery continues to be one of Barrios'j
! t
strong points. |
: Certain figures are allegorical or emblematic. Even
in writing in high baroque style it is not difficult to
demonstrate that some of the pictures Barrios drew were the j
i I
I i
verbal equivalent of the emblems from the emblem books that ;
^ere being printed so freely in the Low Countries and else
where during this period, such as that of Diego Saavedra
1 fi
Fajardo. Here, by the nature of the subject, symbolism
^ Idea de un princioe politico cristiano. first pub- j
lished in Spanish in 1640. Reference is to the Latin edi
tion published in Amsterdam in 1659, which contains handsome
engraved emblems. Three of the 103 emblems are, like the
example in this paragraph, pictures of ships (numbers xxxvi,;
jxxxvii, and lxiii, pp. 274, 281, and 538). The most famous !
metaphorical use of a boat in Spanish is in one of Lope's
three similar romances published in La Dorotea in 1632,
"Pobre barquilla mia" (Obras escocidas III. Poesias lxricas
I — poemas— prosa— novelas. ed. Federico Carlos Sainz de j
Robles [Madrid, 1946], III, vii, pp. 1797-1798). j
76
is much more important. Stanza 96 is a good example with
the two qualities suggested above, allegory and emblem, the
picture quality of the emblematic element being emphasized
curiously in the last two words of the first verse:
' Nave el pequeno mundo se dibuja,
el angel viento, popa la cabeza,
el juicio timon, la Ley aguja,
la alma iman, norte la inmortal firmeza,
y vela el corazon hace que cruja
el arbol de sensible fortaleza
al impulso que sirve el pie de proa,
| corriendo el mar de la divina loa.
The double figure in stanza four of the sun-eye, eye-
I
sun is soberly explored so as to establish meaning and then
is turned to the glory of God:
! El ojo, sol de hombre, ve y no alumbra,
no ve y alumbra el sol, ojo del mundo:
iquien ver, quien alumbrar siempre acostumbra
( sino Dios con saber alto y profundo?
I Ve, y no en si como el ojo, a cuanto encumbra
y a cuanto abaja: y mas que el sol fecundo
todo lo alumbra y todo lo mantiene,
. dando en tiempo las formas que previene.
j
■ Another figure based on the sun is developed in stanza
i29. This is a formal comparison making use again of paral-
llel attributes of God and the sun:
i
No hay esencia mas clara ni visible
I que el sol, ni la que menos haga verse;
j as£ Dios es la mas inteligible
y lo que deja menos entenderse:
quien del sol osa a ver la inaccesible
lumbre llega en la vista a escurecerse;
deste modo el que a Dios inquerir trata
77
| es el que mas con ceguedad se mata.
If God is more than sun, God is also more than sea. This is
the variation of stanza 88: i
| Saca del hondo caos el detenido
| litigio y el Artifice increado
queda en si mar inmenso recogido,
siempre tranquilo y nunca apasionado:
todo lo exhala y no es disminuido,
| todo lo cine y no es acrecentado,
con ondas de eficientes resplandores,
glorias sus aguas, vidas sus vapores. j
In stanza 90, the most decorative stanza of the poem, there j
is a glimpse of the abundant Barrios we know from works in j
j
high baroque style. Nevertheless, in the decoratively j
phrased images, the beauties of this world are economically ;
i
|turned to the praise and glorification of God: !
|
Con voz fragante la encendida rosa, ;
Arion de hojas en delfin de espinas, |
sonora la ave en rama generosa j
al dulce son de cuerdas cristalinas,
, . cuanto puebla con vida presurosa
; golfos amenos, selvas neptuninas
son de Dios ecos, por tan raros modos
; que sin salir de si, resuena en todos. j
I
Pertinent to the subject of imagery in this style and in j
I
this poem is the protracted metaphor that begins in stanza
: j
’ i
112 and continues tc the end. This is a theater metaphor j
j I
painstakingly worked out to provide design and clarify
meaning in this long philosophical and religious passage.
i
!
Then Barrios closes with a paraphrase of a bit of the story;
jof creation, stanza 125:
j
De la luz se divide la tiniebla
| y al paso que una baja otra se encumbra:
de asombros esta un hemisferio puebla
por Dios y aquella otro hemisferio alumbra.
Llama dia a la luz, noche a la niebla
j y a disposorio tal les acostumbra
que con distancia en lazo de alegrxa
| fue la tarde y manana solo un dia.
i
To conclude, with scrupulous art Miguel de Barrios
!
pruned and shaped his abundant and florid style to the nob-
jlest theme of which he was aware and to the expression of
,which he devoted time and effort over much of the creative
period of his life. The result is something not merely of
!
value in itself but in many ways such a reversal of his
serious style as studied in the previous and following chap
i
ters that none of the generalizations written about him,
primarily on the basis of his first two published volumes,
seem to apply. The most important result is a baroque mas
terpiece of amazing restraint and control, which neverthe
less sacrifices neither beauty nor luminosity.
CHAPTER V
! THE PETRARCHAN CANCION AND MINOR ITALIAN FORMS
|
j The Petrarchan cancion is a composition divided into
stanzas identical to each other metrically and in rime- j
scheme, which may also have a remate (commiato) or final
f s
partial stanza. Though the structure of the stanzas within '
ja cancion should not vary, each cancion is a law unto it- j
self. Ordinarily the stanzas are made up of a mixture of
hendecasyllables and heptasyllables, though other verse-
lengths are also used. According to Rengifo:
Cancion es nombre generico, por el cual se significa
cualquiera composicion de versos para cantar. Tomanle
ya los poetas italianos por tres maneras de composiciones, ;
que llaman cancion seguida, batalla [ballata], madrigal;
a las cuales el Petrarca siempre llama canciones, usando
| del nombre coraun por los particulares.^ |
i l t is the cancion seguida. which we shall simply call can- j
| j
cion, that we are concerned with here. A clear exposition
of the internal workings of the cancion stanza is from the j
^■Juan Diaz Rengifo, Arte poetica espanola (Barcelona,
1759), pp. 91-92.
79
80
j
jPoetica of Trissino:
i
i
■ La stanza, divisa delle Canzoni, la quale sopra tutte I
j le altre e usitatissima, si compone di due parti; la pri- j
ma delle quali, cioe quella ch'e dalla divisione in su, i
pub essere o semplice o repetita; e se sara semplice, sa-
I ra d'uno quaternario solo, o quinario, o senario, e chia- ;
merassi Fronte. Ma se sara repetita, sara di combinazio-
ni, o di coppie, di terzetti o quaternarii o quinarii o
senarii; e questa Dante chiama Piedi; ma noi per fuggire
; la equivocazione nomineremo Base. per cio ch'e base e
| fondamento di tutta la Stanza. La seconda parte poi, I
! cioe quella dalla divisione en giu, puo essere parimente
o semplice o repetita: e se e semplice si chiama Sirima:
se e repetita, Dante la nomina Versi: ma noi per fuggire
la equivocazione (come di sopra facemmo nella base), la
nominiamo Volte. Ed e da sapere che, secondo Dante, re
petita con repetita, cioe Base con Volte. ponno stare; e
cosi repetita con semplice, cioe Base con S ir ima. ed an- |
cora semplice con repetita, cioe Fronte con Volte; ma i
non pub gia stare semplice con semplice, cioe Fronte con |
S ir ima: perciocche (com1 egli afferma) la divisione nel- |
la Stanza non pub essere se non si repetisce un1 Oda,
cioe un modo, o davanti essa divisione o dappoi; e pero j
la Fronte. nella quale non si repetisce Oda alcuna, non j
pub stare con la Sirima, la quale e parimente senza re
pet izione.^
i
It is this type of cancion that was studied in Spain by ■
f -j i
Enrique Segura Covarsi.J
^Quoted in Qpere Minore di Dante Alighieri, ed. Pietro
Fraticelli, 3 vols., (Florence, 1856-1857), II, 242, note 2.
The first four parts of the Poetica of Gian Giorgio Trissincj
(1478-1550) were published in 1529; the last two parts were j
finished in 1549 and published in 1563. (See J. E. Spin-
Igarn, A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance.
.2nd ed. [New York, 1908], pp. 76, 109, 127, 140, 150, 176.)
i ^La cancion petrarauista en la lrrica espanola del
siglo de oro (Madrid, 1949). I
8*
I I
; i
! In his chapter "De las canciones seguidas," Rengifo |
| ;
Itells us: j
Este nombre da Antonio de Tempo a las canciones que
llevan muchas estancias, y prosiguen alguna materia lar-
ga, a diferencia de las batallas y madrigales, los cuales
no piden argumento que se dilate y extienda mucho. ...
Pueden ser las estancias cuantas el poeta quisiere: aun- ;
que de ordinario no pasan de diez o doce ... Las conso-
; nancias [canciones] seguidas son propias para eglogas, |
; elegias, lamentaciones, afectos, alabanzas, consejos, des-j
i cripciones, y para cantarse con diferencias de voces, co- j
' mo lo hacen los italianos.^ |
Each poet is free to invent his own cancion stanza. I
In his four compositions in this form, Barrios used none of ;
i !
the schemes employed by Petrarch or by any of the Spaniards
studied by Segura Covarsi (pp. 241-312). Neither did he use
j I
|a remate in any of his canciones. Three of these composi-
5 •
tions occur in the Coro de las musas. The first one is a
: i
translation, "Al vencedor: Psalmo 18. de David." It con- i
sists of eight stanzas with the following rime-scheme:
|aBACC;BdD. Since a translation is influenced stylistically;
by the original, this is the least interesting (and also the
i
least pretentious) of the group. It seems pertinent to j
point out one stylistic element superimposed on the Psalm
^Arte poetica. pp. 109-110.
^Brussels, 1672.
' ■ ' ' ' “ ' 82
jby Barrios. This is the terminating of six of the eight
stanzas with decorative bipartite verses:
mudas las lenguas, voces los afectos.
(49.1.8)
i
t |
el sol su imagen, y su voz la gente. i
(50.1.8) j
i i
| fuerte me guardas, redentor me alumbras.
| (50.iv.8)
The second cancion is a much more important composi- |
tion. It is the "Carta funebre" to Don Francisco de Melo |
on the death of his brother (pp. 362-365). This is a com- j
position in high baroque style, which still retains esthetic}
I
i
I
appeal. In tone and sound it is very like the patriotic |
lodes of Francisco de Herrera, in spite of the elegiac feel-
!
ing. The nine stanzas of thirteen verses each have the
jfollowing rime-scheme: ABcC;dEEdFFAA. This unusual scheme
has the advantage of binding the stanza together by antici
pating the rime of the last couplet. j
The stylistic elements are those of the "Panegirico a j
Benavides" analyzed in the third chapter, even to the point
of an almost complete lack of color words. Gongora's hand j
j
(lies even heavier on the imagery, as may be seen in the fol-j
jlowing passage, quoted primarily to demonstrate the sound ;
| :
and architecture of the stanza: j
83
I
I
| Corrio en campanas de erizado yelo
jinete de Bucefalos de pino
| enjaezados de lino
| contra el moro arrogante,
Alejandro naval, Gama triunfante,
el Manuel mas temido,
iluminando signos de madera,
militar sol por la cerulea esfera, |
! que al arabe atrevido |
! con rayos de metal quemo las plumas,
de cera entonces pero ya de espumas,
! para su audaz error, para el gran Melo,
! todo el mar tumba, todo aplauso el cielo.
(p. 363) j
In most of the stanzas the break after the fifth verse is
more definite. In six of the nine stanzas, as here, how
ever, the fifth verse is bipartite, a factor which often j
marks the end of a division. Four of the other bipartite
i
Verses occur as the last verse of the stanza, two as the
eighth, one each as the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. The
last two mentioned occur in the stanza quoted as part of a
dual correlation.
I The third and most pretentious example from the Coro j
i
de las musas is, first, the five-stanza dedicatory "Cancion j
j
a dona Mencia Hierro de Castro" (pp. 448-450) and second, j
i , i
jthe "Fabula de Narciso y Eco" (pp. 450-460), twenty-eight I
! !
jstanzas which continue the same rime-scheme: AABbcC;DEEDfF . ;
They also occur in an earlier, shorter version in the Flor ;
de Apolo (pp. 97-103). This primitive version is intelli- i
....... ~....' .' . 84
l
I
Igently discussed by Jose Maria de Cossio in his Fabulas
6
jmitologicas en Espana. He situates Barrios accurately in ,
!the Gongoristic current: j
Gongorina puede llamarse la intencion poetica, la econo-
mia de imagenes y transcripciones metaforicas, el hiper-
baton trabajado, la construccion total del periodo poeti-
co; pero creo que se interpone siempre un recuerdo calde-
roniano que, como indique, no contradice esta filiacion,
sino que la precisa y situa. (p. 635)
He also quotes the first stanza from the Flor de Apolo ver-
;Sion of the "Fabula." Significantly no single verse of i
this stanza finds its way unchanged into the Coro de las
musas. Unfortunately it was also this primitive version i
i
i
i
that Eunice Joiner Gates examined, quoting the same stanza
7 |
!to demonstrate the Gongorism of Barrios' poem.
The version of the Coro de las musas is changed and 1
improved and constitutes a poem of great beauty. It is
basically the imagery that makes it so superior to most of
;the poems already discussed; and the imagery, as Cossio sug->
igests, is very Gongoristic with an occasional twist that
comes from the Calderon of La vida es sueno. The first
6(Madrid, 1952), pp. 633-636.
i
7"Three Gongoristic Poets: Anastasio Pantaleon de Ri- I
bera, Juan de Tamayo Salazar, and Miguel de Barrios," in
Estudios dedicados a Menendez Pidal. (Madrid, 1951), II,
393. |
.................... ' . 85
i
Istanza is also quoted here, this time in the revised ver-
i !
sion:
!
Polifemico Atlante de esmeraldas I
firme sostiene en fertiles espaldas
verde cielo de estrellas olorosas
que con hebras undosas j
alegra clara fuente, |
ojo vistoso de su verde frente. :
Llorada sierpe de cristal le muerde j
| el fresco rostro, con lunar de penas, !
! dando en conchas de abril perlas risuenas: j
y aunque le anuda la garganta verde j
respirar le hace olores j
por las abiertas bocas de las flores. j
(Coro. p. 450)
This metaphor of the meadow returns in the ninth stanza: !
I
;
Eco, mas muerta entonces de su fuego,
tanto le enoja con amante ruego,
que a sus halagos, del frondoso Atlante j
penasco respirante,
! inquietando esmeraldas |
en los ojos le dio con las espaldas. !
i Negando alivios, ofreciendo asombros,
| de sus razones tiernas no vencido,
; pisando el rostro del jayan florido,
movia el verde peso de sus hombros,
i con ligereza suma, j
j rayo sin llama, pajaro sin pluma. |
(Coro. p. 453) ;
| - i
[The last verse of the stanza is' only one of the reminiscen-
i i
I ]
Ices of Calderon that supplement the reminiscences of Gon-
|gora. The metaphorical richness of these two stanzas may i
I ■ I
jbe duplicated almost at random through the poem.
I When reading a poem on the theme of Echo by a seven
teenth century writer, the reader is dismayed at the pros-
86
i
I o |
jpect of wading through long passages of echo-verse. Here !
jBarrios, with unexpected restraint, treats Echo as an echo
i
only in the stanza on her transformation: I
Con un Yo no te cruiero. se le esconde:
y ella, como es su eco, le responde:
i Quiero. y el joven habla con desvio: j
Antes vere el fin mio.
| cme por ti me desvelo:
j fue la respuesta de la ninfa: Velo.
J Siente mas que el amor la despedida
| desdenosa; y su cuerpo se enflaquece
: tanto, que solo en huesos permanece:
! y la voz por las selvas escondida
da sus infaustas senas, !
M Q
i ella en el viento y ellos en las penas.
j (Coro, p. 456) |
The most pretentious of this series, the Soledad fune-
j
| bre. seems to have constituted a separate publication. It
‘consists of forty-six stanzas rimed ABaB,CDD;CEFFeGG, pages '
I67-91 of Number 1 of the "Book of Pamphlets" of Columbia
j
IUniversity. Pages 71-86 also appear as a fragment in the ■
Aplauso metrico of the Hispanic Society of America. This is
i
1
the only one of Barrios1 canciones with the first section ;
; i
I j
jdivided into piedi. and with the eighth verse functioning asj
®See Rengifo, Arte poetica. pp. 106, 140-143. Barrios'
most complicated use of the device is to be found in his ;
"Poesia de las tres gracias en ecos sencillos, continuos y
dobles" (Coro, p. 646).
^This stanza does not exist in the version of the Flor I
de ApqIo . j
Q7
la chiave or eslabon.^^ Although its title puts it into a !
.
i
jsort of emulation of Gongora's Soledades. it has a basic
I . :
formal difference from them in that it is written in a bound
jstanzaic form, while the silva of the Soledades is a free
(form. It is dedicated (with much preliminary material) to
Don Juan Mascarenas, Marques de Frontera, etc., a Portuguesei
1
I * I
jnoble, on the death of his wife in 1674. Since the poet has|
j :
Portuguese ties and the poem is dedicated to a Lusitanian,
I i
there may be a connection with the saudade, as well as with ;
Gongora's poem. It is not, unfortunately, as good a poem asi
j
; I
the last two discussed. At best, when the stanzas are not |
I
;interrupted by outcries of anguish (and Barrios is uncom- j
I I
; i
fortably given to keening), there is good religious verse: j
Semejante a la zarza misteriosa, j
con la llama no arde, antes florece I
9 I
la planta que gloriosa i
de hojas Hirpia en sacro jardin crece.
I JO feliz alma, la que no se quema
i en la del alto Amor lumbre sagrada, j
! de la angelica paz acompanada' . j
El Rey empireo sobre la suprema
escala, que a la tierra esta juzgando,
revela al breve sueno de la vida
como es lo mas difxcil la subida.
Suena el marques velando
que a Dios subiendo el alma por el ruega,
y con todo ni vive ni sosiega.
(Soledad, pp. 85-86)
l^See Emiliano Dx-ez Echarri, Teorxas metricas del siglcfr
de oro. (Madrid, 1949), p. 253. j
iThere is a protracted boat and sea metaphor that has to do
;with life and death which is unusual only in length and the
i
use of puns on geographical names. It is developed in so
leisurely a fashion that a single stanza scarcely illus
trates the phenomenon:
Aqui el Mar qu'es de fuego, margenado
i de agua que da a las nubes de su luto,
! gimiendo lastimado
a cuanto se hace orejas nunca enjuto
penasco que a sus golpes centellea,
no recoge mas llora rxos, viendo
la que en sus brazos polvo se esta haciendo.
Mas arde que las velas con que humea
el seno que encalmado mas se queja.
Por Cabo de Humos pasa el cuerpo a Honduras
y a Buenos Aires la alma, en las alturas
que el puerto de Juan deja,
I con el dolor que ir siente por Abrojos
I a la lengua el agua de sus ojos.
| (Soledad. p. 74)
The original capitals have been retained here because of
|the marques pun in the first verse, as well as the puns on
place-names.
This work is similar to the moral and religious poetry
iof Barrios discussed in Chapter IV.
i
j Apart from these canciones with composite stanzas,
|there are other poems with shorter, simpler stanzas called
liras or canciones aliradas. Barrios' liras usually share
i
the same basic nme-scheme and a six-verse stanza (five
hendecasyllables and one heptasyllable). The position of
89j
|
jthe heptasyliable varies.
; i
i
The first of these is the "Liras a la senora dona Leo- j
nor Lopez Yerro de Castro""^ in thirty-four stanzas. He i
addresses this high-born lady, describing her ideal marri
age. The conjugal life Barrios ascribes to his social su
periors is edifying but dull. This matrimonial felicity is j
' i
; i
idescribed in a series of mythological variations before ris-j
ing to a climax involving a four-part correlation in which
|
husband and wife represent some characteristic of each of a
series of classical (mostly divine) lovers: i
■ i
Jupiter, Ifis, Cefalo, y Mavorte
en el a un tiempo iguales resplandecen, |
al paso que amanecen
j gloria mejor de la mejor consorte,
que mientras mas humana es mas divina
Juno, Anaxarte, Aurora, y Ericina.
(Flor, p. 143)
Thus far he uses the rime-scheme ABbACC. Abruptly, as we !
change to a description of the lady, this is changed to
j i
aBaBcC. Then, on page 145, as he is describing the indes-
jcribably lovely movement of her foot, she becomes suddenly
| j
•a cadaver. Disillusion sets in. Her widower is inconsol- !
! !
I ;
able, and we are suitably edified in a final rime-scheme of !
, i
j :
|aBaBCC. The lady's transformation is startling and discon-
j ;
| |
•^Flor de Apolo (Brussels, 1665), pp. 141-146. j
90j
certing. Barrios' own feeling on the poem is shown by the
fact that he did not reproduce it in the Coro de las musas.
i
* 1
The other cancion alxrada from the Flor is its dedication j
(on unnumbered pages), a poem of fourteen stanzas reproduced!
in Coro de las musas (pp. 394-394a). Like the preceding
one, it is a high-style composition, though much more suc
cessful. The following stanzas show the use of the stanza- j
form, ABBAcC, with the correlation and playful ingenuity of i
i
the word-play: j
i
I
Tu heroica pluma, tu invencible espada,
con punta noble, con severos filos,
rayos fulmina en tenebrosos hilos,
triunfos ensena en purpura banada,
al que de tus blasones
buscando elogios halla admiraciones.
Lo que aquella suspende, esta congoja
en grado igual porque tener presuma
pocas hojas mi Flor para tal pluma,
pocas plumas mi amor para tal hoja,
de su balanza fieles, I
una con palmas, otra con laureles. j
(Coro, p. (392)) j
i
12
A third lira is found in the Estrella de Jacob. Probably j
I
not actually a part of that book, it is bound in at the end I
j
with a series of funerary poems as part of the "Tumulo hon- j
orifico" of Sara de Pinto, who died in 1685, and is called
i
"Exposicion poetica." The rime-scheme is ABBAcC. The j
^(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 89r-93v.
91
i
j |
jtwenty-two stanzas commemorate Sara, the late widow of „ j
: |
lAbraham de Pinto, together with her husband, equate them j
| i
i !
with their biblical name-sakes, celebrate their progeny, j
mention their coat of arms, their charity, and the poverty
iin which the poet, Barrios, lives, quoting scripture abun-
i
Idantly. Again we make contact with moral and religious sen-j
! j
Itiments expressed in plain style, which here produce nothing!
memorable. A fourth lira rimed aBaBcC in five stanzas ap- '
!
pears in the Coro (p. 228).
' I
Diez Echarri discusses the silva as a "cancion libre" j
and quotes Caramuel as saying, "si esta dividida en estrofasj
i
no uniformes y tiene menos de veinte versos, Madrigal; si
tiene mas, Silva." Barrios was hardly likely to scorn the
form in which Gongora wrote his Soledades. The most impor- j
tant example appeared first in the Flor de Apolo (pp. 35-
43) and then in the Coro de las musas (pp. 459-478) with the
iinteresting•title, "Padece gran tormenta una dama en busca
ide su amante: sale a nado donde el, en habito de pastor la
'libra de un notable peligo, y queda preso en el de sus !
i !
! i
ojos." This may justly be called an imitation of the first
i
j
|part of the first Soledad. Often a memory of Calderon
|
^ Teorias metricas. pp. 249, 258.
imposes itself between the poet and Gongora, as in the
"Fabula de Narciso y Eco." Though this is unimpressive
compared to Gongora's poem, one of the summits of Spanish
verse, it shows Barrios' poetic talents to good advantage.
j
The situation of the shipwrecked youth at the beginning!
of the Soledades is produced in reverse. It is a nymph
j
abandoned by her lover who braves the sea. The storm and !
j
danger are magnified, but the vocabulary reproduces that of I
the Soledades. The first important reminiscence, however, !
in the second verse, comes from the first verse after the
dedication of the Polifemo:
cuando espumoso el mar Boreas suspira
(Coro, p. 469)
After a splendid display of celestial and marine fireworks,
La derrotada nave,
delfin del pino, si entre espumas ave,
saltando sobre el cuello de una roca,
por furia mucha, y por ventura poca,
con las alas de canamo rompidas,
en solo un golpe pierde muchas vidas.
(Coro, p. 470)
The ship is further linked by vocabulary, paraphrase, and
metaphor to Gongora1s ships as we continue in an unusual
density of hyperbaton:
Confuso al pasajero,
triste al soldado, torpe al marinero,
al grumete asustado,
yerto al piloto, al capitan turbado,
| y al castillo de tablas (ya deshecho
| en la punta de un risco por el pecho)
Glauco erizado, con feroz bramido,
los sorbe en su elemento, de otro herido.
(Coro, p. 470)
jEven in these short quotations the repetition of the words |
I !
Idelfin. tabla. sorber. from the first verses of the Sole- j
1 ' j
i dades. together with typically Gongorine formulae, leaves us
|
itoo strongly with the taste of Gongora on our lips to need
to pursue the relationship.
The nymph, cast ashore, sees a shepherd descending fronj
a crag. His description ends with a typical baroque rhetor
ical formula:
i
Los ojos pardos, el mirar hermoso,
el talle donairoso,
el cabello ondeado,
el bozo negro, el rostro mesurado,
rustico el traje, la presencia noble,
; sencillo el corazon, el cuerpo doble,
los pies pequenos, grande la estatura,
ancha la espalda, corta la ventura,
i con dulce voz Orfeo de aquel monte,
iman de los incendios de Faetonte,
sentimientos poniendo
al mar clamando, al fuego padeciendo,
al aire suspirando,
a la tierra llorando,
paz pedxa al amor, haciendo guerra
al aire, al mar, al fuego, y a la tierra.
: (Coro, p. 479)
In addition to the many bipartite verses and the quadripar-j
tite one illustrated, there are several tripartite verses
in the poem. The nymph is attacked by a serpent (or
i " ' ".. 941
!
dragon), which is killed by the shepherd. In some of the i
!
!
Ifaster-moving scenes, the heptasyllable takes precedence j
! |
over the hendecasyllable, making the whole effect dynamic, j
|in contrast to the static quality of Gongora's poem. The j
! I
jlovers are reunited, to their mutual satisfaction. The |
jwriting of the poem is done in such a way that it is agree-
|
jable in spite of the conventional scrap of story that holds
it together, making it Barrios' best silva. . j
"Academia de los Floridos" from Estrella de Jacob (pp. j
i65-68) is interesting for its information on the activities
and literary personalities of the Jewish colony in Amster
dam. As for "Alabanza epitalamica" from Alegorias o pintur-i
i
I , .
jas lucientes de Himeneo. it is noteworthy to see what a
jreputation for charity and piety a wealthy young man could j
. 15 !
get by fulfilling a vow to marry an orphan without dowry. j
lEsthetically it is unimportant.
' In Coro de las musas is another poem, an epitaph for
Ariosto in this form in fifteen verses (therefore a madrigal
according to Caramuel). It shows Barrios' attitudes toward
I
! j
I -^(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 82r-83v. !
!
|
l^See Kenneth R. Scholberg, La poesia reliqiosa. p. 77.
95
Ariosto and the genres he cultivated:
Aqui yace Ariosto, que gracioso
en comica agudeza
deleita las orejas cortesanas:
reprende con la satira jocoso |
las perversas costumbres, j
la envidia que se abrasa en propias lumbres,
! y las torpezas vanas: i
j con heroicas poesias soberanas
dice los hechos de Roldan Furioso:
canta en el coro del mayor planeta
los cuidados, las guerras, los afanes
de fuertes capitanes,
merecedor poeta
! de las coronas tres esclarecidas, |
que en tres fueron de Apolo repartidas.
I (Coro, p. 361)
Barrios was not fond of tercetos. but wrote an "Epis-
tola censoria" in this meter in answer to an epistle in
tercetos by Doctor Juan de Prado. It appears both in Flor j
I
de Apolo (pp. 186-190) and Coro de las musas (pp. 588-592). ^
;Not a major poem, it is a jocose and satirical work, which !
was probably once very funny to those who disliked the
'atheistic Prado, who was no more popular in the Jewish |
i i
; |
colony than Benedict Spinoza.
I
These poems are Barrios' contributions in the Italian-
ate forms (excluding the octavas and sonnets). In them he
did some of his most successful writing in high baroque
style, probably better than anything he wrote in octavas j
|
and only surpassed by some of his sonnets and perhaps his
best masque, which is studied in Chapter IX. Barrios had
i
jmore success in this kind of writing while he was still
|
irelatively young. Later efforts were hastily put together
for weddings or funerals, whereas some of the early ones,
i
initially more polished, had the benefit of revision after
first publication.
CHAPTER VI
[
j
THE SONNETS
i The numerous sonnets of Miguel de Barrios are scattered
throughout his works and are to be found in the prefaces of
those of his friends and associates. Many of the sonnets
i i
i ;
are notable for their excellence of form and freshness, for ;
|their depth of feeling, seriousness of purpose, or ingenious
playfulness. Others seem to have been mechanically pro-
jduced, individualized only by shifting and shuffling of
i
'cliches, rimes, names, and namepuns. Most of Barrios' best j
sonnets are to be found in Flor de Apolo.^ Coro de las
I musas and Sol de la vida.3 They are written in a wider
variety of styles and tones than the poems discussed up to
j i
jthis point because, of all the Italianate forms in which |
i ;
Barrios did any considerable amount of writing, ; the sonnet
•^Brussels, 1665.
^Brussels, 1672.
3Antwerp, 1679.
97
93
Iwas the only vehicle which he used for burlesque or jocose
4 |
jas well as serious writing.
I i
I j
Rengifo generalizes m respect to the sonnet as fol
lows: S
i j
El soneto es la mas grave composicion que hay en j
la poesxa espanola: y por eso este nombre, que pare-
ce comun a todo genero de copla se da por antonomasia j
| a esta. ... De ordinario no lleva sino un solo con- j
| cepto, y ese dispuesto de tal manera, que no sobre ni j
! falte nada. ... Recibe comparaciones, semejanzas,
preguntas, y respuestas, y sirve para cuantas cosas
: quisiere uno usar de el; para alabar o vituperar, |
para persuadir o disuadir, para consolar y animar; y !
finalmente para todo aquello que sirven los epigramas j
latinos. Hay rauchas maneras de sonetos: conviene a |
saber soneto simple, doblado, terciado, con cola,
continuo, encadenado, con repeticion, retrogrado, y
de dos lenguas ... ^
| By the time the generation of Lope and Gongora started
I
i
writing sonnets, the octave had been reduced to the scheme
ABBA,ABBA and the sestet usually rimed either CDE,CDE or
CDCjDCD. Only the latter was still in common use in either
jltaly or Spain during the time Barrios was writing, although1
! '
lother traditional schemes were still occasionally used. ;
! i
! ' I
! In this chapter the sonnets will be discussed under thel
i
' ■ I
following headings: panegyric, elegiac, moral, erotic, and j
^This is standard practice in the period and is pro
vided for in Rengifo's formulation quoted below.
5Rengifo, Arte poetica espanola. p. 95.
99
[burlesque.
Barrios' panegyric sonnets are dedicated to cities and
persons. The need for patronage in Brussels and Amsterdam,
and elsewhere if he needed to migrate again, no doubt
account for much of the panegyric verse. Many of his later j
i
poems seem to have been pot-boilers in a very literal sensej
i
i [
On the other hand, some of his panegyric sonnets are based
on the poet's enthusiasms and personal friendships.
The sonnets of this group are ordinarily written in
high baroque style, which is well suited to praise of exalt-i
ed persons and places, but which also lends itself to mono- [
tony. "Elogio XXI" is dedicated to Don Juan de Austria:
Con invicto valor, Hector hispano,
de la mejor corona regio Atlante, j
matas de envidia el brio mas gigante, j
venciendo al enemigo mas tirano. j
Eterno tu renombre soberano
desanima en archivos de diamante
j de la hija del mar al fiero amante, !
i de la diosa triforme al rojo hermano. j
; Descendiendo del Cuarto mas augusto,
j del aplauso mayor subes al monte,
| dando al contrario formidable susto.
! Conquistas de tal manera su horizonte
| que cuando se levanta Icaro injusto
! con rayos que le tiras cae Faetonte.
(Coro. p. 200)
i i
Like the octavas in high baroque style, this sonnet is
adorned with altisonant language and classical reference. j
r “ _ “ — -..........■ — — .... 1 0 0
i
i
I One of Barrios' successful formulae, where the examples
i ’
jare not too disparate, is to establish a series of classi
cal, biblical, or historical figures and then tell how the
person or place praised is like or superior to the examples.
i
"Elogio XXII" is such a sonnet dedicated to the Admiral of
(Castile:
| Si Orfeo entre cientlficos cantara,
I no fuera por la inscicia apedreado.
Fuera Alejandro aun mas solemnizado,
| si al vicio bacanal no se entregara.
Si a Roma Cesar no tiranizara,
i tropel no le extinguiera conjurado.
' Mirarase Anibal mas laureado,
si a la sensualidad no se inclinara.
j Solo el cuerdo Almirante de Castilla
! perfectamente por la pieria cumbre
; grande en todo altas ciencias encastilla.
Su pluma extiende porque mas le encumbre,
! tan auxiliar de Apolo maravilla,
que da su sombra al que le da su lumbre.
(Coro, pp. 200-201)
Another sonnet of the same type is "Elogio XVIII," dedicated
[
to the city of Lisbon:
I
Los solios del adusto americano;
la opulenta Paquin, trono del chino;
Samarcand, sol del tartaro ferino;
Haspan del persa; Agra del mogolano;
Petra de Arabia; Memfis del gitano;
la ciudad de Nembrot; y la de Nino;
la que reedifico el magno Constantino;
el dosel de Polonia; el sueco; el dano;
Amsterdam; la alta Mosco; Prezcop, silla
del gran Can; las metropolis de Italia;
Viena y Madrid de Austria y de Castilla;
de Albion Londres; y Paris de Galia
no igualan a Lisboa, lusa corte,
101
campo de Apolo y templo de Mavorte.
(Coro, p. 198)
|
| There is necessarily a change in tone when a panegyric
is dedicated to a Jewish translator of the Psalms of David
|in 1681:
i
J
Jahacob, varon perfecto en la eminente
j casa de Dios, inquieres la Ley tanto
que por ti del psalmista el dulce canto
mas claro alumbra a la escogida gente.
Brillas, Jehudah Leon, signo elocuente
del Sol divino que te enciende en cuanto
| por las lineas que hizo el pastor santo
la luz esparces de la empirea mente.
Debe a tu ciencia singular traslado
de Salomon el templo destriiido
por un leon, por otro edificado.
i Bien tomaste del templo el apellido;
pues en ti el alto Rey es mas loado
I y de David el canto mas subido.^
I
The elegiac sonnets are sometimes panegyric, sometimes ;
| |
imoral in tone, as they are dedicated to notable persons and I
usually have a theme related to earthly disillusion and the
i
{consolation of religion. Their manner varies from the high
I
{baroque style of the panegyrics to the plain style of the
moral poems.
An example of the panegyric type, which often, as here,
^Quoted in Jose Amador de los Rios, Estudios histori-
cos. politicos v literarios sobre los iudxos en Espana
(Buenos Aires, 1942), p. 572.
I 102;
celebrates the successor of the personage mourned, is "Des- |
engano XI," dedicated to Charles V:
1 Aun llora Espana con nocturno velo
el triste fin del cesar mas famoso,
| porque admiro tan grande en lo imperioso
| que no cupo en el mundo y paso al cielo.
| Apuro su materia tanto el celo,
! que espiritu quedando victorioso,
por subir mas ligero a lo glorioso
entrego lo pesado solo al suelo.
Nuevo Elias, al verse arrebatado
! echo la capa de su real grandeza
al fenix en su polvo renovado.
j Hallo Castilla alivio en la tristeza,
porque para aumentar su regio estado,
I tuvo en Felipe no menor cabeza. j
| (Coro, p. 351)
jThe earnest tone of these sonnets is a differential quality
I
that distinguishes them from the purely panegyric works as j
' i
I - i
swell as the erotic poems. j
i The poet makes use of elegiac themes from the Bible or j
• * 1 I
classic literature as a pretext for purely moral poems, as
in his sonnets on the death of Rachel. The celebrated one
| j
^is quoted in Chapter VII for another purpose. The following
little known sonnet from Sol de la vida is written to Ra-
!
chel1s husband on her death:
Da el alma a Dios y la materia al suelo
la que en tu pecho encierra su alabanza,
dejandote el amor sin la esperanza
y en su ceniza el fenix del anhelo:
Divino gozo, humano desconsuelo
en largo dia y larga noche alcanza
ella luz de la bienventuranza
103
| y de su fama tu nocturno vuelo.
! Rendirse al mortal golpe es gran victoria
! cuando por el se va al descanso sumo,
j y pena no hallar mas que su memoria.
■ En todo el bien y en todo el mal presumo
al cielo de Raquel manto de gloria
y al mundo de tu amor manto de humo. |
(P. 41) !
j j
[Awareness of the two-part correlation is very necessary in |
i
t
determining the prose meaning of such passages in Barrios' j
|
! verse as the second quatrain, which makes no sense if inter-;
preted continuously. When the intention is as disinterested
as this, and the subject gives a certain limited scope to j
! i
the moralizing tendency that underlies so much of his work, !
i
i
Barrios is at his best. So many of the sonnets printed un- I
| . |
der the advocation of Melpomene, the funereal Muse, and j
|
Calliope, here the moral Muse, are truly memorable. j
i
i
i
; !
The moral sonnets must be understood as including poems!
on philosophical, religious, and moralizing themes. The
i !
I ;
'three are often combined. Religious sonnets that do not
j ;
include moralizing or philosophizing are rare. One fine, ifj
little known, example is published in the introduction to |
|
i
I j
jlmperio de Dios en la harmonia del mundo and purports to b^
|
a translation from the Arabic of the "Haham Yahacob Saporta^
, i
i
i
^Brussels?, 1673? j
104
de Oran."
! Glorifican a Dios los serafines
al harmonico son de las esferas
que le sirven de carro y de ligeras
ruedas los tronos y los serafines:
j Por el fin poderoso de los fines,
I sin manos y sin dedos, altaneras
| cuerdas tocan de voces verdaderas
| en la harpa de los celicos jardines.
Las clavijas y metodos levanta
en sus obras la humana hierarquia,
y el angel Micael con todas canta:
j Porque el racional vea en cuanto cria
que con las lenguas que a su Autor decanta
! el mundo es una tacita harmonxa.
!
This sort of oriental splendor, related to certain biblical j
I j
i
ipassages, sometimes appears in Barrios' verse even when he
>is not translating. A Spanish sobriety rules in most of his
i . '
moral works producing plain style. There is another reli
gious sonnet of the latter sort which Barrios published in ■
; i
two versions. It appears in the respective introductions o^
; i
p
Desembozos de verdad contra las mascaras del mundo and Im-
j perio de Dios en la harmonia del mundo. The version from
!
the latter is reproduced:
De tu verdad desnuda mi fe armada
resiste las celadas de la vida,
planta veloz de vientos combatida,
constante roca de olas acosada.
En el mar de la ira todo nada:
i
®No place, no date, but see Scholberg, La poesia reli-
giosa. p . 101.
I ... " “ '' '....'....... 105
|
| y a ti, Senor, mi obra dirigida,
: no temo de la fuerza presumida
con espada de Ley, la ley de espada.
i Por mi estrechura en tu loor espacio
cantar los siete dias que previenes
como columnas de tu gran palacio.
Todo es justa de males y de bienes, !
| andando apriesa en circular espacio
I porque ab eterno todo lo mantienes.
i
The theme of disillusion combined with the idea of an
I
i
old woman looking into a mirror is ancient and widespread.
i :
In his sonnet, "Fragilidad de la belleza momentanea," Bar-
j I
rios applies it, unnecessarily, to the state of Holland
jafter a disastrous flood. The flood becomes the mirror of
disillusion:
Ya tu sombra te asombra, o Lise, |cuanto
i desengano le debes al espejol
de lo que fuiste, ni el menor bosquejo,
de lo que miras, el mayor espanto.
Tu beldad era del amor encanto,
! hoy tu vejez de la beldad consejo,
! el sol entonces de tu luz reflejo,
1 la noche agora de tus soles manto.
De vivos huesos, huesa dolorida, j
con la antorcha ideal que te lo advierte j
I
i
i
Q . ‘
^The rhetorical figure of the eighth verse seems to j
have had considerable currency during the late seventeenth j
century. It occurs three times in Sor Juana Ines de la j
Cruz' sonnet, "En perseguirme, mundo, ique interesas?" and a j
like number of times in Francisco de Azevedo1 s sonnet, "Con-j
tra todas las Ciclades conspira," published in 1683 in Don
Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora, Triunfo partenico (Mexico, j
1945), pp. 189-190. It involves the repetition of a formulaj
in chiastic word order with an ingenious change of meaning. |
| ■ ' ' " ~ ' “ ' 106
j
yaces en ti, de ti desconocida:
Date retrato de la humana suerte
conocimiento el vidrio de la vida,
! por lo que te descubre de la muerte.
(Sol, p. 45)
Here is a new element, very apt, a kind of multiple use of
[ingenuity, related to wit. Deft play on sounds of words: ;
jsombra. asombra; huesos. huesa. Antithesis: "Tu beldad era!
j I
|
[del amor encanto,/ hoy tu vejez de la beldad consejo," or ,
"el sol entonces de tu luz reflejo/ la noche agora de tus
[ I
: i
soles manto." Wry twists of meaning: "de vivos huesos j
i
jhuesa," "yaces en ti." This is a complicated, conceptista
style.
"Desengano III" is entitled "Ejemplar castigo de la in-
'obediencia":
I Huye del fuego Lot, y sin que pueda
j con su esposa, alta ley, el rostro vuelve
al rgneo asombro, donde se resuelve j
que gran castigo a grande error suceda.
El cuerpo no se mueve, y la alma rueda
! al humo eterno que en horror la envuelve,
i que cuando Dios castiga mas que absuelve,
quien no mira adelante atras se queda.
Mudada en sal por ser tan desabrida
con sus celicos huespedes, del dano
reserva al que su ejemplo esta oportuno.
De si sepulcro dura en si escondida,
sin que distinguir sepa el desengano
su cuerpo y tumba, porque todo es uno.
(Coro. p. 346)
This stems from the Greek Anthology. VII:311, of which the
107
jsecond tercet is a paraphrase. it presumably came to j
i ;
Barrios as a Latin epigram. Another of Barrios' better j
j
Imoral sonnets is the translation of a Latin epigram. 1 1 De- !
;sengano VIII" is entitled "Discurso elegiaco de Seneca es- i
; I
tando a la hora de la muerte (segun trae en sus Inscripcion-j
es Adolfo Ocon)."
Cuidados sin quietud; afan con pena;
merecimientos inclitos; blasones
recibidos en justos galardones,
| forzado os dejo; andad en hora buena.
Procurad de otras vidas la cadena,
I que de hoy mas os admita en sus prisiones;
| Dios me llama a reconditas mansiones,
despedido de toda accion terrena.
De ella me aparto con licencia. 0 dura
tierra, quedate en paz. De los excesos
mortales pruebe el cuerpo la amargura.
| Losas de honor consuman mis sucesos;
porque volvemos con verdad segura ^
el espiritu al cielo, a ti los huesos. 1
; i
i
As for the erotic sonnets, there is the usual quota of j
;Petrarchan poems of hopeless love and suffering together
i !
I i
Iwith graceful compliments and gallant anecdotes. But there!
is unusual diversity. One feels that it is possible to j
follow the progress of his various romances. It is clear !
j j
! i
I
i
10Translated in Dudley Fitts, tr., Poems from the Greek
Anthology (New York, 1956), p. 98. j
H-Coro., p . 349. I have not been able to identify the
author of the epigram.
i ........... ' ' ' “ ..' ".' ..""............ 108
I
that Barrios was jilted by one of the ladies, married two of
' i
jthem, and tired of a fourth. One has the impression, too, j
j j
that he was initially a gay, young army officer, and that hq
was not unlucky in love. The diversity stems from exploita-
jtion of the occurrences of the poet's life, whereas so many j
j . |
Isets of sonnets would seem to have been inspired in a six
teenth-century pastoral novel of weeping swains loving with-
! i
out hope.
A sonnet from Flor de Apolo and Coro de las musas. !
called "envidia en su morir al de la rosa," will serve as an
example of a love sonnet on a traditional theme:
’ I
Naces, o rosa, del Amor hermana,
| jurada reina de las otras flores,
I tan aplaudida de los ruisehores
que le sirves de risa a la manana.
Eflmera es un d£a de la vana j
i presuncion que tenian tus verdores,
j pues de Febo a la luz y a los ardores
yace ceniza tu luciente grana.
Tu muerte envidio, rosa malograda,
aunque morir cuando nacer te viste:
dichosa eres si fuiste desdichada.
Ya se acabo tu pena, pues moriste:
infeliz yo que en muerte dilatada
mas desdichado soy viviendo triste.
(Coro, p. 531)
Barrios' most verbally complicated sonnet employs cor
relation and multipartite verses. In the octave the first
verse, like the three others that rime with it, is divided j
I
into five parts, whereas in the sestet, with four-part |
; ' ' "" ~ .” 109
{correlation, all six verses are quadripartite:
j Amante, ciego, firme, altivo, y fuerte
j padezco mas, callando el ardimiento
que me abrasa en el ansia con que intento
gusto, alivio, descanso, gozo, y suerte. i
| Mira, inquiere, conoce, sabe, advierte
j Belisa que me alegro en mi tormento,
I dandome su beldad por mi contento
pena, angustia, afliccion, congoja, y muerte.
Mas como afable, dulce, alegre, atenta
su luz, su ser, su ardor, su confianza
me ciega, oprime, enciende, y atormenta.
I Mi amor, mi fe, mi celo, mi esperanza
I en mi llanto y temor, calma y tormenta,
| halla dicha y placer, gloria y bonanza.
(Flor, p. 222)
j
| The themes of absence, death, marriage all come into
l
|his love-sonnets as into his life. The Gongorine sonnets,
jaltisonant and trivial, that have as pretext a girl singing
t
I
in a field or raising her hand to her eyes are quoted in
jChapter VII to another purpose. Many of these erotic son-
i !
|nets.seem lively because of their diversity, while the in
dividual sonnet may not be impressive as an anthology piece.:
i i
i j
'Many of them are good, but not usually as good as the ele- j
giac and moral sonnets.
I The burlesque sonnets are the least agreeable. They
make use of odd or harsh rimes, poetic vocabulary incongru-
i
ously applied or antipoetic vocabulary, themes of promis- |
cuity or abnormal sex, indecent expressions, double mean-
; " ' " ' ' 110
ings, descriptions of ugliness or personal oddity, racial
i I
differences, in short anything that can be held up to ridi- j
I
cule.-^ Some of them poke mild fun, as when the author I
jcatches Belisa cooking. Two sonnets use rimes in -osca. j
-usca. -esca. and -asca. Another rimes in -ox. -ux. -ax, j
-ex. and -ix. Two others use -il. -al. -ul. -ol. and -el.
The following sonnet is representative of the type, while
relatively inoffensive:
i
l
Llorando Blanca su ventura negra,
, temiendo del marido la cornada,
| llamo a su Gerineldos angustiada
con mal de madre y dolor de suegra:
| Triste le pide ayuda, y el la alegra
I sacandole de suegra, tan prenada
que pario dos criaturas en Granada,
por huir con su Paris de Consuegra.
Quedo el galan del parto suspendido,
aunque por su velado desvelado,
1 con ella recatado y escondido.
En parte satisfizo su cuidado,
j dejando lo que tuvo de perdido
al ausente marido de ganado.
(Flor. p. 235) j
i
Burlesque, jocose, or satirical style is found to a much
greater extent in Barrios' work in shorter meters, and is
l^Many of these continue the poems of escarnio or mal-
decir of the Spanish cancionero literature, presumably re
inforced by such classical vituperation as that of Catullus
against Gellius (Catullus. ed. Elmer Truesdell Merrill [Bos-i
ton, 1893], c 74, 80, 88, 91, pp. 196, 201-202, 206-208). j
Ill
treated at greater length in Chapters X and XI.
Barrios wrote several forms of sonnet which require
i
i
commentary here. Of the special types mentioned by Rengifo,;
there is only one example in his works, the soneto de dos j
j
lenouas. There were two kinds cultivated by Spanish sonne- i
teers, a sonnet written with alternate lines in two differ
ent languages (or some similar arrangement), and a sonnet
written so as to be easily understood in two languages (Arte
!
poetica. pp. 104-105). Barrios includes one of the latter
kind in the section of Coro de las musas called "Naturaleza
y arte de las musas," written in Spanish and Portuguese.
The poem is reproduced here exactly as printed:
Provido ordena, forma generoso,
exercito divino, imperio humano,
justo Rey contra espiritu profano,
sobre celestial alma Sol glorioso.
Toca mancebo angelico, espantoso
metal, quando Monarca soberano
castiga criminal rigor tirano;
premia clemente zelo virtuoso.
Alta Jerusalem, Babel profundo,
fabrica Arbitro summo eternamente,
a todo puro e impuro breve mundo:
Toma pena fatal, gloria eminente
por infernal ministro reo inmundo,
por alto resplandor fulgida gente.
(p. 623)
Like certain other poems, this is a tour de force. The only
noticeable peculiarity for Spanish is the complete suppres
sion of articles. This makes it sound as ifit might have
112
been written as a soneto de tres lencruas with Latin added,
more than the example of such a sonnet inserted into Rengi-
'fo's Arte poetica (pp. 105-106).
I In the additions to Rengifo's work by Dr. Vicens is the
soneto con ecos (pp. 95, 106). Barrios puts such a sonnet j
into the mouth of Apollo. It is one of his more conserva
tive experiments in echo verse:
Fuego es mi Flor, y quien la ampara ara i
sin tener en la luz que expira pira,
por el impulso que le inspira ira,
contra el mordaz que se declara clara.
! Sale al que osado se le encara cara,
cuando del protector que admira, mira
| lo que en su luz al que retira tira
! lo que en mi Flor al que repara para.
; Con el favor que la mantiene, tiene
cuanto en las hojas de su fama ama
el que de rayos la encabella bella.
En el fulgor que le previene, viene
j a la Flor que Sol su llama llama,
j por verse deste Sol estrella ella.
j (Coro. p. 393)
This is one of the devices of the period which most alien
ates the modern reader.
i
i
Masculine rimes (never mixed with feminine ones in the
same sonnet) are used occasionally for both serious and
comic effects. Barrios published a series of "sonetos
dobles funebres" as an elegy for his second wife, the Be-
113
I
! |
1 o
llisa of Coro de las musas. in Estrella de Jacob. Each of |
these sonnets could stand alone, but they are printed in
pairs with a quatrain of commentary as a sort of remate. j
unrelated in rime to the preceding sonnets. There is one
j
other special case of two fourteen-verse poems in short
meters ("Canta naturaleza sin arte" and "Canta arte sin j
naturaleza") which, when one reads across the two of them j
■at the same time, verse by verse, form a sonnet called !
i !
! 14
"Cantan naturaleza y arte juntas." Of this composite son-i
net he was very proud, mentioning on the thirty-fifth unnumj
i
bered page of his Prologue to Coro de las musas. "el arti- J
jficio del soneto penultimo que muestra arte y agudeza de
1 ~ |
ingen.io si no me engana el propio amor."
As for the construction of Barrios' sonnets, they con- j
form to the common usage of the period. The usual rime
scheme is ABBA,ABBA;CDC,DCD. Run-on is common, but does not
I I
i •
carry across from octave to sestet nor between the two
I quatrains or tercets.
i
i
|
I 13(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 29-32.
|
| l^Coro. pp. 647-648. Cf. the soneto diviso of Luis de;
Camoes in Obras completas. ed. Hernani Cidade, 3rd ed.
(Lisbon, 1962), No. 136, I, 267. The two concepts of art
and nature are introduced and defined one after the other irk
Francisco de Castro, De arte Rhetorica (Seville, 1625), pp. !
7- a ___ . . _______ j
114
Spain in the seventeenth century was even more prolific
in the production of good sonnets than in the writing of
i comedias. That the author of such a distinguished collec
tion of sonnets has become a forgotten minor poet is as muchj
i 1
S i
|a commentary on the prodigality of the period as on the massj
I :
I • !
!of mediocre verse in which they are hidden. It was a cen
tury in which the writing of sonnets was a fine art; and the
i
j
best of Barrios' sonnets will stand comparison with those of
the great sonneteers of the language.
CHAPTER VII
THE SONNETS: TEMPORAL STRUCTURE !
The sonnets of Miguel de Barrios are written mostly in
i
the present tense; his use of other tenses seems to reveal a|
i
I !
deliberate structural intention pointing up the architecture!
j i
of the sonnet. Some of his uses of tense would seem utterly;
i I
[arbitrary, were it not for certain suggestions in a recent
[study of temporal structures by Lowry Nelson, Jr.'*' Such
uses of tense often suggest a division of the sonnet into
temporal planes which may or may not be distinguishable by j
the use of tense. In the more complicated examples these j
temporal planes are freely played against each other and re-j
: combined or fused so that, even in the space of a sonnet,
ithey may set up an ingenious kind of rhythm (in an archi-
j
tectonic rather than a musical sense). Most examples use
tense very broadly and are easily categorized. Others show
i |
I
I
t
• , !
1Baroque Lvric Poetry (New Haven, 1961), pp. 19-84.
115
j ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
p j
complex and very subtle use of tense and time-plane. j
t
Barrios often uses tense to contrast two parts of the
jsonnet. In the octave he will present one specific example
i ;
or a series of them in the past definite tense, ordinarily
|
based on classical, historical, or biblical themes. In the j
sestet he will then shift to the present and offer either an
application of or a generalization based upon the material
presented in the octave. One example of this is his "Desen-
I i
Igano IV" : j
| Dea celosa a Semele previno
voraz halago, por la ardiente herida
que hallo la muerte, y su hijo Baco vida,
I fiera al nacer si al engendrar divino.
La altiva esposa del incauto Nino
tuvo el amor que fue su matricida:
al rey que de la espada huyo encendida
filial tumulto inanimo ferino.
Dulce halla el robo el que de enganos vive
hasta que, vomitandolo, desata j
j la vida que su rosigo concibe. I
Vxbora en lo que gusta la arrebata,
y castigo cruel por si recibe,
j produciendo lo mismo que le mata.3 j
i j
^Nelson mentions "planes of time" first on p. 30. Here
time-plane refers to differences in subjective time, which
are sometimes to be distinguished through the use of tense,
in which the reader becomes aware of a disparity between the:
poet's present, for example, and a historical present refer
ring to a previous time. The poet may write of a time past;
then of another deeper in the past than the first one, thenj
revert to a more recent past, then to a past which fuses al}.
three. Any such temporally distinguishable configurations
are called time-planes here.
3coro de las musas (Brussels, 1672); pp. 346-347. |
T17
Here the theme is established by one classical reference in
j !
the first quatrain and two additional examples in the sec
ond, all presented in the past definite tense. These are
> i
|related to the meaning of the sonnet by a separate, inde- j
j j
i I
pendent generalization in the present tense in each of the ;
j
tercets.
"Desengano XVII," on the poisoning of his brother by a
woman, is similar to the sonnet cited above but more concen-j
i •
i !
trated in effect because the octave is devoted to a series
! j
|of parallel statements containing the words no pudo buildincj
iup to pudo in the eighth verse, all pertinent to one idea.
I
|The sestet, which generalizes in the rhetorical present, is j
j I
jlikewise more unified. The poet's personal feeling may havd
i
jcontributed toward developing more emotional intensity.
i +
! No pudo el portugues que horrores vierte
rendir tu brio en militar campana;
no pudo el mar con horrida guadana j
cortar, o hermano, el hilo de tu suerte.
No pudo el Catalan con mano fuerte
triunfar de tu valor: no la atroz sana
del contagio quitarte pudo a Espana;
y pudo una mujer darte la muerte.
No hay pequeno contrario: o venenosa
Circe, en el vidro que tu imagen saca,
cuando halaguena mas, mas enganosa.
Quien triunfa de los riesgos no te aplaca,
porque el mayor es la mujer hermosa;
y el mas fuerte enemigo la mas flaca.
(Coro, pp. 354-355)
It is worth noting that Garcilaso's parallel sonnet, "No las
francesas armas odiosas," which may have influenced this
!
jone, presents no indication of such temporal structure.
i
I
j The same pattern appears again in his frivolous courtly
sonnet in rimas forzadas to Dona Maria Salzedo singing in a !
field of flowers:
En globo de zafir con rayos de oro
chupando de la Aurora el dulce llanto
el que causo de Dafne el verde encanto.
hizo a la selva de esplendor tesoro.
Cuando Amarilis con igual decoro
le dio sonora tan hermoso espanto
que a su vista suspenso admiro el canto
, el claro Orfeo del Castalio coro.
i Sol Amarilis en su bello Oriente.
j triunfa del otro Sol que solicita.
j vencido de su voz, besar su frente:
J porque sin permitir que la compita.
| de aquel florido mar Sirena ardiente.
I lo que le da de amor de luz le cruita
! (Coro, p. 518)
Here the exposition in the past definite tense is followed
by a recapitulation in more general and more intentionally j
poetic terms in the historical present, in which the con
ceit, which is the "point" of the sonnet, is also developed
) i
| |
in chiastic word-order.
The two sonnets he puts into the mouths of the Muses
Polyhymnia (p. 262) and Euterpe (p. 284) at the beginning of
^The italics are original and merely indicate that the
rime-words are supplied from an extraneous source, either
arbitrarily or from another sonnet.
the sections of Coro de las musas where each presides are
I
too similar to these to require further comment. In his
"Triunfo XIII" he uses two examples from Roman history in
the past definite tense to fill the octave:
j Viendo Anibal su ejercito africano
1 por suerte esquiva lleno de tristeza:
se rio para darle fortaleza
contra el poder de la enemiga mano.
Cesar, primer emperador romano,
cubrio el gozo de verse en tal grandeza
con lagrimas, mirando la cabeza
que le presento el perfido egipciano.
Gran valor es del que a mostrar se obliga
lo contrario de aquello que le late
en el pecho, o con gozc o con fatiga.
i Digalo yo, que en el mayor combate
I encubro mi tormento a mi enemiga
| para mostrar placer de que me mate.
( C o r o , p p . 240-241)
A noteworthy feature is that the first tercet expresses the
i
generalization, the second the application to the poet's ,
! i
!
i
own battle of love. j
In the octave of "Triunfo XLI" seven parallel examples
depend on the same verb in the past definite tense. This is
i
followed in the present tense in the first tercet by the nevj
parallel Barrios wishes to establish, which is generalized
and affirmed in the second tercet in a balanced statement
which has no tense independent of that of the first one.
Celebro hasta en el reino del espanto
Orfeo de su esposa la hermosura;
Apeles a Campaspe en la pintura;
| - - - - - : - - 120
| Virgilio a su Amarilis en el canto,
j Catulo a Lesbia en su amoroso encanto;
j Propercio a Cintia en la apolinea altura;
j a Perila Nason con lealtad pura;
Petrarca a Laura con suave llanto.
• Yo aplaudo de Isabel las sublimadas
j perfecciones, que tiran penetrantes
j flechas, de mis afectos igualadas.
Excediendo por actos semejantes
ella en beldad a todas las amadas
y yo en firmeza a todos los amantes.
(Coro, pp. 260-261)
This simple form of temporal structure would not be
jinsisted upon if that were the end of the story, nor would ;
; j
jit possess enough intrinsic interest to justify the multi- j
! t
plication of examples, if it did not also help to explain j
|the more complex examples that follow. I
i In some sonnets, instead of tense areas blocked off j
! i
: i
into two parts, as we have seen, there is a sort of alterna-i
tion of tenses following the tendencies already noted. One
i ■
example of these is "Elogio XLIX," a typical exercise in
j
mutual flattery between poets of that time. It is in answer]
to the complimentary sonnet by Don Antonio del Castillo
which appears on the fourteenth unnumbered page at the be
ginning of Coro de las musas.
Desmintio al Non plus ultra el navegante
que hallo del indio adusto el solio hibleo:
y tu a mi Coro excedes, pues febeo
Colon pasas las metas de elegante.
Con metrica harmonia dulce amante
saco a su esposa del estigio Orfeo:
121
mas tu sacas el ramo de Peneo
por los B a r r i o s ^ que siempre vas triunfante.
En la lira que tocas raro estremo
la haces lucir junto al ursario polo
mejor que la del rausico del Hemo.
Das a las artes arte en todo solo, |
! Castillo^ de las Pierides supremo: j
! y aliento de la Musica de Apolo. j
{ (Coro. pp. 223-224) I
I
Here the first half of each quatrain contains an example in
jthe past definite tense followed in the other half by an
! |
application of this example to the purposes of the sonnet in
| i
the present tense. The sestet is a generalization in the ;
present tense in a manner typical of the sonnets we have
■already examined. "Epitalamio XI" uses the same form but
with an asymmetrical division in the second quatrain. It
deals with the marriage of Don Alonso de la Torre to his
jbeloved Celia.
Nembrot la torre levanto atrevido
para escalar el circulo estrellado:
y el Amor en la Torre levantado
escala al cielo, habiendola rendido.
Tuvo el jayan de haberlo pretendido
la gloria: el de alcanzarlo el nino alado
en Celia, que de amor cielo animado
con dos soles le ve mas encendido.
Llega la Torre al cielo en las inquietas
alas con que el Amor la llama enciende
que esparcen de Himeneo los planetas.
Celia su resplandor de modo estiende
^These italics appear in the original and serve to em
phasize the name-puns.
que por los que han herido sus saetas
en feliz Torre el dios nupcial la prende.
(Coro. p. 332)
' Another possible structural development lies in the
progression of tenses from the past reaching into the pre
sent or future. "Elogio VI" is an elaborately developed
parallel between the city of Venice and the goddess Venus.
Here we begin with the past definite tense, work forward in
I
verse seven into a present tense which is not historical,
i
and finish in verse fourteen in the future tense.
i +
0 Venus tomo el nombre esclarecido
del famoso Veneto; o soberano
I ,
! de Venus tomo nombre el veneciano;
! ella siempre triunfal, nunca el vencido:
Nacio la bella raadre de Cupido
en la espuma del humedo oceano;
y Venecia mas verde en el mar cano
se ostenta del amor centro florido:
De aquella es padre Jove; desta Marte;
una consorte de Vulcano; esposa
otra del mar con belico estandarte:
Todo con amor Venus llena hermosa:
quien su amor con Venecia no reparte
jamas le sera Venus amorosa.
(Coro, pp. 190-191)
"Triunfo XII," a very Gongoristic essay in gallantry, is
somewhat similar in temporal structure.
A las luces de Clori Clicie estuve
y el austro de la accion que a llorar mueve,
con cinco rayos de animada nieve,
puso a dos soles una blanca nube.
No cuanto fuego salamandra tuve,
derrite el yelo que a su luz se atreve:
antes de modo el yelo se la bebe,
123
q u e a c a l e n t a r s e e n n i e v e e l A m o r s u b e .
; M a r c h i t o s s u s a m a n t e s g i r a s o l e s
j q u e d a n c o n e l c a l o r d e l c i e g o i n f a n t e
n o v i e n d o s u s l u c i e n t e s a r r e b o l e s .
T a n F a e t o n e l A m o r e n s u s e m b l a n t e ,
q u e a b r a s a r a a l a t i e r r a c o n d o s s o l e s
a n o t e n e r l a n i e v e p o r d e l a n t e .
(Coro, p. 240)
H e r e t h e p a s t d e f i n i t e t e n s e r u l e s i n t h e f i r s t f i v e v e r s e s ,
b e i n g r e p l a c e d i n t h e r e s t o f t h e o c t a v e a n d t h e f i r s t t e r - j
j c e t b y t h e p r e s e n t t e n s e , p r e s u m a b l y h i s t o r i c a l . T h i s i s
| r e s o l v e d i n t o t h e t r u e p r e s e n t b y t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f t h e j
. i m p e r f e c t . s u b j u n c t i v e w i t h a p r e s e n t c o n d i t i o n a l m e a n i n g i n ,
! i
t h e l a s t t e r c e t . W e m i g h t a l s o c o n s t r u e t h e l a s t t e r c e t a s
t
; c o n s t r u c t e d o n t h e h i s t o r i c a l p r e s e n t w i t h a p e r f e c t m e a n -
: !
I
1
i n g , t h u s w e a k e n i n g t h e p r o g r e s s i o n i n ^ t e n s e s . T h e f e e l i n g j
I
o f t h e s e s t e t , h o w e v e r , s e e m s t o i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e h i s t o r i - j
I
•jcal present has fused with the poet's present.
A m u c h m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d e x a m p l e o f t h i s k i n d o f p r o
g r e s s i o n i s f o u n d i n " D e s e n g a n o I I , " i n w h i c h A d a m ' s c a d a v e r
s p e a k s .
E l p r i m e r h o m b r e f u i q u e p o r D i o s h e c h o
l e s e m e j e d e t o d o c i f r a h e r m o s a ,
y c o n i n g r a t i t u d a l c i e l o o d i o s a
e l q u e r e r m e h a c e r g r a n d e m e h a d e s h e c h o .
D o m i n e e l m u n d o , a m i a l t i v e z e s t r e c h o ,
y p o r c o m e r l a f r u t a v e n e n o s a
d e l a m u e r t e e n l a c a r c e l e s p a n t o s a
m e v i e n e g r a n d e e l m a s p e q u e n o t r e c h o .
D e n o m i n e m e d e a d a m a ( q u e t i e r r a
d e n o t a ) A d a n ( q u e e s h o m b r e ) p o r t a l m o d o
124
que he vuelto a mi materia inanimada.
Lo que esta losa hasta mi nombre encierra:
cuando Adan fue pensaba que era todo,
j y lexdo al contrario ya soy nada.
i (Coro, pp. 345-346)
j H e r e in the first quatrain the tense progresses from past
j
j
[definite to perfect, in the second from past definite to
|
present, in the first tercet again from past definite to
perfect, and finally, the present tense is established in
jthe second tercet with a flashback in the middle verse into
[the past.
! The problem confronting us in "Desengano VI," which
j
Ideals with honor, is different in nature from those we have
hitherto considered.
Imagen de alabastro nieve pura,
a Bersabe en el bano de Diana
mira atento David de su ventana,
j y el alma nnde amor a su hermosura.
| La ausencia de su esposo le asegura
la regia potestad que todo allana,
cuando al verla divina la halla humana,
dando al honor de Urias sepultura.
Ponele Joab en la furiosa llama
del peligro mayor que al rey le advierte:
y perdiendo vida gano fama.
Tuvo dicha en morir, por ser mas fuerte
mal la vida en el noble si se infama,
que le cubra su afrenta honrosa muerte.
(Coro, pp. 347-348)
The poet presents the biblical story in the historical
present. The exposition continues through the first tercet
But in verse eleven there is a sudden change to the past
....125
definite tense. Then the major part of the last tercet is
in the present tense, which Barrios uses regularly for gen
eralization. The problem here is the apparently arbitrary
i !
use of the past definite for a verse and a half. j
I
I
; Before trying to explain this use, let us consider a 1
similar example in "Desengano IX," based on an incident in
Second Maccabees.
i
Maravillas del cielo siete hermanos,
| de gran martir discipulos famosos,
sufren puros martirios espantosos
por no quebrar los fueros soberanos.
Mozos divinos, angeles humanos,
j mediante los incendios rigurosos
escapan los espiritus gloriosos,
dejando su ceniza a los tiranos.
i De Dios Josefes, en la inicua guerra
| huyen triunfantes del atroz desvelo,
j donde el amor divino los encierra.
| Dieron tal luz de su constante celo
I que el rigor pudo echarlos de la tierra
mas no impedirles el subir al cielo.
j (Coro. pp. 349-350)
Here the first eleven verses give the exposition in the j
I
historical present, followed by a sudden shift to the past
definite tense of the last tercet. These two examples are
comparable to Milton's "Lycidas," in which the last eight
verses are in the past. In both poems the verses in the
past tense serve to put the whole poem into temporal per-
i 126
£
spective.
i
In "Ejemplo VI," on the theme that love outlasts the
death of the loved object, temporal progression figures in
combination with the use of the past definite tense to place
the poem in perspective.
En los ojos de Dafne el nino arquero
tiro al sol flecha de oro tan tirana,
que siendo la beldad menos humana,
del cielo derribo al mayor lucero.
Retirandose del con pie ligero,
plomo le dio Cupido, alas Diana,
por donde el conductor de la manana
| la siguio nxnfa y la encontro madero.
j Tierno Apolo en sus brazos aprisiona
al laurel, antes desdenoso encanto,
ya senal de los triunfos de Belona.
Hizole Febo su blason, por cuanto
le agrado ninfa y planta le corona,
con su amor seca y verde con su llanto.
(Coro. p. 376)
Here the octave presents the rising action in the preterite,
terminating in a bipartite verse. This is followed by the j
1
i
i
tion of the first tercet which, shifting suddenly into a
present tense, again seems to fuse with the poet's present,
giving universality of time to the total meaning. The
^Nelson, Baroque Lvric Poetry, pp. 70-71.
culminating action in the first tercet in the historical
present. The second tercet is introduced in the past defi-
!
[
nite tense, representing a time-plane posterior to the ac-
sestet terminates with two metrically identical bipartite J
j
verses in chiastic word order. These metrical and rhetori
cal devices in combination with the temporal devices also
lunderscore the basic architecture of the sonnet. I
I "Desengano X" is an inscription for the funeral pyre or
i
jmonument of Christopher Columbus.
| A la memoria vivo, al ansia muerto,
| el inclito Colon en tierra ha dado,
| del mortal infortunio derrotado,
procurando tomar celeste puerto.
El Yason fue o el Tiflis mas experto
j que al imperio anadio mas esforzado
por un mar hasta entonces ignorado
j un mundo nunca de otro descubierto.
Ya en hoya opaca el fragil Argo encierra,
j cuyo piloto, el alma, sube donde
lo ve cubrir con el terrestre manto.
Dejo dos oceanos en la tierra
uno el que ya al America no esconde,
otro a su heroica fama en nuestro llanto.
(Coro, p. 350)
Each of the four natural divisions of the sonnet is devoted
i ;
to a time-plane. The first quatrain is in the perfect
tense, time-plane I. The second quatrain, in the past defi-
i
nite tense, takes us back to an earlier period, before Co
lumbus' death, time-plane II. The first tercet, in the
present tense, fuses time-plane I with the poet's present,
time-plane III. The second tercet returns to the past defi-
I
nite tense to fuse into one the three previous time-planes ;
!
I
j
and resolves the tensions of the whole poem, which closes |
j ' " " ~ ........... .. ......‘ ..... 128
w i t h a s e r e n e f e e l i n g g r o w i n g o u t o f t h i s r e c o n c i l i a t i o n .
i ^
"Desengano XVI," similar m theme to the last, is a
funeral eulogy of the Queen of Portugal.
E n L u i s a a p a g o s o p l o v i o l e n t o
l a q u e a M a r t e a l u m b r o l u z b e l i c o s a ,
d e l l u s i t a n o i m p e r i o a u x i l i a r d i o s a ,
d e l r e s t a u r a d o r J u a n , a u g u s t o a l i e n t o .
G r a v e A s p a s i a c o n a l t o e n t e n d i m i e n t o ,
c o n g r a n v a l o r P a n t a s i l e a h e r m o s a ,
a n i m a n d o l a g e n t e m a s b r i o s a ,
d e s t r o z o a l e n e m i g o m a s s a n g r i e n t o .
R e d u c i e n d o s e a t i e r r a p o r l a p a r t e
| q u e m a s n o s p e s a , c o n c e l e s t e v e l o
e n c u b r e l a q u e t r i u n f a d e l e n g a n o .
Q u e d a t a n n a d a c u a n d o a l t o d o p a r t e
q u e l o q u e m a j e s t a d i l u s t r o a l s u e l o
h o y a p e n a s p a r e c e d e s e n g a n o .
(Coro, p. 354)
H e r e t i m e - p l a n e I i s i n t h e p a s t d e f i n i t e t e n s e a n d i s e s
t a b l i s h e d o n l y i n t h e f i r s t v e r s e a n d t h e t w o f i r s t s y l l a
b l e s o f t h e f o l l o w i n g o n e a n d r e p r e s e n t s t h e m o m e n t o f h e r
i
i d e a t h . T h e r e s t o f t h e o c t a v e , a l s o i n t h e p a s t d e f i n i t e j
! t e n s e b u t p l u p e r f e c t i n m e a n i n g , e s t a b l i s h e s t i m e - p l a n e I I , (
r e f e r r i n g b a c k t o L u i s a ' s l i f e . T h e f i r s t t e r c e t , a s i n t h e
p o e m o n C o l u m b u s , f u s e s t i m e - p l a n e I w i t h t h e p o e t ' s p r e
s e n t . T h e l a s t t e r c e t , i n r a p i d l y a l t e r n a t i n g t e n s e s , c o m
b i n e s b y a l t e r n a t i o n t i m e - p l a n e I I ( v . 13) a n d t i m e - p l a n e
III ( v v . 12 a n d 14), t h u s r e s o l v i n g t h e t e m p o r a l c o n f l i c t o f
t h e s o n n e t .
T h e s t r u c t u r e o f " E j e m p l o V " i s u n i q u e a m o n g t h e s e
i 129
sonnets.
Por mas ventura, no por mas destreza,
el gran Pompeyo en fuerte lid vencido
! deja el militar lauro y el temido
imperio a la cesarea fortaleza.
Tolomeo, que toda la grandeza
de rey debia a su valor crecido,
en lugar de ampararle agradecido,
a Cesar le dedica su cabeza.
Hallo la muerte donde confiado
imagino escapar de su enemigo:
que traicion no previene el que ha obligado.
La confianza le llevo al castigo,
i por ser cuanto mayor menos pensado
I el golpe ingrato de un traidor amigo.
; (Coro, p. 375)
|This sonnet consists of two independent parts which alter-
!
jnate in the manner of a stichomythic dialogue in baroque
i
!
jdrama, each of them germane to the theme, "Quien hace bien
!
'al ingrato, se hace a si mal." The first quatrain, in the
i
historical present, is continued in the first tercet in the j
j
past definite tense, the last verse changing to the present I
jtense for a generalization. The second quatrain, in the j
Shistorical present with a parenthetical imperfect, continues
in the past definite tense in the second tercet, with the
last two verses again consisting of generalization in the
! i
present tense. The past definite tense, as in sonnets al
ready studied, puts the statements in the historical present
I
into proper perspective.
The sonnet "A Sanson triunfante y rendido" is curiously
difficult to analyze. The title indicates a dual, paradoxi
cal theme. There is also a flickering quality here, related
to mannerist art.
| Osado rompe la feroz braveza
del emulo gentil el Marte hebreo
que por veneer valiente al filisteo
se le puso el ser fuerte en la cabeza.
Solo el Amor con armas de belleza
pudo hacerle de Dalila trofeo,
consagrar al encanto su deseo,
y a la fragilidad su fortaleza.
i Enganole el amor de la sirena,
que viniendole a pelo el darle enojos,
de fuerza y vista luego lo enagena.
i Sanson en fin sintiendo sus arrojos,
j desenganado padecio la pena,
| que por su culpa le salio a los ojos.
(Coro, p. 523)
jThe hero is introduced at the height of his miliatry tri-
I
t
lumph in the historical present, time-plane I, in the first
two verses. Time-plane II, expressed in the past definite j
i
; I
jtense, goes backward in time and contains a near pun on j
iSamson's strength as residing in his hair, a pun that is
literally carried through in verse ten. Time-plane III is
later in time than time-plane I and fills the second quat
rain and the first tercet. It is expressed first in the
past definite tense, but slides into the historical present
in verse eleven. Time-plane IV is still later in time than
time-plane III and, expressed in the past definite tense,
fills the second tercet. The special effect of this poem is
partly induced by the lack of transition between time-
planes, partly by a temporal uncertainty caused by the use
of the historical present in the introduction and at the
Ipoint of climax in a poem otherwise completely written in j
the past definite tense, and partly by non-temporal devices.!
I j
The last of the sonnets to be discussed here is Bar
rios' celebrated "A la muerte de Raquel," his only poem that
i
I
has become a standard anthology piece.
|
Llora Jacob de su Raquel querida
j la hermosura marchita en fin temprano, I
j que corto poderosa y fuerte mano
! del arbol enganoso de la vida.
I Ve la pupurea rosa convertida
i en cardeno color en polvo vano
y la gala del cuerpo mas lozano
postrada a tierra, a tierra reducida.
I Ay, dice, gozo incierto'. J gloria vana'.
Jmentido gusto'. jestado nunca fijo'.
AQuien fia en tu verdor, vida inconstante?
Pues cuando mas robusta y mas lozana,
j un bien que me costo tiempo prolijo,
me lo quito la muerte en un instante. |
(Coro, p. 520) |
t
i
If, in the sonnet about Samson, each time-plane, after the |
second, is closer to us in time, in this sonnet there is a
tendency to reveal successively more remote temporal planes.
The sonnet falls into two natural parts, the octave being
devoted to statements about Jacob, the sestet to his actual
i
words. The first two verses introduce the grieving Jacob
|
I
in the historical present, time-plane I. The next two ver-j
132
s e s i n t h e p a s t d e f i n i t e t e n s e , p e r h a p s w i t h p l u p e r f e c t
m e a n i n g , t a k e u s b a c k t o t h e m o m e n t o f R a c h e l ' s d e a t h , t i m e -
p l a n e I I . T h e s e c o n d q u a t r a i n r e t u r n s t o t h e p r e s e n t t e n s e
j o f t i m e - p l a n e I , a n d J a c o b ' s g r i e f i s m a d e m o r e p o i g n a n t .
j
j l n t h e f i r s t t e r c e t h e s p e a k s i n t h e r h e t o r i c a l p r e s e n t a n d
c o n t i n u e s t i m e - p l a n e I . T h e s e c o n d t e r c e t , i n t h e p a s t
d e f i n i t e t e n s e , r e t u r n s t o t i m e - p l a n e I I , d i p p i n g i n v e r s e
t h i r t e e n m o m e n t a r i l y i n t o t h e d e e p e r p a s t w i t h t h e m e n t i o n
t
!
o f h i s d i f f i c u l t c o u r t s h i p , t i m e - p l a n e I I I .
| T o r e c a p i t u l a t e , o n e o f B a r r i o s ' d e v i c e s i n c o n s t r u c t -
| i n g h i s s o n n e t s i s t h e d e l i b e r a t e m a n i p u l a t i o n o f b o t h
|
t e n s e a n d t i m e - p l a n e . C o n s p i c u o u s s t r u c t u r a l u s e o f t e m
p o r a l e l e m e n t s i n l y r i c p o e t r y i s t h e r e f o r e a n e l e m e n t i n
t h e s t y l e o f t h e l a t e b a r o q u e i n S p a i n . B a r r i o s ' u s e o f
t e n s e a l s o d e m o n s t r a t e s t h e i m p o r t a n c e t o h i m o f t h e s t r u c
t u r a l d i v i s i o n s o f t h e s o n n e t , w h i c h a r e o f t e n d i f f e r e n t i a t
) 3
e d b y t h e u s e o f t e n s e a s w e l l a s o t h e r d e v i c e s .
CHAPTER VIII
THE SONNETS: RHETORICAL STRUCTURE
j
In Baroque Lvric Poetrv~ * ~ Lowry Nelson, Jr. made two
exceedingly important suggestions for the analysis of bar
oque verse. The first of these has already been applied to
Barrios' sonnets in Chapter VII. The second suggestion has
j i
ito do with rhetorical structure (pp. 85-158). This is the
I ? .
conspicuous and structural use of "dramatxcalxty" xn the
I
verse of the period.
! The sonnet is a brief and self-contained form of known
j
and standardized architecture. It is therefore especially
juseful as a sort of laboratory in which to investigate the !
presence and use of various devices and techniques. Its ;
very limitation, however, makes it difficult for the writer !
j . |
to develop much complexity in working out his aesthetic !
problems. Much of the dramaticality we are seeking can only
^New Haven and London, 1961.
i
2Nelson defines "dramaticality" as "the quality pro
duced by means similar to those used in representing an
action" (p. 90).
_____________________ L _133_____________________________
be fully developed in a long poem. The task in hand is the
application of this principle to a short and highly individ
ualized genre.
Briefly, we are concerned with the poet's use of the
3 !
whole rhetorical situation, the interrelationships between ;
speaker, audience, and reader; with the use of the modes of !
discourse, assertion, question, and exclamation; and with
I ;
certain other considerations, particularization of time and j
j
j
place, repetition and emphasis, and "by examining the alter-;
j . . 4 !
jnatives or taking the opposite into account." :
| There is a series of sonnets composed for the Coro de
5 . . .
las musas in which the speaker is deliberately fictitious,
that is to say, where there is no possibility that the poet
is speaking as himself. These are the twelve sonnets in
I
which the nine Muses and others step forward and declaim,
exactly as allegorical figures in a masque would speak to
j
the kind of aristocratic group for which these masques were j
written. The poet-speaker is wearing a specific mask, as
he confronts his audience, which is generalized and probably
equivalent to the reader.
I
3Nelson, p. 91. ^Nelson, pp. 94-96.
5Brussels, 1672.
r ' .......~ ' '' ' — '' ■ ' ................ 135.
j
! There is no intimacy in this sort of relationship.
|
!
|The speaker does not even use the first person of the verb
!in Euterpe's sonnet. At best the fictitious speaker is de
veloped, while the relationships with the other rhetorical j
I 1
imembers is left utterly generalized. Of the modes of dis-
!
Jcourse, the Muses only know assertion.
j *
j Caliope, musa moral, cantas
Penetre a la celeste jerarquxa,
| suspend! del Estigio la corriente
con la del gran psalmista harpa excelente,
: con la de Orfeo dulce melodxa.
| Fxsica y fabulosa teologxa
cante, ninfa sonora del que ardiente
influye del Parnaso presidente
furor divino, humana profecxa.
Hoy moral broto frutas de doctrina,
y enseno la prudencia que asegura
de los peligros que advertida toco.
Ni Salomon veneerlos determina:
porque al hombre faltando la cordura,
el saber mucho le aprovecha poco.
(p. 372)
There is, however, a very simple sort of temporal structurej
I
l
in that the octave is in the past definite and the sestet iri
the present tense. This tense is also reinforced by the
word "hoy" in the ninth verse, particularizing the present
time.
In the last two of these twelve sonnets the perfor
mance aspect of the poems is stepped up through the use of
dialogue among the three Graces (p. 594) and between the
! 1361
!
i
Nature and Art of the Muses (p. 622). The sonnet of the
Graces is not a real dialogue because, though each speaks
two or three times in turn and the speech of one may com
plement or complete that of another, they do not in any
| j
pense address each other. The speaker changes masks and
[
continues declaiming to his audience. The tense progresses
from present to future.
The last of these sonnets, "Naturaleza y Arte de las
imusas cantan," is a true dialogue between Nature and Art.
i I
jln a sense they alternate as speaker and second-person
;audience. In another, more important, sense the speaker rep
resents these two parts before the same generalized audience
already described, which blends with the reader. One of the
I
speeches is less than one verse long with none longer than
jtwo verses, so that there is a certain animation to the , j
dialogue. Likewise, in addition to the assertions there is |
a question and a hortatory command. The argument itself,
considering the writer and the period, is not without inter
est. Nature and art are individualized even in their dic
tion.
Arte. iCorren las musas?
Natu. Donde por cogerlas
con industria las sigues y enamoras.
Arte. Por las que infante el Sol risuenas horas
bebe en nacares de hojas dulces perlas.
137
Natu. Mas facilmente puedo comprenderlas,
porque yo las desnudo y tu las doras.
Arte. Despiertolas con voces tan sonoras
que hace sabio al mas rudo el aprenderlas.
Natu. Pareceran espinas sin mis rosas.
Arte. Pues cantemos las dos de forma unidas,
que nos deban el ser mas olorosas.
Natu. Esto ordenan las musas advertidas.
Arte. Precianse con mi luz de mas hermosas.
Natu. Mejor diras de menos entendidas.
(p. 622)
A closely related set of sonnets dedicates each section
to Don Francisco Manuel de Melo. Here the speaker repre-
j
sents the poet, his patron is the audience, and the reader
is generalized. Audience in this chapter has a specialized
gleaning: a person or something personified addressed or
!
jexisting within the poem, if only by inference. In very
i
!
jsimple rhetorical situations, audience may be generalized
jand roughly equivalent to the reader. In the first of
I
!
jthese, we only know the identity and existence of the audi
ence, because it is announced outside the sonnet, until we
reach the last verse:
Vesta o Venus llamo el Coro Museo
a la madre comun; Jano o Piluno
al que la cultivo; al agua Neptuno;
a la sensualidad Epimeteo;
a la idea de Dios Saturno; Ideo
al fuego natural; al aire Juno;
Uranio al cielo; a su virtud Vertuno;
y al proveedor del mundo Prometeo.
Hoy la astronoma Urania, pieria aurora
de museo describe todo en cuanto
es su heroe el esposo de Pandora.
Jocosa y seria pinta el azul manto
con los colores que en la pluma llora,
tu luz su impulso y su pincel mi canto.
(P. 43)
Again the sonnet progresses from the past definite to the
present tense, emphasizing the present in time and place
with "hoy." The speaker-poet again seems to have come out
on the platform to call attention to Don Francisco in his
box seat in the place of honor, and to introduce Urania,
who has charge of this portion of the program.
In others the patron is addressed directly by name or
through the use of some amplifying substitute. The only
jrelationship suggested between speaker and audience is the
respect and adulation of the poet for his august and un
moved patron. The ninth of these sonnets, imitating a
famous line of Gongora, establishes the role of the speaker
in a special way in the first quatrain, while bowing grace
fully to the audience in the first tercet. The subject is
too elevated and generalized for much particularization.
Estas que me inspiro moralidades
epicas la de Orfeo alba materna,
juiciosa en el Parnaso las alterna,
la razon lira, cuerdas las verdades.
Amargan a las locas vanidades,
que con dulces accentos descuaderna
de cuanto ejemplo a la virtud gobierna,
coro la tierra y voces las edades.
No hay objeto a tu luz que se le emboce,
sino el humano, en si muy diferente
d e l o q u e e n s u a p a r i e n c i a r e c o n o c e .
C o n s u s p r o p i a s a c c i o n e s s e d e s m i e n t e :
q u e e l b r u t o p o r l a f o r m a s e c o n o c e
y e l h o m b r e p o r l a s o b r a s s o l a m e n t e .
(p. 371)
P e r h a p s t h e m o s t s u c c e s s f u l o f t h e s e i s t h e e i g h t h . j
j
I n i t B a r r i o s b r i e f l y e s t a b l i s h e s t h e c o m m o n m e t a p h o r o f
l i f e a s a b o a t a t s e a i n t h e f i r s t f i v e w o r d s i n o r d e r t o
s e t u p a t h i r d - p e r s o n a u d i e n c e , t h e S i r e n U l y s s e s m e t i n h i s
I • !
j |
t r a v e l s . I n t h e f i r s t s e s t e t t h i s s i r e n i s r e l a t e d l i t e r
a l l y t o t h e M u s e i n c h a r g e o f t h e s e c t i o n a n d f i g u r a t i v e l y
| t o t h e s e c o n d - p e r s o n a u d i e n c e , M e l o , w h o h a s n o t f i g u r e d u p
I
; t o t h i s p o i n t , e x c e p t b y n e c e s s a r y i n f e r e n c e . T h e n i n t h e
! i
f i n a l t e r c e t t h i s c o n f l i c t o r i n c o n g r u i t y i s r e s o l v e d b y j
t h r e e r a t h e r s o b e r v e r s e s o f p r a i s e i n w h i c h i t i s s h o w n
t h a t M e l o , l i k e U l y s s e s , i s i m m u n e t o t h i s k i n d o f d a n g e r , j
i ' j
i i
| H e r e t h e r e i s a t r a c e o f t h a t e v o l u t i o n a r y c h a n g e o f r e l a - ;
t i o n s h i p s o f r h e t o r i c a l m e m b e r s s o h i g h l y p r i z e d b y N e l s o n ,
i I
| ;
| i n t h a t w e a r e d i s m a y e d b y t h i s a l l e g o r i c a l d a n g e r s o l i t e r - '
a l l y d e p i c t e d , u n t i l w e a r e c a l m e d i n t o s e r e n e c o n f i d e n c e b ^
g r a d u a l l y b e c o m i n g a w a r e t h a t M e l o i s n o t s u b j e c t t o t h o s e
h u m a n w e a k n e s s e s w i t h w h i c h h e a n d w e w e r e m e n a c e d i n t h e
i
|
o c t a v e . F i r s t b y i n f e r e n c e h e i s c l a s s i f i e d w i t h o r d i n a r y j
I
m o r t a l s a n d t h e n s p e c i f i c a l l y w i t h d r a w n f r o m t h a t p o s i t i o n , j
La vida en cauto mar, sirena estrana
solo descubre lo que agrada; en cuanto
hechiza con lo dulce de su canto,
con el afeite de su rostro engana.
Lo que oculta es tan feo, que la sana
mortal lo muestra por causar espanto
al que, Cesar, se cubre con su manto
por no ver lo que asi le desengana.
De Melpomene hija, esta sirena
le deja la tristeza de su muerte
y a ti el espejo que tu gloria ordena.
Porque en actos de fama, Ulises fuerte,
ni la falsa hermosura te enajena
ni la voz enganosa te divierte.
(p. 343)
One sonnet has a fictitious speaker (Echo) and a fic
titious audience (a painter). It is based on an epigram of
| c
[Ausonius. Making use of all three modes of discourse, if
we consider commands as exclamations, it gives a strange
baroque sense of the unreality of sensory data.
j Cambia, loco pintor, el pensamiento.
No pienses figurarme en tu pintura.
iNo ves que es imposible mi figura,
y querer retratarme es vano intento?
Madre me fue la lengua, padre el viento:
| de mi se engendra en semejanza oscura
! un vano .indicio, que en el arte dura
I mientras doy voces sin entendimiento.
El fin del son ajeno renovado
en mi voz por burlarte voy siguiendo,
hasta que soy objeto de tu oido.
Mas ia que fin te estoy entreteniendo?
Si quieres retratarme en fiel traslado,
^Decimus Magnus Ausonius, Qpuscula. ed. Rudolfus
Peiper (Leipzig, 1886), p. 323.
141
retrata si pudieres el sonido.^
Even when the poet seems to speak for himself, the
speaker may be fictitious. In his sonnet "Al pensamiento"
Barrios speaks to a fictitious audience (Thought), but the
speaker is Barrios as a Petrarchan lover. This is as unreal
as if he were writing a sonnet from Jacob to Rachel. In all
i
sonnets of this sort the reader remains almost completely j
| i
undefined, someone who lends a sympathetic ear to Petrarchan'
I I
lovers, therefore a person of very definite culture, but
jundif ferentiated.
iQue importa que hasta el cielo te levante
la vana presuncion de mi desvelo,
si cuando mas cercano vas del cielo,
[ estas de mi esperanza mas distante?
| . iQue importa que del sol que adoro amante
j goces despojos con tan alto vuelo,
i si cuando de tu luz corres el velo
j no te alcanza mi amor con ser gigante?
| Solo de pena sirves, Pensamiento,
al que en las glorias remontarte advierte
de la que, nieve, causa mi ardimiento. j
La vida perder me hace el no perderte: j
que como Amor dilata mi tormento,
con mi propio deseo me das muerte.
(Coro, p. 524)
I
Sometimes the audience changes in the course of a son- |
net. One example is the sonnet on the death of his brother j
i
analyzed in Chapter VII, where the octave is addressed to \
^Mediar estremos (Amsterdam, 1687), p. 43.
h i s b r o t h e r , t h e s e s t e t t o C i r c e . T h e s u b j e c t o f a n o t h e r '
I
!
i s o n n e t i s " U n a d a m a a l c o g e r a l m a r g e n d e u n a r r o y o u n |
I I
' c l a v e l , s e l o l l e v o l a c o r r i e n t e d e l a g u a , y l e m o j o l a j
i m a n o . " I n i t t h e f i r s t t w o v e r s e s a r e a d d r e s s e d t o t h e ;
| !
f l o w e r , t h e r e s t t o t h e b r o o k . T h e s p e a k e r i s a g a i n t h e j
i
P e t r a r c h a n l o v e r , b u t m o r e d e v e l o p e d t h a n i n t h e l a s t e x a m
p l e .
| D i c h o s o t u , c l a v e l , q u e m e r e c i s t e
! e l d u l c e a m a g o d e m i s o l h e r m o s o ,
m a s t u , a r r o y u e l o s i e m p r e b u l l i c i o s o ,
j l a d r o n d e a m o r , s u a m a g o l e i m p e d i s t e .
| R e m o r a d e c r i s t a l l e s u s p e n d i s t e
I e l i m p u l s o , y a m i t o d o e l r e p o s o ,
d e v e r q u e d e s u m a n o , e c l i p s e u n d o s o ,
I N e m b r o t d e y e l o , a l c i e l o t e a t r e v i s t e .
| D e l a g r i m a s m i r o s t r o n u n c a e n j u t o ,
j s i n t i e n d o d e t u e n v i d i a l a v e n g a n z a ,
r i n d e a s u s o j o s l x q u i d o t r i b u t o ,
p e r d i e n d o l a a m o r o s a c o n f i a n z a ;
i d e g o z a r d e s u a m o r e l d u l c e f r u t o ,
j p o r q u e e n f l o r m e h a s l l e v a d o l a e s p e r a n z a .
| (FIor. p. 220)
i
T h e r e a d e r i s l i m i t e d i n a n o t h e r w a y i n m a n y p o e m s . j
I
i
F o r e x a m p l e , S c h o l b e r g q u o t e s t w o s o n n e t s f r o m t h e T r i u n f o j
Q ^ I
del gobierno popular. replying to a letter of the Marques j
I
d e M o n d e j a r , i n w h i c h t h e l a t t e r r e g r e t s t h e d e a t h o f t h e i r j
f r i e n d , T o m a s d e P i n e d o , a n d e v e n m o r e t h a t h e s h o u l d h a v e j
I
died as a Jew (pp. 237-238). For Barrios' indignant re
®(Amsterdam, 1683), pp. 106, 735.
sponse, in which the speaker is a pious Jew and the audience!
s
j
the Marques, the reader must quite obviously be Jewish to I
I
j
sympathize with Barrios' ideas.
Only rarely is there a feeling of special intimacy be- |
jtween Barrios and the reader. In "Triunfo XXI" the speaker ^
i |
is Barrios as a soldier-lover leaving his lady behind.
; Adios, mi bien, que Marte me destierra
de tu luz; ya el clarin me lo propone.
10 dura ley de honor, que se interpone
| entre dos almas que un amor encierra'.
ALloras? Mai podre irme desta tierra,
si ese mar dulce en medio se me pone.
! Quedar mi ansiosa vida en ti dispone,
i para que no acabe en ml la guerra.
AQue triste ausencia'. En llanto voy deshecho.
Al paso que huye el ciervo, siente el tiro
I que con el arco el cazador le ha hecho.
| Sintiendo flechas del amor suspiro,
| porque mas se me hincan en el pecho
cuando mas de mi dueno me retiro.
(Coro, p. 245)
jHere, after the octave addressed to the lady, he seems to be
jaddressing the reader directly, thus making him the new
jaudience and confiding in him, so that the speaker and the
I
Ireader are much closer than usual.
I
Leaving the consideration of the rhetorical members,
we discover a wealth of rhetorical devices in Barrios' son-
j
inets, which draw him close to baroque German practice, as
already mentioned in the discussion of plain-style octavas.
using assertions, exclamations and commands, and questions.
| ... .” “ ‘ ' " ' " ".. ”..‘.. 144
i
Because of the architecture of the sonnet, these rhetorical
questions or exclamations may compose the sestet, while the
octave is limited to assertions, or vice versa. Or they may
be limited to one quatrain or tercet. A good example of !
Ithis kind of partition is the sonnet "A la muerte de Ra- j
i I
quel," quoted and discussed in Chapter VII, in which the
sestet is a direct quotation of Jacob's words and lamenta- |
tions. In "Triunfo XV" on an illness of Clori, these ques- j
j I
i
i
tions and exclamations compose the octave, while the sestet,j
except for one verse, is limited to assertions.
| IMi bien con mal? iMi serafin doliente?
j JO, cielo'. icomo tu piedad permite
que del sol mismo el resplandor se quite,
que en un angel caber pueda accidente?
IAyer del dios del arco flecha ardiente,
y hoy cera que mi fuego no derrite'.
1 IQue leve flor tan presto se marchite,
| quien bella luz da amor tan permanente
j Tiembla de verla enferma el alma mia,
viendo que la dolencia mas avara
con solo su mirar sanar solia. !
t
No des, Flor, a mi amor pena tan cara.
Tendra en tu rostro el sol mas alegria,
y en tus ojos el cielo luz mas clara.
(Coro, pp. 241-242)
In "Triunfo XXXV" the first quatrain is a question and
the first tercet is composed of commands, while the other
two divisions of the sonnet are devoted to assertions.
AQue me agravies, cruel, cuando abrasado
me confieso a tus ojos tan rendido,
que sufro la afliccion de aborrecido
j ' .......... “ " "" ~ ~ "."..".~~... 145
por no perder la gloria de inclinado?
De manera me tienes desvelado
que de amarte no estoy arrepentido,
porque como deseo ser querido,
no atiendo a la razon de ser vengado.
Vuelve a obligarme. Deja de ofenderme,
| advierte que muriendo por amarte,
hace firme a mi amor el deshacerme.
Y si al morir siguiera el olvidarte,
a la pena tornara de nacerme
por volver a la vida de adorarte.
( Coro. p. 253)
i
! It is worth noting that Barrios, by having considerable
sections of such sonnets expressed in assertions, retains an!
i
jartistic control of the sonnet which Gryphius sometimes los-j
! Particularization of time and place, especially the
{emphasis on the here and now, is not a conspicuous part of
i
Barrios' technique in the sonnets, though we have already
noticed a certain insistence on "hoy." Emphasis is producecj
i !
by rhetorical devices already studied; and repetition, at
least to the extent of parallel constructions and anaphora, j
i
I
is common. There remains still the problem of taking alter
natives into account.
In another chapter the Gongorine formulae, A if not B, j
i
i
etc., have already been discussed. This is one way of con- j
sidering alternatives, In Sol de la vida there are two !
sonnets in the form of epistles based on anagrams written
145
; por no perder la gloria de inclinado?
De manera me tienes desvelado
que de amarte no estoy arrepentido,
I porque como deseo ser querido,
no atiendo a la razon de ser vengado.
Vuelve a obligarme. Deja de ofenderme,
advierte que muriendo por amarte,
hace firme a mi amor el deshacerme.
Y si al morir siguiera el olvidarte, |
a la pena tornara de nacerme i
por volver a la vida de adorarte.
I (Coro. p. 253) |
i j
It is worth noting that Barrios, by having considerable
[sections of such sonnets expressed in assertions, retains an
[artistic control of the sonnet which Gryphius sometimes los-[
es .
Particularization of time and place, especially the
I j
emphasis on the here and now, is not a conspicuous part of j
Barrios' technique in the sonnets, though we have already
inoticed a certain insistence on "hoy." Emphasis is producecj
by rhetorical devices already studied; and repetition, at
least to the extent of parallel constructions and anaphora,
is common. There remains still the problem of taking alter-i
[natives into account.
In another chapter the Gongorine formulae, A if not B,
[etc., have already been discussed. This is one way of con
sidering alternatives. In Sol de la vida there are two
Isonnets in the form of epistles based on anagrams written
' 146
i
to Nicolas Oliver y Fullana on the death of his wife and ;
birth of a son (pp. 95-96). Here, as in a famous passage byj
' |
Rabelais, joy and sorrow alternate. The most interesting
s o n n e t f r o m t h i s p o i n t o f v i e w i s " A m a n t e , c i e g o , f i r m e ,
9
altivo, y fuerte," quoted from Flor de Apolo m Chapter VI,
in which every important idea in the octave is given in five!
alternatives, while the sestet in four-part correlation of- ;
fers four alternatives in each individual verse. This is
again a tour de force, but it represents a way of thinking.
The individual sonnet in itself cannot exemplify very
much variety because of its extreme brevity. However, as i
already mentioned in Chapter VI, Barrios wrote a series of
sonetos dobles funebres called "La memoria renueva el do- !
lor."^^ These tell of the death in 1686 of blind Abigail |
Levi, the poet's second wife and the Belisa of the love
poems. Here in the space of six sonnets and three added
quatrains there is great rhetorical variety which contri
butes structural cohesion and a kind of liveliness and read-1
i :
: I
l a b i l i t y . T h i s w o u l d n o t b e e x p e c t e d i n a p o e m w h i c h i n
c l u d e s s i x s o n n e t s , e a c h o f w h i c h c o u l d b e l i f t e d f r o m c o n -
i
; |
i
; ^ B r u s s e l s , 1665. j
t I
! ^Estrella de Jacob (Amsterdam, 1686 ), pp. 29-32. |
t e x t a n d q u o t e d i n d i v i d u a l l y .
T o c o n c l u d e , t h e w h o l e r h e t o r i c a l s i t u a t i o n i s n o t e x
p l o i t e d i n B a r r i o s ' s o n n e t s , b u t t h e r e i s c o n s i d e r a b l e a n d
l i n t e r e s t i n g i n t e r p l a y b e t w e e n t h e s p e a k e r a n d t h e a u d i e n c e . 1
A v a r i e t y i n t h e u s e o f t h e m o d e s o f d i s c o u r s e l i n k s B a r
r i o s ' p o e t i c t e c h n i q u e t o g e n e r a l t r e n d s o f t h e p e r i o d w i t h - !
i
j
i n a n d o u t s i d e o f S p a i n . I n t h i s s o r t o f p o e m , h e s h o w s
h i m s e l f m u c h c l o s e r t o t h e G e r m a n r e l i g i o u s p o e t s t h a n t o
t h e I t a l i a n s c h o o l o f M a r i n o , i n w h i c h m u c h i s d o n e t o p a r - ;
i t i c u l a r i z e t h e g r a d u a l p a s s a g e o f t i m e , a t h i n g w h i c h w o u l d , |
h o w e v e r , b e v e r y d i f f i c u l t t o a c h i e v e i n a s o n n e t . N e v e r
t h e l e s s r h e t o r i c a l a n d t e m p o r a l s t r u c t u r a t i o n a r e i m p o r t a n t
I
i n t h e p o e t i c a l s t y l e s o f M i g u e l d e B a r r i o s .
CHAPTER IX
l
THE MASQUES j
| _ !
I Miguel de Barrios wrote three poems in a superficially
i
dramatic form, which he published in Coro de las musas.^ and|
which are closely comparable to the English masques under
the Stuarts and to certain continental counterparts, especi-'
lally the French ballet de Cour. These poems will be re- !
ferred to here as masques. The masque is the most acces
sible of these concepts, with a large bibliography and many
English texts readily available in the works of Stuart and j
Tudor poets. The origins of the ballet de Cour and the
English masque are not historically the same, but as they
influenced each other and were in turn greatly influenced
!by Italian spectacles and entertainments, they came to be
i
2
very similar.
i
!
: ‘ !
^-Brussels, 1672. ;
; i
| ^Enid Welsford, The Court Masque: A Study in the Rela-^
Itionship between Poetry and the Revels (Cambridge, 1927),
Ipp. 106-109, 141-142, 166-167, 174-175; Jean Rousset, La
llitterature de 11 age baroque en France: Circe et le paon
i(Paris, 1953), pp. 13-31. j
i .................. ... .... _.. 148 ;
149;
|
i 1
; I
j A m a s q u e i s m a d e u p o f p o e t r y , s p e c t a c l e , d a n c e , a n d j
! j
j m u s i c . I t c a m e t o i t s h i g h e s t d e v e l o p m e n t i n E n g l a n d w h e n
!
B e n J o n s o n a n d I n i g o J o n e s , t h e a r c h i t e c t , w e r e w o r k i n g t o -
i g e t h e r . S u c h e x t r a v a g a n t e n t e r t a i n m e n t s c e a s e d w h e n C h a r l e s
I o f E n g l a n d f e l l b e f o r e t h e o n s l a u g h t o f t h e P u r i t a n s , a n d
a u s t e r i t y r e p l a c e d t h e s e l f - i n d u l g e n t l u x u r y o f t h e c o u r t .
B a r r i o s ' b e s t m a s q u e d i f f e r s f r o m J o n s o n ' s l a t e r o n e s ,
i n w h i c h a s e r i e s o f a n t i m a s q u e s p r e c e d e t h e p r i n c i p a l j
i
i
m a s k e d d a n c e , o n l y i n o n e i m p o r t a n t f e a t u r e . T h e " r e v e l s "
( i n w h i c h t h e m a s k e r s d a n c e w i t h m e m b e r s o f t h e a u d i e n c e )
a r e o m i t t e d .
T h e m a s k e r s t h e m s e l v e s a r e n o b l e m e n o r l a d i e s w h o a r e I
i
t h e r e p a r t l y t o p u t o n a s h o w , b u t m o s t l y t o e n j o y t h e m
s e l v e s . T h e y d o n o t h a v e s p e a k i n g p a r t s a n d a r e n o t c o m - |
i
p l e t e l y t o b e d i s t i n g u i s h e d f r o m t h e a u d i e n c e . T h e m a s q u e j
i s p r i m a r i l y a p r e t e x t f o r t h e d a n c i n g o f t h e m a s k e r s .
i j
T h e q u e s t i o n a r i s e s a s t o w h e t h e r t h e z a r z u e l a s o f D o n !
; i
: i
j P e d r o C a l d e r o n d e l a B a r c a a r e n o t s u c h m a s q u e s a n d w h e t h e r j
! |
! t h o s e o f B a r r i o s m a y n o t b e m o r e c l o s e l y r e l a t e d t o t h e !
j s p e c t a c l e s w h i c h C a l d e r o n w a s p r o d u c i n g f o r t h e S p a n i s h
j
c o u r t d u r i n g t h e s e s a m e y e a r s . E v e r e t t W . H e s s e p o i n t s o u t |
.................... 150
* 3
( i n h i s s t u d y , " C o u r t R e f e r e n c e s i n C a l d e r o n ' s Z a r z u e l a s " )
i
t h e f u n c t i o n o f t h e s e m u s i c a l s i n t h e c o u r t l i f e o f t h e j
j
S p a n i s h c a p i t a l , t h e c e l e b r a t i o n o f b i r t h s , m a r r i a g e s , a n d
o t h e r e v e n t s r e l a t e d t o t h e r o y a l f a m i l y . T h i s i s a l s o a
p a r t o f t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e m a s q u e i n t h e B r i t i s h c o u r t .
T h e s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n t h e m a s q u e s o f J o n s o n , I
i
, I
C a m p i o n , o r C a r e w a n d t h e z a r z u e l a s o f C a l d e r o n , s u c h a s E l . !
l a u r e l d e A p o I o . a r e t h e i m p o r t a n t d r a m a t i c e l e m e n t i n t h e
t
z a r z u e l a ( w h i c h h a s a p l o t r a t h e r t h a n m e r e l y a t h e m e ) a n d
j
t h e e s s e n t i a l m a s k i n g e l e m e n t ( w i t h t h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f i
i
m a s k e d n o b l e s ) i n t h e m a s q u e . B o t h f o r m s i n v o l v e t h e s a m e
e l a b o r a t e s t a g e m a c h i n e r y a n d c o s t u m e s , t h e s a m e m y t h o l o g i - :
i
c a l p e r s o n a g e s a n d s i t u a t i o n s , a n d e v e n a v e r y s i m i l a r v o - j
i
c a b u l a r y , b u t t h e d i f f e r e n c e s a r e b a s i c .
i
B a r r i o s ' e n t e r t a i n m e n t s a r e t o a S p a n i s h p r o v i n c i a l
c o u r t e x a c t l y w h a t t h e B r i t i s h m a s q u e s a r e t o t h e c o u r t o f
|
t h e S t u a r t s . T h a t B a r r i o s c a l l s o n e o f t h e m a b a i l e t e m a y |
i n d i c a t e h i s a w a r e n e s s o f t h e b a l l e t d e C o u r . T h e p r o p e r j
S p a n i s h d e s i g n a t i o n m i g h t w e l l b e m a s c a r a r e a l , t h o u g h t h a t I
!
n a m e s e e m s t o r e f e r s p e c i f i c a l l y t o t h e m a i n d a n c e
I
t
j
^Hispanic Review. 15:365-377, 1947.
151
i
. |
|in Bocangel's El nuevo Olimpo. which was used to celebrate j
j
the birthday of Queen Mariana de Austria in Madrid in 1648. j
Subtitled representacion real v festiva mascara, it belongs |
|to the same genre as the poems of Barrios under discussion. I
Rafael Benitez Claros discusses El nuevo Olimpo as an "obra i
c ;
teatral," but finds it not to be a zarzuela; j
A la obra le viene, sin duda, ancho el calificativo j
de zarzuela por cuanto casi toda ella es simplemente \
declamada y los trozos corales tienen ... escasa rela- I
cion con el asunto. (p. 413) j
I have not been able to find any reference to other com- ;
i . i
parable Spanish works of the period, though it is not logi- j
|
cal to suppose that such entertainments were novelties in i
i
i . !
Madrid m 1648 or m Brussels at the time that two of Bar-
i
rios1 masques were produced there. It would also be odd if
similar celebrations had not been provided in honor of !
Spanish nobles in those parts of Italy which were ruled by
Spain.
Of Barrios' three masques, the best is "Epitalamio V" |
(Coro, pp. 313-328). It is one of two written by Barrios j
i i
i ■;
\ A + \
^Obras de don Gabriel Bocangel v Unzueta. ed. Rafael
jBenitez Claros (Madrid, 1946), II, 141-217.
I
I
I 5Vida v ppesia de Bocangel (Madrid, 1950), pp. 407-415 4
152
land performed in Brussels on the occasion of the marriage of
the Emperor Leopold I and Doha Margarita de Austria. We are
l
l
|
told in a brief introductory paragraph how it was performed:
| Representaronlo con titulo de bailete en musica al
modo de Italia algunos principes y caballeros de
Espana y Flandes que se hallaron en las fiestas que se
hicieron en Bruselas por orden del excelent£simo senor
| don Luis de Benavides Carrillo y Toledo, Marques de j
I Caracena, etc., gobernador y capitan general de los j
Paises Bajos, etc., para solemnizar el nupcial vinculo
de las cesareas majestades, Leopoldo Ignacio y dona
Margarita de Austria. (Coro. p. 313)
i
. i
The persons who speak (or sing) are Fama, Jupiter, Eolo,
INeptuno, Pan, Flora, Momo, Marte, and Apolo. The principal |
i
passages, except for the speech of Momo, who functions as a j
.sort of gracioso. are in silvas in high baroque style.
|
There is frequent relief from this ornate style in the form
of passages in short meters, often hexasyllabic or of mixed
syllable count. In the following metrical analysis the
stage directions are reproduced in full to describe the
i I
^spectacle as fully as possible. Identification of each partj
i j
with the corresponding part of an English court masque is i
enclosed in parentheses.
"Epitalamio V"
I
j Correse la cortina al son de sonoras voces, y descu-
I briendose en el aire la Fama, canta.
j
i
iHexasyllables rimed abba. Verses 1-4.
r " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . " ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . ■. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 3
i *
| Fame flies to heaven to call the Gods.
l
Silvas. Verses 5-30.
| ’
Fame addresses Jupiter, complimenting Princess
Margarita.
jHexasyllables rimed abba. Verses 31-34.
Fame invites Jupiter to come in a festive mood.
i
i
| A los ultimos acentos de la Fama, desciende Jupiter en
un aguila.
i Silvas. Verses 35-68.
Jupiter promises that the Heroes who have died will
celebrate the wedding, then summons the Lord of the
i
1 Winds.
IMixed verses of four to six syllables rimed as a decima.
i
Verses 69-78
Jupiter calls Aeolus by name.
Silvas. Verses 79-102.
| Aeolus summons the Winds to celebrate the wedding.
i
A los ultimos acentos de Eolo se abre la montana, y
de su centro salen los vientos y bailan. (First anti
masque .)
Redondilla. Verses 103-106.
Jupiter calls for Zephyrus to paint the air to declare
I Margarita's charm and for foam to portray her white
ness.
...... ................. ~ 154
jsilvas. Verses 107-126.
I j
Aeolus calls on the denizens of the ocean to come and j
i , j
celebrate. !
Descubrese en el mar Neptuno en un carro tirado de
caballos marines, acompanado de sirenas y tritones.
i t
| !
iRomance. Verses 127-130.
i
i
I Fame celebrates Margarita as a rare pearl.
I Silvas. Verses 131-174. j
i 1 , 1 ■ 1
, f
I Neptune responds and promises the Princess an agree- j
able voyage. He summons the marine Gods.
A las razones de Neptuno salen del mar los dioses
marinos, y danzan con los vientos. (Second antimasque.)
i , i
: I
Mixed verses of three to eight syllables rimed abccbab.
i
Verses 175-181.
Jupiter calls on the Tritons and Sirens to join with j
; the winds as two hearts are joined. !
En acabando de cantar esto, se desaparecen los vientos ;
| y los dioses marinos con Eolo y Neptuno. i
j !
Silvas. Verses 182-187. j
: j
Jupiter announces that Pan will continue the celebra- j
! tion. j
: i
IHexasyllables and trisyllables rimed abbabbba. (The three
I ;
i
! ;
consecutive b's are trisyllables.) Verses 188-195.
Jupiter summons Pan and the Shepherds.
i Mudase el teatro en un bosque, y del tronco de un
arbol sale el dios Pan.
jsilvas. Verses 196-215 .
Pan promises the performance of the Shepherds and
pastoral music.
iMixed verses of four to eight syllables rimed abccbadda.
| Verses 216-224.
Pan summons the Shepherds.
! Al precepto de Pan obedecen los pastores y danzan.
Despues se retiran y vuelve a cantar Pan. (Third anti
masque .)
Mixed verses of two, five, and six syllables rimed in as
sonance with esdruiulas abcadc. Verses 225-230.
t
! Pan summons the Satyrs.
i
Esto dicho, salen los satiros y danzan otra entrada.
j (Fourth antimasque.)
j
Silvas. Verses 231-248.
Jupiter addresses Flora.
Hexasyllables with one bisyllable and one trisyllable end-
j
i ing in a hendecasyllable, rimed aabaabaB. Verses
| 249-256.
i
j J u p i t e r s u m m o n s F l o r a
| Viene Flora a la obediencia de Jupiter por el aire en
un trono de flores, y mudase el teatro de bosque en jar-
dxn.
Silvas. Verses 257-280.
j F l o r a c o m p l i m e n t s M a r g a r i t a a n d p r o m i s e s t h a t t h e
i
H a m a d r y a d s w i l l p e r f o r m .
H e x a s y l l a b l e s w i t h t h e t h i r d v e r s e a d i s y l l a b l e r i m e d
a b b b a . V e r s e s 281-285. !
: i
j I
| F l o r a s u m m o n s t h e H a m a d r y a d s . |
i ’
: j
S a l e n l a s n i n f a s a m a d r i a s y d a n z a n m i e n t r a s c a n t a j
■ " * f
F l o r a . ( F i f t h a n t i m a s q u e . )
i
i A l t e r n a t e n o n a s y l l a b l e s a n d h e n d e c a s y l l a b l e s , t h e l a t t e r j
r i m e d b y a s s o n a n c e . V e r s e s 286-289. j
; i
R e t i r a n s e l a s n i n f a s , y s a l e e l d i o s M o m o s i n q u e l e |
l l a m e n , y t a r t a m u d e a n d o s e q u e j a g r a c i o s a m e n t e a J u p i t e r !
d e q u e n o l o h a l l a m a d o , y q u e e l q u i e r e t a m b i e n f e s t e j a r
t a n a l e g r e d i a d e p o n i e n d o s u c e n s u r a . Y a c a b a n d o d e c a n -
t a r l o s v e r s o s s i g u i e n t e s , d a n z a s o l o o t r a e n t r a d a . I
( S i x t h a n t i m a s q u e . ) |
I j
j V i l l a n c i c o o f h e x a s y l l a b l e s i n t r o d u c e d w i t h a d i s y l l a b l e . j
T h e c a b e z a h a s f o u r v e r s e s r i m e d a a b a . T h e s t a n z a s
| a r e r i m e d a b b a a b R R . ( R R i s t h e r e f r a i n w h i c h r i m e s
w i t h a o f t h e c a b e z a . ) V e r s e s 290-317.
i i
! M o m u s p r o m i s e s t o b r i n g n o c e n s u r e a n d c o m p l i m e n t s j
i |
M a r g a r i t a . I
j Silvas. Verses 318-327. j
1 i
J u p i t e r a n n o u n c e s t h e t r a n s i t i o n f r o m F l o r a t o M a r s .
H e x a s y l l a b l e s e n d i n g w i t h a h e n d e c a s y l l a b l e r i m e d a b b a a B .
V e r s e s 328-333.
I
J u p i t e r s u m m o n s M a r s t o p r a i s e L e o p o l d . j
A p a r e c e e n e l a i r e M a r t e a r m a d o , c a n t a n d o l o q u e
| s i g u e .
J
i s i l v a s . V e r s e s 334-356 .
M a r s c o m p l i m e n t s L e o p o l d , f o r e t e l l s h i s m i l i t a r y s u e -
I
c e s s , a n d p r o m i s e s t h a t t h e d e c e a s e d H e r o e s w i l l p e r
f o r m .
i
| T w o t r i s y l l a b l e s f o l l o w e d b y h e x a s y l l a b l e s , r i m e d a a b b b c c b .
I
I Verses 357-364.
I M a r s s u m m o n s t h e H e r o e s t o c e l e b r a t e .
j A e s t a s u l t i m a s p a l a b r a s s a l e n b a j o d e t i e r r a l o s
h e r o e s y d a n z a n u n b a i l e t e . ( T h e m a s k e r s d a n c e t h e i r
e n t r y . )
I Silvas. Verses 365-379.
I J u p i t e r p r o m i s e s t h e H e r o e s a r e w a r d w h e n A p o l l o s h o w s
h i s n i n e d a u g h t e r s , t h e c h o r u s o f t h e M u s e s .
j H e p t a s y l l a b l e s w i t h a f i n a l h e x a s y l l a b l e r i m e d a b b c a c .
V e r s e s 380-385.
! J u p i t e r c a l l s o n A p o l l o t o r e v e a l h i s d a u g h t e r s ,
i - .
P r i n c e s s e s o f P a r n a s s u s a n d M u s e s o f F l a n d e r s .
D e s c u b r e s e A p o l o e n e l a i r e r o d e a d o d e n u b e s , y c a n t a .
S i l v a s . V e r s e s 386-411.
A p o l l o c o m p l i m e n t s t h e i m p e r i a l b r i d e a n d g r o o m a n d
I a n n o u n c e s t h e M u s e s .
i
j
M i e n t r a s A p o l o c a n t a e s t e e s t r i b i l l o , s e i r a n d e s h a -
c i e n d o l a s n u b e s y d e s c u b r i e n d o s e d e t r a s d e l l a s e n u n
; ....................................... ~ ~ ...... 158
I i
j v i s t o s o t r o n o l a s n u e v e m u s a s ( q u e r e p r e s e n t a r o n n u e v e j
I m u y i l u s t r e s m a d a m o i s e l a s d e F l a n d e s ) y a c a b a n d o A p o l o |
d e c a n t a r , d e s c i e n d e n a d a n z a r e l g r a n b a i l e t e ; y d e s - j
! p u e s d a n z a n l o s d o s A m o r e s , s a l i e n d o C u p i d o d e e n t r e j
a q u e l l a s d i o s a s y A n t e r o s p o r p a r t e d e l o s h e r o e s . ( H e r e i
t h e y d a n c e t h e m a i n d a n c e . )
j |
Three octosyllables and a quartisyllable. Verses 418-421.
j
F a m e c o m m e n t s t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f L o v e .
| |
j R i m e d h e n d e c a s y l l a b i c c o u p l e t s . V e r s e s 422-427 . j
! I
A p o l l o , M a r s , a n d F a m e i n t u r n c o m m e n t o n t h e u n i o n o f !
I t h e M u s e s a n d t h e H e r o e s . j
, A s o r t o f c o m p l i m e n t a r y v i l l a n c i c o i n d i a l o g u e . T h e c a b e z a i
, h a s t h r e e h e p t a s y l l a b l e s a n d a p e n t a s y l l a b l e , t h e l a s t i
i t w o v e r s e s c o n s t i t u t i n g t h e r e f r a i n . T h i s i s f o l l o w e d
| b y s i x t e e n v e r s e s o f r o m a n c e . t h e r e f r a i n , e i g h t v e r s e s )
i I
o f r o m a n c e . t h e n a r e p e t i t i o n o f t h e c o m p l e t e c a b e z a .
; j
T h r o u g h o u t t h e r e i s a s s o n a n c e i n i - a o n t h e o d d -
n u m b e r e d v e r s e s . V e r s e s 428-461.
I D a n z a n t i r a n d o s e f l e c h a s u n o a o t r o C u p i d o c o n |
! A n t e r o s , y l a s n i n f a s c o n l o s h e r o e s ; y d e s p u e s d e a c a b a r j
| s u t o r n e o e n t r a n s e c a n t a n d o t o d o s l o q u e s i g u e . ( T h i s
| d a n c e p r e c e d e s t h e r e p e t i t i o n o f t h e c a b e z a . H e r e t h e y
j d a n c e t h e l a s t d a n c e . ) ;
!
i T h e r o y a l p a i r , t h e H e r o e s , a n d t h e M u s e s a r e c o m p l i -
| m e n t e d b y A p o l l o , M a r s , J u p i t e r , a n d t h e w h o l e g r o u p ,
i i
w h i l e M a r s u r g e s t h e H e r o e s a n d A p o l l o t h e M u s e s t o i
s h o w t h e i r o w n a b i l i t y t o m a k e c o n q u e s t s . j
! ..... “..; : ..' ........................159:
i
; ' I
T h e p a s s a g e s i n s i l v a s t h a t h o l d t h e m a s q u e t o g e t h e r !
a r e a m o n g t h e m o s t b e a u t i f u l a n d d e c o r a t i v e t h a t B a r r i o s
I ;
w r o t e i n h i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e . T h e y a r e r e m i n i s c e n t o f G o n -
i g o r a w i t h s t r o n g e c h o e s o f C a l d e r o n .6 T h e s e o r n a t e p a s s a g e s ;
i :
a r e r e l i e v e d b y o t h e r s i n s h o r t e r m e t e r s i n a l i g h t , g a y ,
g r a c e f u l s t y l e . E v e n w i t h o u t t h e s u m p t u o u s v i s u a l e f f e c t s
I :
W h i c h t h e m a s q u e s , b a l l e t s d e C o u r . a n d p l a y s o f f e r e d a t
t h i s t i m e , a n d w i t h o u t t h e I t a l i a n a t e m u s i c , w h i c h i s p r o
b a b l y l o s t f o r e v e r , t h i s i s a n e x c e e d i n g l y l o v e l y p i e c e o f
j w o r d - m u s i c , v i s u a l l y h i g h l y e v o c a t i v e . j
I t w o u l d s e e m t h a t a l l o f t h i s w o r k w a s s u n g , a s t h e r e j
I . i
i s n o i n d i c a t i o n t h a t a n y p a r t o f i t w a s s p o k e n . P e r h a p s
i
| I
t h e p a s s a g e s i n s i l v a s a r e r e c i t a t i v e a n d t h o s e i n s h o r t
i m e t e r s a r e s o n g s . I t a l i a n r e c i t a t i v e h a d r e p l a c e d a l l s p o - !
| |
ken dialogue and monologue in the ballet de Cour after 1610.;
Ben Jonson's Masque of Lethe had also been completely sung
i ;
i n t h e I t a l i a n m a n n e r .7 T h e t w o p a s s a g e s q u o t e d w i l l s e r v e
®Cf. Jose Maria de Cossio, Fabulas mitoloqicas de Es-
pana (Madrid, 1952), p. 634. Such an echo of Calderon can
be seen in the example below in "este escandalo del viento"
jor "un bajel de plumas."
7Welsford, The Court Masque, p. 204; Ben Jonson, The
j Works of . . .. ed. Francis Cunningham (London, 1910), III,
1112-114.
' 160
i
i [
'to exemplify first the silvas in high baroque style, then i
jthe graceful sections in shorter meters.
I
Desde el trono que apenas
besar merece con profundo anhelo
I el estrellado concavo del cielo, !
tu peticion, o Fama, escuche atento;
I y al punto en este escandalo del viento,
aguila perspicaz, del Sol amante, I
de mi deidad suprema digno Atlante, j
deje mi solio etereo I
por el pielago aereo, j
donde surcando en un bajel de plumas, !
sus alas velas son, y el viento espumas.
(Coro., pp. 314-315, vv. 35-45)1
; Ven, Eolo blando,
! y de mi mando j
con donaire
en el aire
da muestras danzando.
Divulgue amoroso !
tu aliento imperioso- I
' sin desvelo, |
que es del cielo
el venir gozoso. j
| (Coro, p. 315, vv. 59-68)
The other masque performed on the same occasion, com-
Smissioned by the Marquesa de Caracena, appears in the Coro
;de las musas as "Epitalamio III" (pp. 299-312). The persons
j
|speaking are Espana, Flandes, Cupido, Anteros, Alegrxa,
iTristeza, Himeneo, and Iris. There are also choruses of
jmusic. This masque is woven about a hieroglyphic:
La tierra produce
con fertil union
una vid y un olmo
que enlazados son,
161
I
; jeroglrfico firme de amor. !
(p. 297) |
;The use of a chorus of music echoing a speaker is reminis
cent of Calderon's usage in such zarzuelas as El laurel de
Apolo. The versification is very different from that of the
masque already analyzed, with a preponderance of native
meters, in which the decima and romance are prominent.
There is, however, a short passage in octavas reales. This ;
masque is neither so brilliant nor so elaborate as the first
one.
The third masque is introductory to the Coro de las
musas (pp. 3-42) and is dedicated to Charles II of England i
and his Portuguese Queen on the occasion of their marriage. ;
Barrios' motivation in writing it is frankly to curry favor
with the king of England in order to enjoy his protection: '
1 ;
Aplauso. No es audacia lo que emprendo,
sino invencion ingeniosa
de Barrios, poeta humilde, j
que en sus elogios se engolfa.
Temor. iEs por ventura el Miguel, j
cuya estrella rigorosa ;
| no le premia si batalla j
| y si escribe le baldona? |
I Aplauso. El es, que nunca perdiendo J
la paciencia en las zozobras, ■
porque de luz a su estrella, j
busca deste sol la sombra.
(p. 4)
Aside from difficult stage directions, including the pres-
162
entation of a naval battle, long historical sections in oc-
tavas reales. and its length and tediousness, the mere fact
that it is in Spanish and only of interest to the English
must have precluded its holding the stage as a masque. It
was probably not intended to. It abounds in such Calderon-
esque devices as the stichomythic dialogue. As a masque, it
constitutes a sort of "closet drama." None of the passages
is especially notable as poetry.
In addition to these masques, Barrios wrote modest
little dialogues for private Jewish weddings in his Alegrrag
8
o pinturas lucientes de Himineo. Although similar in in
tention, they are too small in scale to figure here. If
Barrios wrote anything else approaching the masque form, it !
appears not to have been published.
The masque is a minor art form requiring the marriage
of the arts of poetry, music, dance, and stagecraft of an
advanced type. This complexity of effort leads usually to
one performance or at most two or three. The result is so
;ephemeral that often the poetry and music scarcely outlive
the costumes and stage decorations. In this genre Barrios
produced in his "Epitalamio V" one small masterpiece worthy
|
! ^Amsterdam, 1686.
|to take its place with the surviving texts of the masques o£
Campion and Ben Jonson. It is probably one of very few to
i \
survive in the literature of Spain, so little given to the i
preservation of such ephemera.
CHAPTER X I
I j
I NATIVE METERS: j
NARRATIVE, WEDDING, AND PORTRAIT POEMS
' Previous chapters have been devoted to Barrios' verse
in Italianate forms. This chapter and the following one
will discuss his poetic production in short or native meters.
The most important parts of his various writings in these
meters are in romance "ballad" form (octosyllabic verses of
which the even-numbered ones rime by a single assonance
throughout the poem, which by this time is divided into
four-line stanzas).
The best known of these poems are the seven mythologi
cal fables which have been studied in some detail by Jose
Maria de Cossio.^ Together with these we shall discuss the
biblical narratives which, though not germane to Cossio's
purpose, are identical to the mythological ones in style and
intention, burlesque narratives in ingenious style. Two
~ * ~ Fabulas mitologicas (Madrid, 1952), pp. 737-741.
164
165
major groups are composed by the wedding poetry and the por
trait romances. which relate closely, both written in play
ful and ingenious style.
T h e m y t h o l o g i c a l n a r r a t i v e s o f t h e f i r s t g r o u p , s e v e n
o
poems which appear in either Flor de Apolo or Coro de las
musas^ or both, are discussed at some length by Cossio, as
already mentioned. He points out Barrios' debt to Gongora
(pp. 737, 738, 739, and 740), to Quevedo (pp. 737 and 739),
and to Polo de Medina (p. 740). He finds him both copious
and mediocre (p. 741). I would take exception to Cossio's
conclusions only in respect to one point. A growing famili
arity with the available Spanish poetry of the seventeenth
century makes it increasingly evident that there is a minor
tradition throughout the period (minor only in the sense
that it does not dominate the great poets: Gongora, Que
vedo, Calderon) which influences much of the poetic writing
of the later part of the century. Called metaphysical by
A 5
G r a c i a n a n d c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o E u r o p e a n m e t a p h y s i c a l p o e t r y , ;
^Brussels, 1665. ^Brussels, 1672.
^Acrudeza v arte de increnio (Madrid: Aguilar, 1944), p.
286. Gracian's indication is not intended as a label for a
type of verse, but seems pertinent to the discussion.
^Frank J. Warnke, European Metaphysical Poetry. The
166
it is already fully developed in the works of Alonso de
Ledesma Buitrago (1562-1623).^ This metaphysical current is
important in Barrios, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Francisco
de la Torre Sevil, and their contemporaries. Writings- in
this vein should be judged on their own merits and aspira
tions and not as unsuccessful imitations of Quevedo.
Since Cossio has described individually each of these
seven poems, and Scholberg comments briefly the biblical
n a r r a t i v e " H o l o f e r n e s y J u d i t " f r o m C o r o d e l a s m u s a s a n d
7
F l o r d e A p o l o . w e s h a l l a n a l y z e h e r e t h e s t y l e o f t h e
"Historia de Susana" from the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid
0
copy of Estrella de Jacob. written in similar style with
similar intentions. It is a long poem (600 verses) in
romance form. Like the mythological poems and "Holofernes y;
E l i z a b e t h a n C l u b S e r i e s 2 ( N e w H a v e n a n d L o n d o n , 1961), pp.
5-7 .
^ N o l e s s t h a n 123 p o e m s a n d t w e n t y - t w o j e r o g l i f i c o s o f
t h i s w r i t e r a r e r e p r o d u c e d i n R o m a n c e r o v c a n c i o n e r o s a g r a -
d o s . e d . J u s t o d e S a n c h a , B i b l i o t e c a d e a u t o r e s e s p a n o l e s
XXXV ( M a d r i d , 1950). In t h e s a m e v o l u m e a r e a l s o c o n t a i n e d
m a n y p o e m s o f a s i m i l a r p o e t , A l o n s o d e B o n i l l a , w h o w a s
p u b l i s h i n g b o o k s o f v e r s e i n t h e y e a r s f r o m 1614 t o 1624.
^ K e n n e t h R . S c h o l b e r g , P o e s x a r e l i g i o s a d e M i g u e l d e
B a r r i o s ( C o l u m b u s , [1962]), p . 45.
^Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 1-16.
167
Judit" it is conceptista and jocose, written with more at
tention to witty word-play "agudeza" than to poetic grace.
Susana is described in the metaphysical way which will
be discussed in this chapter under portrait romances. The
poem is like a formal garden of acrudezas in which many kinds
of word-play are arranged, using the familiar story from the
apocryphal book as a mere pretext for displaying them, a
technique parallel to the slight use of narrative as a
framework for another purpose in Gongora1s Soledades. This
description is pertinent to the parts of the poem where Su
sana is described as a young and beautiful matron, where the
old and lecherous judges are portrayed, where Susana undres
ses and bathes, where the judges first attempt to seduce her
and then accuse her falsely, on up to the point of the
trial. When Daniel appears, champions her, becomes the
judge, and conducts the trial of the unjust judges, there is
a change of style with less density of agudeza and a more
straightforward statement based on a positive ferocity of
indignation. This passage is in consequence much closer
than any other in the poem to his plain style.
In order to consider this composition at all, one must
set aside prejudices based on other kinds of writing, such
prejudices as those which condemn unheard the jostling in
168
one poem of Diana, Actaeon, Venus, the Cid, David, and Go
liath, for example. The poet marshaled all of his resources
to produce a special kind of brilliance. The result is un
speakably witty and clever. Sensual content is all but
omitted. The action is obscured in multitudinous word-play.
But the action does not obstruct the word-play, which is the
raison d'etre of the poem.
For a reader who does not take delight in brilliant
wit, clever conceits, and skilful play on words, this poem,
like many others of Barrios and his contemporaries, is re
pugnant. But if he wishes to understand Spanish and other
European literatures of this most tantalizing of centuries,
he has no choice but to plunge into this sort of play and
try to fathom the taste upon which it is premised. Other
wise he will find himself aghast and offended when he chan
ces upon certain passages of Shakespeare, Donne, and Cra-
shaw, Gongora, Quevedo, and Calderon.
Some of this word-play is simple enough; it may be
based on double meanings (e.g. esposa) or fragmentation of
words for the same purpose (e.g. Su-sana).
Por la mano y el deseo
se ponen prision tan rara
que con ser ella la esposa
parece la aprisionada.
Enferma de su amor vive,
169
pero con frescura tanta j
que no distingue el esposo
si es su enferma si e's Su-sana.
(p. 2) ;
Proper names are punned upon with an abundance of vari
ations :
Entonces del pueblo esclavo
se ven jueces Flino y Mascar.
Flino mascara a Cupido, :
a Mascar Venus mas cara.
(p. 4)
Por Susana (Mascar dice)
tan amargo Amor me masca
que por poderme tragar
me envuelve en dulce esperanza.
(p. 6)
It would be unlike Barrios not to remind us that in
Hebrew 1 1 Susan significa Rosal y Susana Rosa" (p. 1), or that
"Una puerta del Templo se llamaba Susana, que significa
rosa" (p. 12).
N a t u r e c o n s i s t s o f e m b l e m s o r h i e r o g l y p h i c s :
Libro el campo es de raices
con hojas de flores varias
y aves de muchos colores
en labor de verdes ramas.
Con notas de cristal dulce
sus margenes lineadas
concuerdan con las raices
que sus conceptos declaran.
(pp. 6-7)
The distinctive use of chiasmus with shifting meanings,
which is an earmark of the period, cannot well be absent:
170
Tan fuera de si los jueces
suelen decir alcaldadas,
que con hallarse en jliicio
en jliicio no se hallan.^
(p. 5)
Overly vivid description would divert the mind from the
metaphysical flow of the conceits. The non-sensual use of
flesh and sex is well illustrated in the following passage:
Echando mano al vestido
tal candidez desenvaina,
que dandoles en los ojos,
los ciega de puro bianco.
Con guarnicion de bellezas,
desnuda a modo de espada,
Susana hiere a los ciegos ' j
que en cinta ponerla tratan.
(P- 7)
The metaphors and pun diminish the sensual feelings that
might have inhered in a merely factual statement.
The sword metaphor is continued in the following stanza
through introduction, directly and through play on words, of
^For a discussion of this device in the sonnets, see
Chapter VI, note 9. This device was certainly not limited
to Barrios and to Sor Juana and her group. In Spain Fran
cisco de la Torre y Sevil often used it in the original po
ems in his Agudezas de Juan Oven. In Llanto funebre. ed.
Raimundo de Sola (Barcelona, 1689), written and compiled for
the death of Queen Maria Luisa de Borbon, the device is- used
repeatedly, for example in a decima which begins: "Luisa,
reina de las flores/ como de reinas la flor" (p. 87). Meyer
Kayserling quotes Abraham Gomez Silveyra in Amsterdam: "Los
Santos Inquisadores/ ingentes, engana Bobos,/ van del nego-
cio del Alma/ al Alma de su negocio" (Biblioteca Espanola-
■ Por tuque za-Juda ica (Strasbourg, 1890), p. 103.
171
personages from Spanish history, irrelevant to the narra
tive, not to the intention in which the passage is written.
This is followed by a new metaphor taken from the zodiac in
a stanza pointed up by the contrast between todo and nada in
a passage in which nada means "she swims" instead of "noth
ing." Then the metaphor is continued with a small explosion
of word-play.
Por ser de su honor lozano
cada uno Cid, da en juzgarla
su tizona con el brio
que es en la fuente colada.
Susana, sol en acuario,
hace sus nubes y taza
a los dos por lo que es todo, :
y al bano por lo que nada. !
Por la espuma y por la edad
son caniculas de canas j
la fuente con un sol vivo, >
los viejos con vivas llamas.
(p. 7) j
Then, without a break, there is a figure based on a
reference to the story of David and Goliath, which is immed
iately repeated in terms of classical mythology, each form
complicated with puns:
Apedrea a las orillas
de ondas dulces no trenzadas
tirando cantos de espumas
a gigantes de esmeraldas.
Sus dediles y ramales
son los ramos, y Susana
entre las ondas de Venus
hace los tiros de Palas.
(P- 8)
172
T h e s e e x a m p l e s a r e s u f f i c i e n t t o s u g g e s t t h e s t y l e i n
w h i c h t h e s e p o e m s a r e w r i t t e n . S o m e t i m e s , a s i n t h e l a s t *
q u o t a t i o n , t h e i n f l u e n c e o f G o n g o r a i s t a n g i b l e . B u t h e r e
B a r r i o s i s c l o s e r t o Q u e v e d o i n s p i r i t t h a n t o t h e o t h e r
g r e a t w r i t e r s o f t h e e a r l y p a r t o f t h e c e n t u r y . W e s h a l l
l e a v e t h e g e n r e o f b u r l e s q u e c l a s s i c a l n a r r a t i v e w i t h t h e
s u g g e s t i o n t h a t t h e k e y t o t h i s s t y l e , i n w h i c h c o n c e i t i s
l i n k e d t o c o n c e i t a n d i d e a t o i d e a i n a t e c h n i q u e w h i c h i s
l e s s ( a n d m o r e ) t h a n m e r e l y l o g i c a l , i s a l s o t h e k e y t o t h e
a b u n d a n t p r o s e s t y l e o f t h e Q u e v e d o o f t h e S u e n o s .
T h e w e d d i n g p o e t r y i n r o m a n c e o r o t h e r n a t i v e f o r m s i s
f o u n d c h i e f l y i n C o r o d e l a s m u s a s u n d e r t h e a d v o c a t i o n o f
T h a l i a , t h e C o m i c M u s e , a n d i n A l e g r i a s o p i n t u r a s l u c i e n t e s
d e H i m e n e o . N e c e s s a r i l y w r i t t e n f o r f e s t i v e o c c a s i o n s , t h e
p o e m s a r e p l a y f u l l y i n g e n i o u s a n d v e r y r e p e t i t i o u s . T h e y
w e r e w r i t t e n t o b e r e a d o r p e r f o r m e d o n t h e s p e c i f i c o c c a
s i o n w h i c h p r o m p t e d t h e m , a n d n o t o n e a f t e r a n o t h e r i n a
c o l l e c t i o n a s h a p p e n s n o w . T h e f o r m u l a o r l i m i t e d n u m b e r o f
f o r m u l a e b y w h i c h t h e y w e r e w r i t t e n b e c o m e s v e r y c l e a r w h e n
t h e y a r e r e a d i n t h i s m a n n e r .
T h e p o e m s w e r e p r e s u m a b l y e i t h e r c o m m i s s i o n e d o r
173
o f f e r e d i n h o p e o f r e c o m p e n s e , ^ a n d i t i s u n l i k e l y t h a t a l l
p e r s o n s s o c e l e b r a t e d w e r e p e r s o n a l l y i m p o r t a n t t o t h e p o e t .
A l l t h e w e a k n e s s e s o f o c c a s i o n a l v e r s e a r e e v i d e n t . T h e
b r i d e a n d g r o o m m u s t b e p r a i s e d a n d m e m b e r s o f t h e t w o f a m i
l i e s m u s t b e l i s t e d a n d i n d i v i d u a l l y c o m p l i m e n t e d . T h i s i s
t e d i o u s . I t o f t e n s e e m s t h a t B a r r i o s w a s o n l y i n t e r e s t e d i n
t h e p a t r o n y m i c s a n d s o c i a l i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e f a m i l y a n d t h e
n a m e s o f t h e p r i n c i p a l s .
A l t h o u g h m a n y o f t h e f a m i l i e s w e r e p r o u d o f t h e i r S p a n
i s h n a m e a n d a r i s t o c r a t i c b a c k g r o u n d , t h e y h a d a l l t a k e n
J e w i s h n a m e s , u s u a l l y H e b r e w a n d o f t e n b i b l i c a l , u n l e s s t h e y
h a d r e t a i n e d a t r a d i t i o n o f t h e o r i g i n a l n a m e o f t h e f a m i l y .
B a r r i o s c e l e b r a t e d a l l t h e n a m e s i n v o l v e d w i t h s p e c i a l i n
t e r e s t i n t h o s e a b l e t o b e i n t e r p r e t e d i n H e b r e w ( w h a t e v e r
t h e i r l i n g u i s t i c o r i g i n ) a n d t h o s e t h a t l e n t t h e m s e l v e s t o
t h e m a k i n g o f p u n s . A p p a r e n t l y t h e s e f o r t u i t o u s r e s e m b l a n
c e s , a n a g r a m s , a n d o t h e r s i m i l a r d e v i c e s o f t h e p e r i o d d i d
n o t s e e m f r i v o l o u s t o m i n d s a c c u s t o m e d t o r e a d i n g m e a n i n g s
i n t o a l l t h e a p p e a r a n c e s o f t h e u n i v e r s e a n d f o r w h o m m e a n
i n g l e s s c o i n c i d e n c e d i d n o t e x i s t . O t h e r w o r d s a r e p l a y e d
l^Mteyer Moritz] Kayserling, Sephardim. Romanis die
Poesien der Juden in Spanien (Leipzig, 1859), p. 280.
174
upon beside these. Novio is broken into no-vio countless
times. Biblical given names are typically so used that the
person bearing the name is equated with his namesake in the
Bible.
One of the commonest of these names is David. For
Barrios' purposes David is reduced to a shepherd boy with a
slings who slays a giant with a stone or pebble. A series of
variations on these meager materials ensues with each indi
vidual David sung by Barrios:
Naciste de otro David
que con la honda del celo
tiro a gigantes de inscicias j
guijarros de documentos. !
(Alegrfas. p. 45)
i
Esclarecido David, S
en tu noble adolescencia
con el canto de tu fama
derribas a la soberbia.
(Alegrfas. p. 46)
Su pelo es el P^leo y Pelias
| de Tetis y de Alejandro,
si de Tetis por sus ondas.
! de Alejandro por su largo.
si a David da una honda gran victoria.
; las de su pelo un pi4lago de gloria.
| (Alegrfas. p. 52)
Por Michol, hija gallarda
de Saul, David osado
echar en tierra al gigante
no se le pasa por alto,
j y hoy David en Yoiebet con carino
; hace triunfo el rendirse al Amor nino.
(Alegrfas. p. 53)
....... 175;
1
■ j
En el campo de la fama j
David la altivez derriba
con la honda del a-mar
! y el canto de su harmonfa.
(Alegrfas. f. 60r)
Raquel was a favorite given name. With each bride
named Raquel, we are told that Raquel means oveia. Then
there inevitably follows the pun on balido and valido and
usually a reference to the golden fleece. It seems unneces
sary to follow Raquel through the romances as we did David,
but late in the series David Belmonte marries a Raquel:
i
Raquel. que en sacro idioma j
oveja quiere decir,
tiene en Amor su valido,
su buen pastor en David,
j Con el vellon dorado
! que es Himeneo de su union ganado. j
De la ambicion gigantea j
David triunfante ha salido 1
con la honda del Amor
que al gigante le hace el tiro.
Y la piedra es Belmonte
que hincha a la tierra haciendose gran
monte.
(Alegrfas. p. 101)
As seen in some of these examples, verses of other
jmeters are introduced to give variety or as a refrain for
singing. These may be added to four romance verses to make
;a six-verse stanza, as in several of the above examples, or
176
: i n a v a r i e t y o f o t h e r w a y s . ^ A s h o r t a n d r e l a t i v e l y f e l i
c i t o u s e x a m p l e i s t h e " L u m b r e e p i t a l a m i c a " f o r R i b c a O r o b i o
d e C a s t r o a n d I s h a c M i l a n o . M i l a n o m e a n s " k i t e " o r " g l e d e "
a n d t h e g r o o m i s d e s c r i b e d i n t h e p o e m a s a w h i t e f a l c o n .
T h e b r i d e w a s t h e d a u g h t e r o f t h e f a m o u s J e w i s h p h y s i c i a n
a n d p h i l o s o p h e r B a l t a s a r ( l a t e r I s h a c ) O r o b i o d e C a s t r o .
i
S o b r e e l m a r d e l d e s e o !
c o n l a l u z d e H i m e n e o ;
l u c e e n v e l a l a u n i o n
q u e e n I s h a c t o m a a l t u r a .
c u a n d o e n R i b c a a l s o l .
p o r d a r a l A m o r y a l a - m a r I
e n s u r e s p l a n d o r j
v i s t a m e j o r .
i
V o l o e l M i l a n o d e H a m b u r g o I
c o n l a s a l a s q u e e l A m o r
l e d a e n s u s d o r a d a s f l e c h a s
y R i b c a e n s u c o r a z o n .
C o n b u e n a p l u m a e l M i l a n o
m a s l a s a l a s e x t e n d i o j
d e l A m o r e n s u h i m e n e o , !
d e l a f a m a e n s u l o o r .
M a t o s s i g n i f i c a B o s a u e s - * - ^
c o n l o s r a m o s d e l f a v o r
■^Jose F. Montesinos, in his introduction to the re-
jprint of Primavera v flor de los mejores romances (Valencia,
Il954), originally printed in Madrid, 1621, discusses a ser
ies of variations of romances. more or less in the same
spirit (pp. lxii-lxiv). He emphasizes the change, that
early in the century, from romances para leer to romances
para cantar (pp. lxvi-lxvii). Formal evidence in these
ballads of Barrios would seem to indicate that the tendency
had continued.
l ^ M a t o s w a s t h e n a m e o f a n o f f i c i a l o f t h e w e d d i n g .
177
d e d o n d e v u e l a e l M i l a n o
h a s t a e l c i e l o d e l a u n i o n .
p o r d a r a l A m o r v a l a - m a r
e n s u r e s p l a n d o r
v i s t a m e i o r .
Al bianco Milano ir suele
el nino y hoy va el harpon
del nino Amor al Milano
por ser su bianco mejor.
Sustenta al amor de Ishac
ser Ribca con dulce voz
por la musica su ave
por las cuerdas su bordon.
N a c e e l M i l a n o n e v a d o
e n l a h i e r b a , y e n l a f l o r
d e l a n o b l e z a e l q u e a r d i e n t e
c a z a e n e l l a u n r u i s e n o r
p o r d a r a l A m o r v a l a - m a r
e n s u r e s p l a n d o r
v i s t a m e i o r .
C o g e a l a p r e s a e l M i l a n o :
y h o y l a p r e s a l o c o g i o
e n e l a i r e c o n b e l d a d
c o n b r i o e n l a d i s c r e c i o n .
P o r e l M i l a n o a d m i r a b l e
e n l a l i d d e s u a f i c c i o n
c o n e s t a r a m i l a n a d o
m u e s t r a b r i o s e l A m o r .
Ishac se interprets risa.
y de esta Risa a su ardor
Ribca es la mas bella Aurora
que en Ishac calienta el sol.
S o b r e e l m a r d e l d e s e o
c o n l a l u z d e H i m e n e o
l u c e e n v e l a l a u n i o n
a u e e n I s h a c t o m a a l t u r a
c u a n d o e n R i b c a a l s o l .
p o r d a r a l A m o r v a l a - m a r
e n s u r e s p l a n d o r
v i s t a m e i o r .
(Alegrlas. pp. 95-96)
Such are the wedding ballads: ingenious, graceful, playful,
artificial, and stereotyped. These are the most ephemeral
178
parts of Barrios' occasional verse. Poetry is, in many
ways, of little meaning outside of the literary milieu in
which it is produced. In some of the poetic chaff we find
the genre of many forgotten versifiers and the sort of verse
that Barrios and his contemporaries were practiced in, but
jovercame when they produced their more significant utter
ances . There is nevertheless some pale ghost of charm in
it, such as it is.
Another type of poem, also included in many of these
wedding ballads, is the portrait poem. Such poems make up
a section of the Flor de Apolo called Pinturas. Only in
name are they related to those of Marino, which are descrip
tions of paintings, while these are portraits of individual
persons in words. These are mostly in short meters, often
in romance form. "Pintura 13" may serve as an example:
Al cielo turban tus soles,
mas no me espanto, Leonor, ;
porque el te alumbra con uno
y tu le ciegas con dos.
Labirinto es tu cabello
| de quien la beldad mayor I
con tener hilos de oro
i
no sale de su prision. i
Altar de nieve es tu frente
! en que ardiendo el Ciego Dios j
hace que todas las almas
le rindan adoracion.
i
Tus ojos son bandoleros
I que con uno y otro harpon
| al mismo celeste globo
179
le roban hasta el color.
Medias lunas los coronan,
mas es tal su resplandor j
que dando el fuego a mi pecho I
a ellas las hace carbon. j
Bella linea echa por medio
I con que, entre un sol y otro sol,
divide el celeste mundo
en que nunca anochecio.
De tus hermosas mejillas
el vergonzoso arrebol
bien parece que se corre, j
I pero que se alcanza no. |
Tu boca aunque es tan pequena
me causa tan gran dolor
! que del pecho por la boca
se me sale el corazon.
En tu barba se arrincona
de Astarte el hijo menor, j
bien se ve que no le estimas
pues le arrimas a un rincon. j
El espacio imaginario '
de tu cielo, al nino atroz i
le da alas para que suba, j
sirviendole de escalon.
De tu delicado talle
el aire aumenta el ardor |
del que sin vista lo bebe
por ser su camaleon.
En el carcaj de tu mano
cinco flechas con rigor
aunque parecen de plata
de oro sus efectos son.
Un pie tan pequeno animas i
que contra mi mandas hoy
en un atomo de nieve
todo el fuego del Amor.
( Flor. pp. 134-135)
In Coro de las musas (pp. 262-267) there is a portrait poem
iwhich has the additional artificiality of glossing two names
of plays as the last two verses of each quintilla. All
i
180
these constitute frivolous, courtly poetry of the provincial
Spanish, court at Brussels. The metaphors reach for chance
resemblances of unlike things, primarily to express banal
ideas ingeniously. Here Barrios is much like the precieux
poets. He produced this type of verse apparently in two
closed societies, among the Spanish officials and military
officers in Brussels and among the Sephardic Jewish elite in
Amsterdam, both of which shared the cultivated taste of the
• ^ 13
period.
Portrait poems seem to have been relatively rare in the
early seventeenth century. Quevedo's poetic works^^ yield
only three examples: "Pintura no vulgar de una hermosura"
(#250, p. 72), "Pintura de la mujer de un abogado, abogada
ella del demonio" (#522, p. 206), and "Retrato de Quevedo"
(#784, p. 484). Some of Barrios' portraits follow the first
one mentioned closely in tone and manner. Those poets as
young or younger than Quevedo in Adolfo de Castro's selec-
l-^See Odette de Mourgues, Metaphysical Baroque and
Precieux Poetry (Oxford, 1953), pp. 108, 110.
14-The edition used is Obras de don Francisco de Quevedo
Villegas— Poesias. ed. Florencio Janer, Biblioteca de auto-
res espanoles LXIX (Madrid, 1953) .
181
1^
tion yielded only one example, the "Retrato del poeta" of
Francisco de Trillo y Figueroa (BAE XLII, p. 842), possibly
because most of the poets are represented by selected works
which conform to the taste of the anthologist. The Cancion-
ero de 1628^^ has only one example, "Descripcion de una
belleza" (#256, pp. 433-435). Primavera v flor de los me
ior es romances. etc. again yields nothing. The Obras de
1 n
d o n G a b r i e l B o c a n g e l v U n z u e t a y i e l d t w o e x a m p l e s , " R e
t r a t o d e u n a d a m a " ( I , 326-328) a n d " R e t r a t o e n s e g u i d i l l a s "
(I, 337-338), a g a i n v e r y m u c h i n Q u e v e d o ' s s t y l e . I n t h e
R o m a n c e r o g e n e r a l o f A g u s t f n D u r a n ^ ® t h e r e i s t h e d e s c r i p
t i o n o f a g i r l b y A n t o n i o H u r t a d o d e M e n d o z a i n a l y r i c a l
style (#1586, BAE XVI, p. 501) and a variant of the first
19
e x a m p l e o f Q u e v e d o . I n M e x i c o S o r J u a n a w a s t o w r i t e a
^■^Poetas llricos de los siglos xvi v xvii. Biblioteca
de autores espanoles XXXII, XLII (Madrid, 1950, 1951).
• ^ E d i c i o n y estudio del cancionero 250-252 de la Bi
blioteca Universitaria de Zaragoza por Jose Manuel Blecua
(Madrid, 1945) .
• * - 7Ed. Rafael Benitez Claros (Madrid, 1946).
J-QBiblioteca de autores espanoles X. XVI (Madrid, 1877,
11882) .
l ^ O b r a s c o m p l e t a s d e s o r J u a n a I n e s d e l a C r u z , e d .
i A l f o n s o M e n d e z P l a n c a r t e ( M e x i c o - B u e n o s A i r e s , 1951-1957).
182
Whole series of verse portraits in the same tradition as
those of Barrios (I, 119-120, 171-173, 208-209, 221-224,
261) .
B y t h e t i m e o f B a r r i o s a n d S o r J u a n a t h e y a r e c o m m o n
a n d s e e m t o b e a s o r t o f s o c i a l p a s t i m e , o f t e n r e q u e s t e d b y
/ O Q
t h e p o e t s ' f r i e n d s . B a r r i o s f o l l o w e d G o n g o r a , Q u e v e d o ,
a n d T r i l l o i n w r i t i n g a b u r l e s q u e s e l f - p o r t r a i t ( C o r o . p p .
606-609) . T h e s e s e l f - p o r t r a i t s a n d m o s t o f t h e p o r t r a i t s o f
o t h e r p e r s o n s a r e n o t i n t e n d e d t o g i v e a v i s u a l l i k e n e s s ,
b u t a r e b a s e d p r i m a r i l y o n c l e v e r w o r d - p l a y t o g e t h e r w i t h
t h e s t o c k i m a g e r y o f t h e p e r i o d ( e y e s a s s u n s , f l e s h a s
s n o w , t e e t h a s p e a r l s , e t c . ) . O c c a s i o n a l l y t h e r e i s a g o o d
f r e s h m e t a p h o r a s i n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e :
L a b r e v e b o c a s e o s t e n t a I
f u e n t e d e f r a g a n c i a v i v a j
c o n b l a n c a s g u i j a s q u e a r r o j a n
a l r o j o m a r g e n l a r i s a .
(Aleqr£as . p . 60v)
T h e m o s t i n g e n i o u s s u b t y p e o f t h e p o r t r a i t p o e m w a s
d o u b t l e s s p a r t o f t h e c o m m o n b a c k g r o u n d o f t h e v e r s i f i e r s
o f t h e l a t e s e v e n t e e n t h c e n t u r y . M u l t i p l i c a t i o n o f e x a m p l e s
i s l i m i t e d o n l y b y t h e d i f f i c u l t y o f f i n d i n g p r i n t e d a n d
^Qpbras completas. ed. Juan Mille y Gimenez and Isabel
jMille y Gimenez (Madrid, 1943), pp. 46-52.
183
imanuscript sources of the time. Most anthologists after thei
lend of the century would have weeded them out. This subtype
| !
i
consists of a description of something in the metaphor of
P l
something else. For example, in the "Alegre desposono de
los senores desposados Aaron Blandon y dona Ribca de Aze-
;vedo" Barrios describes the bride in this manner:
i
j
En metafora de una i
casa la retrato ahora,
porque casa y porque tiene
de casa ser virtiiosa.
De cuatro cuartos reloj,
los organiza de forma j
que su orden es de cuerda I
y en ellos la razon ora. j
La cabeza desta casa j
es de tal seso senora I
que la manda con juicio i
| y estar en pelo la adorna. j
1 Sala es de cristal su frente, I
con estradas espaciosas;
f y de fuera dos oidores
| sirven al a-mar de conchas.
En su frontispicio ostenta
dos arcos de triunfal pompa,
con dos claros miradores ,
que ocupan ninas graciosas. !
La mediana chimenea
de ventanas olorosas !
jamas pierde su blancura
^ A real masterpiece of this type of writing is "A un
|salto por donde se despena el arroyo de Chillo" by the great
Colombian baroque poet, Hernando Dominguez Camargo (1606-
11659) in Obras. ed. Rafael Torres Quintero (Bogota, 1960),
pp. 384-385. In this poem the brook is described "in the
I metaphor of" an unbroken colt, and would have been so en
titled by Barrios or by Francisco de la Torre Sevil.
184
' con tener humos de hermosa. i
Su pozo de gusto es de ambar !
con dos carrillos de rosas :
! y breve coral purpureo |
que tiene a pedir de boca. _ !
De perlas esta empedrada,
llena del aire que arroja
el organo de la voz
por techo que el alma toca.
La garganta pasadizo
! es de su vida harmoniosa,
canto de nieve la barba, |
templo el tacto, el pulso solfa. !
Tiene casa de placer, ;
dos palmas de blancas hojas
y en los pies dos corredores
con plantas de breve sombra.
Sobre el nudo del compas i
que por las puntas se dobla |
en basa angosta sustenta |
la fabrica mas airosa.
Su sobrado es el cabello, !
- su techo la rica cofia, j
todo el cuerpo su edificio
y el alma su moradora.
(Alegr£as. pp. 71v-72v)
Other poets carried this method over into religious
op
verse. Francisco de la Torre Sevil^ wrote a series of such
’ poems: "Implorase el amparo de mejor Maria en la soberana
Virgen, aplaudida en metafora de un libro" (pp. 3-4), "A
Cristo en la cruz en metafora de carta" (p. 268), and "A
Cristo en metafora de peso" (pp. 294-295).
Sor Juana approached this form in her "Pintura de la
^ Agudezas de Juan Oven. Primera parte (Madrid, 1721) .
jThis book was originally published in 1674.
185
lexcelentisima condesa de Galve por comparaciones de varios
heroes" (I, 208-209), but in the poetic contest of 1683 to
which she also contributed anonymously, printed as Triunfo
partenico by Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora,^^ one of the
assigned subjects was the description of the Virgin Mary in
the metaphor of an eagle. The number of poems submitted
was so great and they were of such high quality, Siguenza y
Gongora tells us, that it was necessary to duplicate the
prizes, so that there were two first, two second, and two
third prizes, and consequently six poems on the subject by
six writers are preserved in the text (pp. 295-310).
T h o u g h t h e s e p o e m s a r e i n t h e c o n c e p t i s t a c u r r e n t , i t
i
is a mistake to attribute them entirely to the influence of
: Q u e v e d o . T h e i m m e d i a t e s t r o n g i n f l u e n c e w o u l d s e e m t o b e
one of the latter's predecessors mentioned earlier in this
c h a p t e r , A l o n s o d e L e d e s m a y B u i t r a g o , w h o s e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f
C h r i s t " e n m e t a f o r a d e u n r e f o r m a d o r d e u n a u n i v e r s i d a d " s o
24
s c a n d a l i z e d G u i l l e r m o D i a z - P l a j a . T h e s a m e a t t i t u d e o f
m i n d a n d g e n e r a l m e t h o d o f w r i t i n g v e r s e w e r e e x t e n s i v e l y
^Ed. J o s e R o j a s G a r c i d u e n a s ( M e x i c o , 1945).
^ Historia de la poesia lirica espanola. 2nd ed. (Bar
celona, 1948), pp. 135-136.
i
186
cultivated in the fifteenth century in Spain, but the speci-
jfic influence here may be that of Ledesma, who may well havej
been more influential than Quevedo himself on the minor
verse of the period.
' CHAPTER XI
, , I
NATIVE METERS:
MORAL, ARTISTIC, AND MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
! In complete contrast to all the other poetry in native '
meters are the religious and philosophical romances. which
are serious in tone and written in plain style. Also among
Barrios' romances are several poems which belong to the best
Spanish artistic ballad tradition, romances nuevos.
Aside from the major groupings in this and the previousj
chapter, composed mostly of romances. there are numerous
miscellaneous compositions in verse, much of it on gallant
subjects, written in decimas and other fully rimed forms in
short meters.
Of the religious and philosophical poems in plain style
written in short meters, the most important is the "Esfuerzo
lharmonico" from Libre albedrio.^ This is reproduced in La
i
1(Brussels, 1688), pp. 1-25.
187
188
r p o e s i a r e l i g i o s a d e M i g u e l d e B a r r i o s ^ b y K e n n e t h R . S c h o l -
b e r g , w h o r i g h t l y c o n s i d e r s B a r r i o s ' r e l i g i o u s a n d p h i l o
s o p h i c a l v e r s e t o b e h i s m o s t i n d i v i d u a l c o n t r i b u t i o n t o
j S p a n i s h l i t e r a t u r e . T h i s s e r i e s o f t h i r t e e n r o m a n c e s . a l l
w i t h t h e s a m e a s s o n a n c e i n o, c o n s t i t u t e s a n i m p o r t a n t p o e m ,
c o m p a r a b l e t o t h e I m p e r i o d e P r o s m o c t a v a s . T h e y a r e
B a r r i o s ' c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e c o n t r o v e r s y o n f r e e w i l l t h a t
r a g e d i n S p a i n i n t h e s e v e n t e e n t h c e n t u r y .
It is notable that this poem is scholastic not merely
in form but also in substance.^ Barrios and the Jewish
colony in Amsterdam shared many ideas with Spain and Christ-j
ian western Europe in general. Here a statement of prin
ciple is followed by a series of philosophical objections,
each refuted in a defense of the original proposition. The ;
poem is elaborately annotated with references to the Bible,
to the church fathers, to pagan philosophers, to Spanish,
Portuguese, and Italian writers of the renaissance and
baroque, and to other Jewish writers of Amsterdam, many of
^(Columbus, [1962]), pp. 139-158.
i ;
-^Amsterdam?, 1700?
^cf. Gerald Cox Flynn, "A Revision of the Philosophy of
jSor Juana In£s de la Cruz," Hispania. 43:515-520, December,
I960.
189
; j
! 5 '
iwhose books he must have known m manuscript. These con
siderations are important, though not central, to the pur
pose of this dissertation.
To give some idea of the tone and style of this poem,
the dedication, taken from the unnumbered introductory pages
iof Libre albedrio. is quoted entire. (These verses are not
j
reproduced by Scholberg.)
Cesa la prolija noche j
y sale el dia mejor j
con la luz del Sol eterno
para volver a Cion. j
De la parte aquilonar
viene espiritu veloz
con estrepito de voces
que bendicen al Criador.
Gran nube y fuego volviente j
con cerco de resplandor, j
Aque nectar no da en su vaso? !
Aque aroma en su bendiccion?
i Dos puros medios conocen j
i de la Causa superior, j
I que la superioridad
excede a la cognicion.
Animastico es un medio, i
; * i
; otro angelico, y los dos
parecen uno porque !
los une un cielo y un Dios. j
! Entre el resplandor que cine |
a su rotante mansion, |
. con parecer de hombre vuela j
la cuadriga en su loor. i
| j
l !
i
!
5Much information on the Jewish colony in Amsterdam and
its literature comes through personal communication with
jProfessor Richard Popkin, who finds Barrios well read, on
!the basis of his marginal references.
! Da dos inmortalidades j
el inmortal Hacedor |
para el alma y para el angel,
| porque despues de uno hay dos.
Lo angelico mueve al mundo,
la alma al cuerpo, por la accion
I accidente el movimiento S
1 1
y sustancia el movedor. j
Luego inmortal como el angel
es la alma, porque ambos son !
I sustancias de los dos mundos,
■ y Dios el sustentador.
|0, inmenso Dios'. mi holocausto
admite con el fulgor I
que tiene, si ara en tu carro, I
aroma en mi corazon. j
The closed romance quatrain of the seventeenth century,|
in which these philosophical poems are written, is a close
equivalent of the heroic and alexandrine couplets of Bar
rios' English and French contemporaries, a correspondence j
worth investigating. This would be more obvious if the
poems were printed in composite verses of sixteen syllables.
The figures of comparison are like those of the Imperio
de Dios. They are ordinarily denuded of decorative and sen
sual content and dedicated to illustrating the meaning of
the abstract concept the poet is explicating. For example,
he uses three figures to illustrate human will:
Un bajel que, si lo rige J
de la virtud el timon, i
sigue al norte de la gloria j
en olas de tentacion.
Caballo que, cuando corre
| sin la rienda del temor, ;
! lleva al que mal lo gobierna
hasta hacerlo su Faeton.
Caxnino de vida y muerte
j para el fiel y el transgresor
que va a la corte gloriosa
y a la carcel de Pluton.
(p. 1)
Through correlation the third stanza is to be read as two
contrasting passages: "Camino de vida para el fiel que va a
la corte gloriosa," and "Camino de muerte para el transgre- :
sor que va a la carcel de Pluton."^ This is a very easy and
clear example of a device which sometimes creates labyrin
thine obscurity in Barrios' work.
In order to demonstrate the freedom of will, Barrios j
!
lamplifies the first of these figures: j
; |
Dare el ejemplo: un bajel j
que entre las olas veloz
las rompe o delfxn velero
| o labrador exhalacion,
I ^Classical additions to the Judaeo-Christian concept oif
Hell are commonplaces of the time. Cf. the following epi-
Igram translated from the Latin of P. Bernardo Bauhusia: j
|0 facil y patente en demasxa |
camino que nos guxa
al infierno y condena j
de Pluton en el reino a eterna p e n a j
Por ventura ino es facil la bajada i
del Averno, no es ancha y dilatada, !
cuando al eterno fuego
I ir facilmente puede cualquier ciego?
| in Poesxas selectas de varios autores latinos, tr. P . Joseph
jMorell (Tarragona, 1684), p . 45.
! llevado del soplo aereo,
| * si al sur lo manda el timon,
trae en si quien del movido
I puede echar al aquilon.
Ir puede a la parte opuesta
sin que tenga privacion
que le impida andar al austro
o echar al septentrion.
! (PP. 3-4)
i
I Such a figure may be much slighter and expressed in a
t
j
Is ingle verse:
Si Dios le obliga a ser
de su lumbre girasol
no su teraor deseara
para darle el galarddn.
! (P. 5)
The figures, of course, illustrate the world-view of
the period.^
i
I
Pues la ciencia material
por su mixta distraccion
buscando su centro en la tierra
aparta el alma de Dios.
I Y el alma que como 'luz
hace al cuerpo su farol,
buscando en Dios mejor centro,
| no sosiega en su prision.
! (p. 6 )
Here, as in Imperio de Dios. Barrios compares life
jmetaphorically to a theatre:
Da el sacro Autor los papeles
de la representacion
j ^Cf. E. M. W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan World-Picture.
jvintage Book V-162 (New York, n.d.), pp. 66-6 8.
" ..... 193
|
! que toca hacer al humano j
con celeste apuntador.
; Debe estudiarla, porque
! nota desta relacion
que el hacerla mal o bien
esta en su olvido o primor.
i (p. 23) :
When Barrios writes a burlesque version of a well-
jknown story, he uses figures of speech for their own sake,
deliberately complicating and obscuring the story. When,
however, as here, he is attempting to express and clarify
important ideas, figures are never used for their own sake
but only to make the ideas he is expressing clear and con
crete. Here, as elsewhere, Barrios is master of his styles j
and uses them deliberately according to their suitability
for his. purpose. Vocabulary, figures, and other means of
expression vary according to the demands of the subject and j
the treatment determined upon.
! Zampona III "De Jacob y Raquel" of the section of Coro
ide las musas^ dedicated to Euterpe, the Pastoral Muse,
i i
Q
|justly excited the admiration of Ludwig Pfandl. This
I ;
artistic ballad is worthy of the genre as developed by Lope
| ^Brussels, 1672.
| ^Historia de la literatura nacional espanola en la edad
!de oro. tr. Jorge Rubio Balaguer (Barcelona, 1933), p. 535.
194
j d e V e g a , G o n g o r a , a n d L i n a n d e R i a z a . A s h o r t p o e m ( s e v e n
t y - t w o v e r s e s ) , i t i s o n e o f B a r r i o s ' m o s t s u c c e s s f u l c o m
positions .
Though apparently simple, his style, like that of his
illustrious predecessors, is complicated and artful. Each
quatrain is a closed unit without run-on, though run-on is
'common within the stanza. A common artifice in this poem
makes the first two verses prepare for a third and fourth
verse which are exactly or nearly parallel, at least once
with an echo of Gongora:
Guxa los mansos corderos
y los aldeanos ciega,
; para el campo toda luces,
: para el amor toda flechas.
A1 pecho del extranjero
entre los zagales entra
j por los oidos su informe,
j por los ojos su belleza.
(Coro, pp. 258a-259a)
The parallelism of the verses may be varied by chiastic
I
word-order:
Docil Inquietud le influye
con el gozo que le entrega
j la dulce paz en los labios
! y en el pecho la ignea guerra.
i (Coro, p. 260a)
jThis parallelism imparts a static quality which increases
i
;the. idyllic effect of the poem. All verse endings with one
|exception are feminine, which also slows the reading and
.................. '. ..' ..... 195
i
i m a k e s t h e r h y t h m i c e f f e c t v e r y d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h a t o f L i b r e I
a l b e d r i o . i n w h i c h a l l t h e a s s o n a t i n g w o r d s a r e m a s c u l i n e .
|
E a c h s c h e m e s e e m s h i g h l y s u i t a b l e t o t h e s u b j e c t a n d m a n n e r
o f t h e i n d i v i d u a l p o e m , t h o u g h i t w o u l d b e d i f f i c u l t t o
d e m o n s t r a t e s u c h s u i t a b i l i t y o b j e c t i v e l y . H o w e v e r , i n a n
o t h e r r o m a n c e a d m i r e d b y A m a d o r d e l o s R i o s a n d d e p l o r e d b y ;
M e n e n d e z P e l a y o , B a r r i o s e n d e d a l l v e r s e s w i t h p r o p a r o x y -
t o n e s ( e s d r u i u l a s ) . I n t h i s p o e m h i s o b v i o u s s e r i o u s n e s s o f
p u r p o s e i s s o m e w h a t c o m p r o m i s e d b y t h i s t e c h n i q u e , i n p a r t
b e c a u s e p r o p a r o x y t o n e s h a v e b e c o m e c o m i c a l i n e f f e c t . J u d g - ^
i
i n g b y A m a d o r d e l o s R i o s 1 o w n p r o s e s t y l e i n t h e p a s s a g e
i n d i c a t e d , h e w a s h i m s e l f i n o r d i n a t e l y f o n d o f t h a t t y p e o f ;
w o r d . F o r c o m p a r i s o n I q u o t e t h e s e c o n d s t a n z a o f t h i s
r o m a n c e : I
D e l a f a m a e n l o s c a n t i c o s i
s u b e h a s t a e l n o r t e f r i g i d o ,
i m a n d e c u a n t o h i p e r b o l e j
e s d e s u e l o g i o s i m b o l o . I
( C o r o . p. 312)
I A t b e s t i t i s a t o u r d e f o r c e . - * - * - *
I
i I n " D e J a c o b y R a q u e l " t h e n a r r a t i o n i s s t r a i g h t f o r - j
-*-^Jose Amador de los Rios, Estudios historicos. p. 579.
jMarcelino Menendez Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos (San-r
jtander, 1947), IV, 322-323. The poem also appears in Flor
de Apolo. p. 138.
196
Iward. Rhetorical and syntactical figures, metaphors, and
similes do not interfere with reading and immediate under- |
| j
standing. Versification is measured and unobtrusive. The
leffect is easy and sincere, but decorative. A complete
j !
transcription of the poem follows as a superb example of
Barrios' work in one of his best manners:
j
< De Jacob y Raquel
i
Llega el fugitivo joven j
donde la pastora bella ;
viene a florecer.el prado
con catorce primaveras. ,
Guia los mansos corderos I
y los aldeanos ciega, j
para el campo toda luces, I
para el amor toda flechas. j
A1 pecho del extranjero
I entre los zagales entra
por los oidor. sus informes
por los ojos su belleza.
| En cuanto absorto la mira,
sabe que es la zagaleja
hija de Laban su t£o,
mayoral de aquella tierra.
Angel la cree de la escala
I que le ofrece glorias nuevas,
toda vestida de cielo
i por ser de Jacob estrella. j
1 El zurron trae al siniestro j
| lado, en la mano derecha |
• el cayado, y en el rostro j
el velo de su modestia. ■
| Quema al amor decorosa - \
| con el donaire que lleva i
| al fuego los albedrxos
; mas que al agua las ovejas.
! Admirando su hermosura
el joven que la contempla,
cuanto mas se le avecina,
197:
tanto mas de si se aleja.
D e s c u b r e e l p o z o p o n i e n d o
c o n v o l u n t a d y c o n f u e r z a
l o s o j o s e n l a p a s t o r a
y l a s m a n o s e n l a p i e d r a .
M i e n t r a s a b r e v a e l r e b a n o
l o s b r a z o s a l c u e l l o l e e c h a ,
d & n d o l e e l a l m a e n l a v i s t a
y e n l a v o z l a c o n o c e n c i a .
D o c i l i n q u i e t u d l e i n f l u y e
c o n e l g o z o q u e l e e n t r e g a
l a d u l c e p a z e n l o s l a b i o s
y e n e l p e c h o l a i g n e a g u e r r a .
A v i s a d e s u v e n i d a
a l p a d r e q u e c o n g r a n f i e s t a
e n l o s b r a z o s l o r e c i b e
y e n s u a l b e r g u e l o a p o s e n t a .
A d m i t e q u e e l p e r e g r i n o
l e s i r v a p o r l a p e r f e c t a
R a q u e l d e p a s t o r s i e t e a n o s ,
q u e n o v e n c e n s u f i r m e z a .
A v i s t a d e l b i e n q u e a d o r a
n o s i e n t e e l m a l q u e l e i n q u i e t a ,
c o n e l a n s i a e n e l t r a b a j o ,
c o n l a e s p e r a n z a e n l a i d e a .
D e l e i t a l e e l p a d e c e r ,
p o r q u e e n l a g l o r i a d e v e r l a
j u z g a d i c h a e l r e n d i m i e n t o
y o b l i g a c i o n l a f i n e z a .
D e t a l c a u t e l a u s a e l p a d r e
q u e c u a n d o J a c o b e s p e r a
e n s u R a q u e l l a a l e g r i a
h a l l a e n L i a l a t r i s t e z a . - ^
S i e n t e e l r i g o r o s o e n g a n o ,
y s u a c t i v a l l a m a a u m e n t a :
■^Part of the wording of this quatrain seems to be de
rived from Camoens' sonnet, "Sete anos de pastor Jacob ser-
Ivia," Obras completas. 3rd ed. (Lisbon, 1962), I, 194-195.
Barrios almost certainly knew it as quoted in Gracian's Aqu-
deza v arte de inqenio. ed. E, Correa Calderon (Madrid,
1944), pp. 262-263. The verses in question are: "porem o
jpai, usando de cautela,/ em lugar de Raquel lhe dava Lia."
198
! q u e e l d e s e o e s u n i n c e n d i o I
c u a n d o e l l o g r o s e l e n i e g a . !
i P o r e l l a a s e r p a s t o r v u e l v e j
j a u n t x m i d o , p o r q u e p i e n s a ;
q u e c o n s e r s u a m o r t a n g r a n d e
a s u m e r i t o n o l l e g a .
j ( C o r o , p p . 258a-260a) j
i ■
T h e r e i s a l s o a f i n e , l i g h t - h e a r t e d h a l l a d i n S o l d e l a
1 ?
I v i d a . T h e p o e t w a s h a v i n g h i s p o r t r a i t p a x n t e d b y A a r o n
| |
v a n S l e u t e l s . H e e x p l a i n s i n a n o t e t h a t S l e u t e l s m e a n s
" k e y s " i n F l e m i s h s o t h a t h e i s a b l e i n o n e s t a n z a t o m a k e
a p l a y o n t h e p a i n t e r ' s g i v e n a n d l a s t n a m e s . W h i l e h e w a s
i
s i t t i n g f o r h i s p o r t r a i t , J o s e p h d e S o t o s a n g a r o m a n c e i
t h a t b e g a n : I
T e m p r a n o n a c e s , a l m e n d r o , .
; a s e r l i s o n j a d e l p r a d o ,
que es malograr la osadia
nacer a morir temprano.13
- T o t h i s B a r r i o s , i m p r o v i s e d a r e s p o n s e c a l l e d " E s p e j o d e l a
osadia," which follows:
I i
j !
! S a l e s e n f l o r i d o c i e l o , |
o a l m e n d r o , v e l o z y h e r m o s o ,
v e r d e H ^ s p e r o d e l a s p l a n t a s
q u e s i g u e n t u s p i e s f r o n d o s o s .
| E l c a m i n a r p o r f e b r e r o
1 e s a d e l a n t a r t e a t o d o s ,
p o r q u e e l s e r p r i m e r o s i e m p r e :
; e s f e l i z h a s t a e n l o s t r o n c o s .
^Antwerp , 1679.
13i have not been able to identify this romance.
Sabes mirar de raxz
de los arboles el robo:
que es la gala del almendro
dejar desnudos los otros.
A las violencias del Cierzo
sales con flores muy pronto
por blasonar de atrevido
aunque con ramos de loco.
En la ninez tienes canas
y luego verdor frondoso
por parecer viejo verde
con lozanias de mozo.
Cantan las musicas aves
al son del cristal canoro,
que por mirar tu verdura
hasta el sol se pone rojo.
Esgrimas hojas al aire
con la fuerza del Favonio,
burla haciendo del moral
que atras queda por medroso.
Abres la puerta al Verano
con las Haves de tu adorno
por la vara que florida
de Aaron das el testimonio.
Los arboles viste el tiempo
de tu traje en el destrozo
solo porque te avergiience
el mirarte entre ellos roto.
Al camino como pobre
saldras viendo los pomposos
para que el deslustre ajeno
les de el desengano propio.
No importa que atras te dejen
si quedas con los elogios
de querer adelantarte
por ser en las pompas solo.
En ti veo mi retrato
con los recuerdos penosos
de que lo audaz no campea
sino ayuda lo dichoso.
(Sol, pp. 47-49)
The rhetorical formula here is different from that of
"De Jacob y Raquel." It imitates that of Soto's ballad.
' 200
The first two verses of each stanza, instead of building up
to a two-part balanced statement in the last half-stanza,
make a statement which is continued in the last two verses
with a generalization or a comment. The second part is
usually introduced by porque. que. por. or para que.
Here, where the intention is less serious, there is a
playful quality which carries a mere hint of the burlesque
style of "Susana," with, at the same time, something of the
moralizing, plain-style quality of the religious poems.
Neither of these manners is insisted upon to the point of
i
destroying the freshly lyrical effect of the poem. Similar - j
ly playful is another shorter romance with the same stylis- :
tic traits and the incongruously moralistic heading of "No
hay altura que no ofresca el despeno": I
Con las cosquillas del viento
se rie una fuentecilla
en el cuello de aquel monte
hasta caerse de risa. j
Aunque tiene altos principios,
anda siempre de caida: j
que la nobleza no exalta
| cuando la accion precipita. j
| Chupando nieve que baja !
i de la cumbre derretida,
con darle una roca el pecho,
es la fuente la que crra.
Volver intenta a la altura
j por caer tan llena de ira
que la dureza del suelo
| la hace saltar hacia arriba.
I Sierpe de plata se enrosca
e n t r e l a s m a t a s f l o r i d a s
p o r s a c a r l e s l o s c o l o r e s
e n e l m a r g e n q u e l a s s i l b a .
j V i s t i e n d o l e d e e s p e r a n z a
a m o r o s a m e n t e e s q u i v a
h a c e s u g a l a n a l p r a d o
a n d a n d o c o n e l t o r c i d a .
( C o r o , p .
D e d i c a t e d t o t h e P a s t o r a l M u s e l i k e " D e J a c o b y R a -
I q u e l , " t h e r e i s a p a s t o r a l w e d d i n g b a l l a d v a r y i n g f r o m t h e
s t a n d a r d r o m a n c e f o r m o n l y i n t h a t i t a l t e r n a t e s v e r s e s o f
s e v e n a n d f i v e s y l l a b l e s , g i v i n g i t a f a s t e r m o v e m e n t . T h e
a s s o n a n c e a l s o v a r i e s f r o m s t a n z a t o s t a n z a . T h i s i s t h e
b a s i c s e g u i d i l l a f o r m , o f t e n u s e d b y B a r r i o s . ^ H e r e a r e
t h e f i r s t t w o s t a n z a s :
C e l e b r a n l o s p a s t o r e s
e l d e s p o s o r i o
d e P a s c u a l y R a q u i l d e ,
p r i m o s e n t o d o .
j S u m u d a n z a d e e s t a d o
1 s e r e p r e s e n t s
e n l o s q u e p o r s e g u i r l a
d a n v a r i a s v u e l t a s
(Coro. p. 257a)
O n e o f t h e s h o r t e r g e n r e s m o s t c u l t i v a t e d d u r i n g t h e
b a r o q u e p e r i o d i s t h e d e c i m a o r e s p i n e l a . t r a d i t i o n a l l y
I
■ s u p p o s e d t o h a v e b e e n i n v e n t e d b y V i c e n t e E s p i n e l . I t i s a
l^See jUan Diaz Rengifo, Arte poetica espanola (Barce-
jlona, 1759), pp. 68-69.
v y *9
202
very satisfactory form, two quintillas joined together into ■
a stanza of ten octosyllables rimed abba:accddc. However,
it is very different from the double quintilla which had
previously been much used for glosas in the cancionero per
iod. The subtlety of the decima arises from a major break
in sense or a pause after the fourth verse, whereas the
double quintilla breaks squarely in two. Barrios wrote the
following acrostic epitaph for himself in the form of a
decima;
j
Deshecho aqui ejemplo doy j
al que lucir quiere solo: j
naci ayer lumbre de Apolo j
y hoy sombra m£a aun no soy; |
j En mi opaco centro estoy
| libre hasta de mi, sin cuantos
' laureles, de Febo encantos,
entregandome a su llama,
vivi por BARRIOS de fama,
y hoy solo vivo en mis c a n t o s . i
l^This decima shows that Barrios was already using his
Jewish name, Daniel Levi, while an army captain in Brussels.
iNo printer's device was used to call attention to the acros-r
jtic. This was no longer true when it was reprinted in Es-
Itrella de Jacob (p. 24) in Amsterdam in 1686. The fourth
!verse is taken from a scrap of song that was glossed once by
IGongora (Obras completas. ed. Juan Mille y Gimenez and Isa-
;bel Mille y Gimenez (Madrid, 1943), p. 334, #195) and once
jby Lope de Vega in La moza de cantaro (ed. Madison Stathers
;[New York, 1913], pp. 71-73, II, vi, 1237-1280). Here Bar
rios follows Lope's version:
Aprended, flores, de mi
lo que va de ayer a hoy,
! que ayer maravilla fui
203
The tenth line of the decima. the pie de decima. is
often taken from another poet and used as the point of de
parture, the new poem being a glosa. The ingenuity with
which the setting comments on, fits, or revises the grammar
and meaning of the old verse is the "point" of the glosa.
Here is an example by Barrios:
Hacia abaio. subio al cielo
A un humilde y tierno infante
corto el hilo de la vida
barbaro infiel homicida
por verle en su fe constante:
muriendo salio triunfante
del heretico desvelo,
que viendo su heroico celo
de un risco lo despenaba,
y su alma, aunque el rodaba
hacia abaio. subio al cielo.
(Coro. pp. 508-509)
It was common practice to take a quatrain and make a glosa
with four decimas. as it had been previously with double
quintillas. Barrios does both. The following redondilla
had been glossed by Juan Perez de Montalban according to
y hoy sombra mia aun no soy.
Vicente T . Mendoza records a third gloss in a Mexican ver
sion in Glosas v decimas de Mexico (Mexico, 1957), pp. 96-
97 .
There is a parody, "Aprended, poetas, de mi," in Justa
Ipoetica a Santa Lucia, ed. Pedro de Castro y Anaya (Oriju-
ela, 1635) in Justas v certamenes poeticos en Murcia (1600-
11635), ed. Antonio Perez Gomez and Manuel Munoz Cortes (Mur-
bia, 1958-1959), II, 332.
..... 204
i
* i
: I
Barrios, who glossed it in a letter to his uncle, Diego j
i
Lopez Nunez, saying, "el propuesto Montalban en su glosa |
sintio lo que dijo, y yo en esta propia dire lo que siento."!
En este comun dolor
advierta el cuerdo sentir j
crue no es deiar de vivir !
morir para ser mayor. !
. i
| El saber sin presumir
y el presumir sin saber
estudia para entender j
no inquiere para argiiir:
lo que uno intenta aplaudir |
calumnia de otro el error
por ser el digno loor j
y el envidioso reparo, j
en aquel, deleite raro, j
en este. comun dolor. I
1 El saber puede danar I
si alcanzando el galardon
| da a la fiera emulacion
el venenoso envidiar:
mucho dice con callar
( el envidiado adquirir |
porque su noble asentir |
pasiva y activamente
siente la envidia imprudente,
advierta el cuerdo sentir.
Apenas se nace cuando
se vive a-penas,-^ por donde !
solo a la muerte responde |
la vida de estar penando: [
| si muere, fama dejando, j
vuelve a nacer, no a morir:
y as! se debe advertir
que sabe al tiempo veneer j
l^cf. Calderon, La vida es sueno. ed. Everett W. Hesse
(New York, 1961), p. 4, (I.i.20): "Y apenas llega, cuando‘
llega a penas."
205
!
p o r e m p e z a r a l n a c e r
d u e n o e s d e i a r d e v i v i r . j
- E l p e q u e n o c o n v i r t u d
I t a n g r a n d e e s q u e a D i o s a l c a n z a ; !
e n l a b i e n a v e n t u r a n z a |
l u z , p o l v o e n e l a t a u d :
e s l a v i d a e s c l a v i t u d !
c o n t a n t o o p u e s t o , s e n o r , j
q u e n a d i e e s c a p a m e j o r
s i n o e l q u e s a b e e n s u e m p e n o
nacer para ser pequeno, j
morir para ser mayor. j
1 (Sol, PP. 54-55) |
T h i s i s B a r r i o s ' p l a i n s t y l e .
H e u s e d t h e s a m e f o r m w i t h t h e a d d i t i o n o f a " d i v i s o "
t o c o m p l i m e n t t h e C o n d e d e M o n t e r r e y , G o v e r n o r a n d C a p t a i n
G e n e r a l o f t h e L o w C o u n t r i e s , a l s o w i t h i t s r e m i n i s c e n c e o f j
; i
C a l d e r o n . T h i s i s l i k e w i s e i n p l a i n s t y l e a n d m o r a l i s t i c i n
i n t e n t . T h e " e x p l i c a c i o n " i s a r o m a n c e s t a n z a .
I
D i v i s a |
D u e r m o y m i c o r a z o n v e l a
s a b i e n d o p o r d o n d e v u e l a .
E x p l i c a c i o n
V e l a n d o s u e n a e l a m a n t e i
t e n e r l o c r u e ;a m a p r e s e n t e r
v e n e l s u e n o d e l c r o b i e r n o
e l r e c t o i u e z n u n c a d u e r m e
G l o s a
Q u e l a v i d a e s s u e n o e x p l i c a
e l q u e e n e s t e s u e n o v e l a :
y e l q u e d e a m o r s e d e s v e l a ,
q u e e s v i d a e l s u e n o p u b l i c a :
c o n c u a n t o a s £ c o m u n i c a
e n s i a u n q u e d e s i d i s t a n t e ;
a s u o b j e t o s e m e j a n t e
p o r m o d o m u y d i f e r e n t e
s o n a n d o v e l a e l p r u d e n t e ,
v e l a n d o s u e n a e l a m a n t e .
' 206
j
: i
Triunfa del terrestre quien
sigue al amor celestial: I
parece uno bien y es mal, j
j otro se halla mal y es bien: ;
da el transeunte el vaiven,
y la mano el permanente
al que en cualquiera esta ausente
de si por la elevacion j
que le lleva la atencion j
tener lo que ama presente.
! No debe ser reprendido |
el que a los otros corrige: j
y el que por si no los rige j
merece verse regido: I
este da al mundo el sentido,
tiene aquel cuidado eterno |
por lo exterior y lo interno
contra la virtud y el vicio I
! en la falta del jiiicio !
v en el sueno del gobierno. j
Tu justicia conocida j
triunfa del amor mas fuerte j
en la vida de la muerte j
j y en la muerte de la vida: |
del belga amada y temida 1
ni descansa ni se aduerme
I para que el pais no enferme
i que gobiernas vigilante,
porque de lo justo amante
el recto iuez nunca duerme.
(Sol, pp. 39-40)
j I
The following redondilla with its glosa inherits its
tone, themes, method, and form from the cancionero litera
ture of two centuries before. The effect of the double
i j
!
1 quintilla. with its division squarely in the middle, is veryj
| |
jdifferent from that of the decima.
I Solo el silencio testigo
ha de ser de mi tormento
v aun no cabe lo gue siento |
207
en todo lo que no digo.
El mal que me diligencio
de suerte encubre mi amor
que a luz de quien reverencio,
por vivir con el temor,
me mata con el silencio.
Nunca se sabrci que instigo
la muerte que anda conmigo,
si son en tal accidente
solo amor el delincuente,
solo el silencio testiqo.
Con ser tanta mi pasidn
y mi paciencia tan poca
el respeto en la ocasi6n
por neg&rsela a mi boca
la deja a mi corazon.
Los tratos del Amor siento,
y apretando al sufrimiento,
pido que me mate en el,
si ministro tan cruel
ha de ser de mi tormento.
Ocultandome la palma
de las penas el concurso
crece con la fiera calma
que atormentandome el alma
no me cabe en el discurso.
Y es tanto mi sentimiento
que si a decirlo me aliento
en aquello que consigo,
todo lo que puedo digo,
v aun no cabe lo que siento.
IAh, como mi estrella airada
a padecer me condena
en silenciosa cadena
por ser mas para callada
que para dicha mi pena
Conque al paso que la sigo
tan en vano me fatigo
por divulgar su rigor,
que solo digo mi amor
en todo lo que no digo.
(Coro, pp. 238-239)
Barrios' most interesting work in quintillas is a
208
s a t i r e i n C o r o d e l a s m u s a s o n t h e l i f e a n d d e a t h o f D r .
j J u a n d e P r a d o , w h o h a d w r i t t e n a l a u d a t o r y p o e m f o r F l o r d e j
A p o l o . B a l t a s a r ( I s h a k ) O r o b i o d e C a s t r o w r o t e a w o r k ,
W h i c h s u r v i v e s i n m a n u s c r i p t , a g a i n s t t h e i d e a s o f t h i s
: a t h e i s t i c d o c t o r , w h o w a s a s l i t t l e t o t h e l i k i n g o f t h e
i j e w i s h c o m m u n i t y i n A m s t e r d a m a s t h e i r c o n t e m p o r a r y , B e n e -
17 '
d i e t ( B a r u c h ) S p i n o z a .
I t i s a m o c k - h e r o i c a c c o u n t i n b u r l e s q u e s t y l e , a k i n t o
t h a t o f " S u s a n a , " o f t h e l i f e a n d d e a t h o f D r . P r a d o , p r e
c e d e d b y t h e f o l l o w i n g h e a d i n g : .
C a s t i g a l a d i v i n a j u s t i c i a a l d o c t o r J u a n d e P r a d o , !
m a e s t r o d e f a l s o s d o g m a s , q u e n o t e n i a m a s r e l i g i o n c j u e !
l a q u e c o n v e n i a a s u c u e r p o , n i m a s a l m a e n s u o p i n i o n j
q u e d e c a b a l l o : y d a n d o p a l a b r a d e c a s a m i e n t o a u n a
F u l a n a L o b a , l a d e s f l o r o : y y e n d o s e a c a s a r c o n o t r a ,
o r d e n o l a S u p r e m a J u s t i c i a q u e p o r u n c a r r o q u e s e l e
a t r a v e s o e n u n a p u e n t e , c a y e s e d e l l a c o n s u c a b a l l o e n
u n r i o , d o n d e l e i m i t o e n l a m u e r t e c o m o e n l a v i d a .
(Coro., p. 355)
T h e u n f o r t u n a t e p r o t a g o n i s t i s c o m p a r e d t o a w h o l e s e r i e s o f
c l a s s i c a l p e r s o n a l i t i e s w h o f e l l a n d w h o m e t d e a t h b y d r o w n
i n g . T h e f o l l o w i n g a r e s a m p l e q u i n t i l l a s . a l m o s t u n s e l e c t
e d , a s t h e y a r e v e r y c o n s i s t e n t i n m e t h o d a n d l i t e r a r y q u a l - i
i t y :
I 1
[
l ^ T h i s i n f o r m a t i o n c o m e s f r o m P r o f e s s o r R i c h a r d P o p k i n
i n p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n .
Con fama de gran doctor
en la catedra del gozo
enseno el arte de amor:
para las mozas senor,
para las senoras mozo.
(Coro. p. 356)
De atersta broto el fruto
ofendiendo al sumo Rey,
tan ciego que disoluto
por tener alma de bruto
dejo el ser hombre de ley.
(Coro, p. 357)
A Nabucodonosor
tan diamante igualo astuto
que oponiendose al Criador
con ser pulido en su error
no se hallaba sino bruto.
(Coro. p. 358)
Preciado de buena lanza
sobre aventuras de amante
iba atras su confianza,
Don Quijote en Rocinante,
y en el comer Sancho Panza.
(Coro, p. 359)
Viniendo al mar por la Parca
el Palinuro blasfemo,
para el Leteo lo embarca
Aqueronte con su barca
y la Loba con su Remo.
Por la Hero que amo astuto
Leandro de la ficcion,
nadaba de llanto enjuto,
tan Cesar de su opinion
que a morir vino por Bruto.
(Coro, p. 360)
One of Barrios’ burlesque mythological narratives was
written in redondillas. octosyllabic quatrains rimed abba,
a form he used a great deal. The following short epitaph
210
■for the biblical Rachel, with its reminiscence of Gongora,
is in this form:
En campo de glorias pace
oveja de Dios amada,
la Raquel que sepultada !
en este camino yace. >
Aqui para que despierte j
triunfo del mundo vencida, I
I luz del amor en la vida ;
! y desengano en la muerte. j
I (Sol, P. 41) !
Lastly there is a letrilla which Adolfo de Castro
thought so extravagant in form that he believed it had to
18
have been influenced by the literary taste of Flanders.
!
This seems most unlikely, especially as there is evidence |
that Barrios could not speak Flemish.19 The poem itself is |
interesting: j
£Hasta cuando. Ines. j
por ese mirar
ha de dar
con antoios
de oios
cualquiera que ves? !
Del Amor el fuego j
| despues que postrado j
j a tu agrado
los ojos te ha dado
j ha quedado ciego:
! y pues sin sosiego
18poetas liricos de los siglos xvi v xvii. BAE (Madrid]
1951), XLII, xxxiii. j
i
19Scholberg, Poesia reliqiosa. p. 13. j
' ' ' 211
I !
! tu girasol es, j
ihasta cuando. Ines. etc. j
j El sol te da en cara
por ver que mas claro j
con reparo |
sin costarle caro,
te sale a la cara: j
ya que as! declara |
su dulce interes;
ihasta cuando. Ines. etc.
Ves del sol que alistas
el albor rosado
mejorado,
porque le han sacado '
tus ojos a vistas:
y pues sus conquistas j
estan a tus pies:
ihasta cuando. Ines. etc. |
(Coro, p. (276a)
The rime scheme retains something of the zejel in that the I
; i
last verse of each stanza rimes only with the refrain. The:
| !
mixture of verses of two, four, and six syllables is unusu-;
al, but the effect is sprightly.
Briefly described and illustrated, such poems as these
make up Barrios' copious production in the native meters.
;The results are often felicitous, often not. Such as they
|are, they are typical of Spanish peninsular and colonial
I |
!verse of the time. It is a period that has more to offer
j :
|than is indicated in the handbooks of Spanish literature.
Although it is a continuation of the styles of writing of
the early part of the century and of the two previous cen- I
Jturies, it lives on its own terms as a literary subperiod if
granted the right to build on its own premises, which are
Idifferent. It is, naturally enough, least interesting when !
merely derivative.
CHAPTER XII |
: I
| SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION |
i I
Poets of the three aureate centuries of Spanish letters;
! ■ i
[share with those of the European renaissance in general^" a |
different concept of the writing of verse from that which we
i I
profess as heirs of the romantic movement. Our touchstones
I (originality, sincerity, and spontaneity), carried back
lanachronistically into a period when feeling was not every
thing and expression was a fine art, are both naive and mis-
i
leading.
Clues to the nature of some phenomena that make much
literature of that period somewhat remote from many modern
readers are to be found in observations of certain perspica
cious twentieth-century scholars. Rosemond Tuve, for exam
ple, speaks of the Elizabethan's extreme pleasure in poetry
I !
| :
las a craft" and tells us that "men of the Renaissance . . .
i
j ;
i i
! ■ ‘ ■Renaissance here is to be understood m the extended
I
jsense in which it is used in Wylie Sypher, Four Stages of
[ Renaissance Stvle. Transformations in Art and Literature
1400-1700 (Garden City, New York, 1956).
i 213
214
thought of the discipline of rhetoric as affording the poet
p
necessary training.' Frank J. Warnke mentions the "con
ception of art as artifact," speaking of high baroque po
ets.^
In 1611 in Cordoba, Francisco de Castro published his
De Arte Rhetorics Dialogi Ovatvor. dedicated to Garcilaso
Inca and containing two laudatory poems by Gongora. It was
often reprinted. Such a textbook must have helped to form
the young Miguel de Barrios, perhaps this one, which is con
nected in so many ways with his birth-place, Montilla. The
4
"Dialogus Tertius de Eloquutione" (pp. 117-202) is devoted
to a study of tropes and figures such as those studied above
in Chapter III, which are presumably used more consciously
than a twentieth-century poet or critic would be likely to
suspect. This is only one part of a poet's training. An
other significant sort of handbook, reprinted often in the
seventeenth century and (with additions by Joseph Vicens) in
| t h e B a r c e l o n a e d i t i o n s o f t h e e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y , i s J u a n
| j
^Elizabethan and Metaphysical Imagery. Renaissance
Poetic and Twentieth-Centurv Critics (Chicago, 1961), p. 27.
^ E u r o p e a n M e t a p h y s i c a l P o e t r y ( N e w H a v e n a n d L o n d o n ,
1961), p. 23.
I 4The edition used is dated Seville, 1625.
.........“...... .........' .... 215
Diaz Rengifo, Arte poetica espanola. first printed in Sala
manca in 1592.^ These are two indications of means by which
a serious poet like Barrios was thoroughly grounded in con
temporary poetic practice.
L i k e m o s t r e n a i s s a n c e w r i t e r s , M i g u e l d e B a r r i o s d i d
n o t w r i t e i n o n e m o n o l i t h i c s t y l e b a s e d , i n h i s c a s e , o n
G o n g o r a ' s h i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e , n o r d i d h e c u l t i v a t e t w o o f
t h e m , G o n g o r a ' s c u l t e r a n i s m o p l u s Q u e v e d o 1 s c o n c e p t i s m o .
e i t h e r i n t h e i r p u r e s t a t e s o r i n c o m b i n a t i o n . H e c o n
s c i o u s l y u s e d a t l e a s t t h r e e s t y l e s : a h i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e
r e l a t e d t o t h o s e o f G o n g o r a , C a l d e r o n , a n d c o u n t l e s s o t h e r s , ;
i n c l u d i n g Q u e v e d o ; a j o c o s e o r i n g e n i o u s s t y l e ( s o m e t i m e s
i n c l i n i n g t o w a r d t h e p r e c i e u x a n d s o m e t i m e s t o w a r d t h e m e t a
p h y s i c a l ) ^ r e l a t e d t o t h o s e o f Q u e v e d o , L e d e s m a , a n d c o u n t - j
^Emiliano Diez Echarri, Teorias metricas del siglo de
pro. Apuntes para la historia del verso espanol (Madrid,
1949), pp. 70-74. The edition of Rengifo used in this dis
sertation is dated Barcelona, 1759.
^Odette de Mourgues, Metaphysical Baroque and Precieux
Poetry (Oxford, 1953), pp. 103-112; Harold Martin Priest,
Renaissance and Baroque Lyrics. An Anthology of Translations!
from the Italian. French, and Spanish ([Evanston], 1962),
jpp. xxiv, xxviii-xlii; Basil Willey, The Seventeenth Century
;Background. The Thought of the Age in Relation to Religion
land Poetry (Garden City, 1953), pp. 50-54; Warnke, European
jMetaphvsical Poetry, pp. 4-86, esp. pp. 23-24, 51-52; Helen
C. White, The Metaphysical Poets. A Study in Religious Ex
perience (New York, 1962), pp. 74-75; Helen Gardner, ed.,
The Metaphysical Poets (Woking and London, 1959), pp. 17-28.
216
i l e s s o t h e r s , i n c l u d i n g G o n g o r a a n d L o p e d e V e g a ; a n d a p l a i n
I
s t y l e w h i c h , w h i l e u s i n g b a r o q u e f o r m u l a e l i k e t h o s e o f h i s
o t h e r s t y l e s , i s d i s c i p l i n e d a n d r e l a t i v e l y u n a d o r n e d , a d
j u s t e d t o t h e e f f e c t i v e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f r e l i g i o u s a n d p h i l o
s o p h i c a l t r u t h s . T h e f i r s t t w o a r e d i f f i c u l t s t y l e s , i n
w h i c h t h e o s t e n s i b l e s u b j e c t o f t h e p o e m m a y s o m e t i m e s s e e m
' a m e r e p r e t e x t f o r v i r t u o s i t y o f e x p r e s s i o n . T h e t h i r d i s a
v e h i c l e f o r t h e e x p r e s s i o n o f i m p o r t a n t i d e a s , a n d a n y d i f
f i c u l t y a r i s e s f r o m t h e i n t r i n s i c c o m p l e x i t y o f t h e t h o u g h t
e x p r e s s e d r a t h e r t h a n d e l i b e r a t e o b s c u r i t y i n t h e m a n n e r o f
e x p r e s s i o n . H i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e m a y a l s o b e u s e d i n a l e s s I
c o n c e n t r a t e d f o r m t o c o n v e y i n f o r m a t i o n ( a s i n B a r r i o s ' g e o -
7
g r a p h i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n s i n C o r o d e l a s m u s a s ) , s o t h a t i t
b e c o m e s d e s i r a b l e t o d i s t i n g u i s h a f o u r t h o r m i d d l e s t y l e .
A s e c o n d p e r t i n e n t c l a s s i f i c a t i o n b a s e d u p o n m e t r i c a l
t y p e s i s a l s o v e r y u s e f u l i n s t u d y i n g s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y
S p a n i s h v e r s e s t y l e s . I n t h e f i f t e e n t h a n d e a r l y s i x t e e n t h
c e n t u r i e s S p a n i s h p o e t s h a d w r i t t e n m o s t l y i n s h o r t m e t e r s
l a n d i n a r t e m a y o r . B e s i d e t h e e r u d i t e s h o r t m e t e r s o f
j ;
I ^(Brussels, 1672), pp. 53-176.
j 8a meter used for serious subjects based on patterns of
accented and unaccented syllables, approximating a twelve-
syllable verse.
217
jthe cancioneros. popular short meters existed. They first
came into prominence in Castilian writing in the works of
the Portuguese playwright, Gil Vicente (1470?-1539?). In
the sixteenth century Garcilaso de la Vega (15017-1536)
successfully adapted Italian metrics and Petrarchan themes
to Spanish verse. With the exception of arte mayor, re
placed by the Italianate hendecasyllable, the meters of
these various popular and erudite poets persist through the
seventeenth century, often with stylistic and thematic ma
terials adhering to them.
Whereas it is convenient to use such broad classifica- j
tions in discussing the works of a seventeenth-century
I • i
Spanish poet, there are variations of style from poem to
poem and, within the longer poem, from passage to passage.
The major Spanish poets of this period, like their
9
English counterparts, and with equal success, specialized
in the shorter poem. Barrios' more significant poetic work,
;with two notable exceptions,^ is in this genre.
i . ;
i 9Cf. John Williams, ed., English Renaissance Poetry.
I A Collection of Shorter Poems from Skelton to Jonson (New
IYork, 1963), pp. vii-xxx.
j 10See Chapters IV and IX of this dissertation. The
I exceptions are a long philosophical poem and a masque.
218
S i n c e t h r o u g h o u t h i s c a r e e r a s a p o e t B a r r i o s m a d e f r e
q u e n t u s e o f t h e o c t a v a r e a l f o r s e r i o u s v e r s e b u t n e v e r f o r
b u r l e s q u e , j o c o s e , o r s a t i r i c a l e f f e c t s , i t i s a n e x c e l l e n t
m e d i u m i n w h i c h t o s t u d y h i s t h r e e s e r i o u s s t y l e s , h i g h
b a r o q u e , m i d d l e , a n d p l a i n .
T h e g e o g r a p h i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n s o f S p a i n a n d P o r t u g a l ,
i
' t o g e t h e r w i t h o t h e r s c a t t e r e d w r i t i n g o f s i m i l a r t y p e , m a k e 1
u p B a r r i o s ' l a r g e s t s e r i e s o f p o e m s i n o c t a v a s . T h e y a r e
s t u d i e d i n C h a p t e r I I o f t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n a s e x a m p l e s o f
m i d d l e s t y l e , a s t y l e i n w h i c h a l l t h e r e s o u r c e s o f h i g h
b a r o q u e s t y l e a r e u s e d , a n d d i f f e r s t y l i s t i c a l l y f r o m t h e
p o e m s s t u d i e d i n C h a p t e r I I I o n l y i n t h a t t h e u s e o f o r n a
m e n t a l d e v i c e s i s l e s s d e n s e . C o n s e q u e n t l y t h e f a c t o r s
s t u d i e d i n t h e s e t w o c h a p t e r s s u p p l e m e n t e a c h o t h e r i n t h e
a n a l y s i s o f B a r r i o s ' m o s t o r n a t e s t y l e . T h e y a r e r e p r e s e n
t a t i v e o f b o t h g r o u p s o f p o e m s , t h e o n l y d i f f e r e n t i a l b e i n g
t h e i r d e n s i t y o f e m p l o y m e n t .
S p a r s e r u s e o f d e c o r a t i v e d e v i c e s i n t h e s e d e s c r i p t i v e
i ' !
l a n d h i s t o r i c a l w o r k s i s d u e t o t h e g r e a t e r c o m p r e s s i o n r e -
f
q u i r e d . S t a n z a s a r e c o m p o s e d w i t h e p i g r a m m a t i c s h a r p n e s s i n
I
l o r d e r t o e n c o m p a s s a p e r i o d o r s u m m a r i z e a n a c t i o n i n t h e
i
| l i m i t e d s p a c e o f e i g h t v e r s e s .
i
| B i s y m m e t r i c a l b a l a n c e o f s u b j e c t m a t t e r a n d m e t r i c
219
lunits, often correlated and involving bipartite verses, is
an inheritance from Petrarchan practice and is a basic de
vice for structuring these poems. Metaphor, employing
abundant classical and mythological references, often am
plifies introductory passages and makes them decorative.
jHyperbaton and quotation from great Spanish poets of the
period are used to increase the ornamental effect of the
octavas.
Panegyric early poems in this -meter approximate the
I
'style and decorative density of such dazzling and influen
tial works of Luis de Gongora y Argote as the Fabula de
Polifemo v Galatea (1613),^ Las soledades (1614),^ and
i r
1 o
the Panegirico al Duque de Lerma (1617). These works.of
Barrios, discussed in Chapter III of this dissertation, make
much use of rhetorical and syntactical figures. Such fig-
i
■^Edited, studied, and paraphrased in prose in Damaso
IAlonso, Gongora v el "Polifemo." 4th augmented ed. (Madrid,
11961). It is also reproduced with an English prose para
phrase in Lowry Nelson, Jr., Baroque Lyric Poetry (New Haven
and London, 1961), pp. 180-213.
Damaso Alonso, 3rd ed. (Madrid, 1956), with a
I study and prose paraphrase.
i 13.A11 three of these poems appear in Obras completas.
|ed. Juan and Isabel Mille y Gimenez (Madrid, 1943), pp.
1535-617.
i
220
u r e s a r e u s e d f o r a m p l i f i c a t i o n a n d , e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e c a s e
o f s i m i l e s a n d m e t a p h o r s , f o r m o n o c h r o m a t i c p i c t o r i a l v i v i d - !
n e s s . A f o r m i d a b l e d e n s i t y o f c l a s s i c a l r e f e r e n c e i s u s e d
i n l i k e m a n n e r a n d f o r t h e s a m e p u r p o s e s . C o r r e l a t i o n , b o t h
d o u b l e a n d m u l t i p l e , i s u s e d a s a m e t h o d o f g i v i n g s t r u c t u r e
t o m a n y p a s s a g e s . L a t i n i z e d w o r d - o r d e r a n d h i a t u s p r o d u c e a
" l i t e r a r y " q u a l i t y r e m i n i s c e n t o f t h e w o r k s o f s u c h p o e t s a s !
V e r g i l . A p a s t o r a l s m o o t h n e s s o f s t y l e , w h i c h a c c o m p a n i e s
i d e a l i z e d s u b j e c t m a t t e r , c o n t r a s t s w i t h a r o u g h n e s s p r o
d u c e d b y c r a c k l i n g c o n s o n a n t s c o m b i n e d w i t h p r o p a r o x y t o n e s
i n o t h e r p a s s a g e s w i t h g r o t e s q u e c o n t e n t . N a m e p u n s a n d i
e p i t h e t s d r a w n f r o m l i t e r a r y a n d h i s t o r i c a l s o u r c e s a r e a l s o
i
s i g n i f i c a n t e l e m e n t s i n t h e s t y l e o f t h e s e p o e m s .
The most important of the moral poems in octavas. dis
cussed in Chapter IV, is Imperio de Dios. Its first edi
tion, probably printed in Brussels about 167 3, was by no
means the first version; Barrios had done a great deal of
work on it before the publication of Coro de las musas in
1672. The second edition was probably published in Amster
dam about 1700 and was completely rewritten in many parts, j
In this, the final form, it is as perfect as the poet was
able to make it.
The stylistic contrast between this poem and the works ;
221
i n h i g h b a r o q u e a n d m i d d l e s t y l e i s s t r i k i n g . H e r e r h e t o r
i c a l d e v i c e s , e x c e p t f o r p a r a l l e l i s m , a r e t o n e d d o w n a n d
m a d e i n c o n s p i c u o u s . T h e r e e v e r y s t a n z a i s d e l i b e r a t e l y m a d e
o r n a m e n t a l . H e r e m e t a p h o r i s u s e d s o b e r l y t o m a k e a b s t r a c t
i d e a s c l e a r . T h e r e i t i s a d e c o r a t i o n a n d i s u s e d f o r
v i v i d l y p i c t o r i a l e f f e c t s . I n t h e I m p e r i o d e D i o s a l l e g o r y
a n d e m b l e m c o m e t o t h e a i d o f m e t a p h o r a n d s i m i l e . T o g e t h e r
t h e y a r e u s e d s t r u c t u r a l l y t o p r o v i d e d e s i g n , a s w e l l a s t o
c l a r i f y m e a n i n g . T h i s m a y b e s e e n i n t h e w o r l d - t h e a t r e
m e t a p h o r t h a t b e g i n s i n s t a n z a 1 1 2 a n d c o n t i n u e s t o t h e e n d
o f t h e p o e m .
W i t h t h e p o e t ' s i n c r e a s e d c o m m a n d o f f o r m , t h e o c t a v a
h a s c h a n g e d i n s t r u c t u r e . H e r e i t i s c o m p l e t e l y t w o - p a r t
i n f o r m . R u n - o n i s u s e d n a t u r a l l y a n d u n o b t r u s i v e l y w i t h i n
e a c h h a l f o f t h e o c t a v a . b u t t h e f o u r t h v e r s e n e v e r r u n s o n
t o b l u r t h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f t h e s t a n z a .
T h e r e i s a n e w e a r n e s t n e s s o f t o n e i n t h i s p o e m . I t i s
e m p h a s i z e d b y t w o r h e t o r i c a l c h a n g e s , t h e r e p l a c e m e n t o f
j
a s s e r t i o n s o n o c c a s i o n b y s e r i e s o f e x c l a m a t i o n s , a n d a n
i n c r e a s e d u s e o f p a r a l l e l i s m a n d a n a p h o r a , r e m i n i s c e n t o f
; p o e t i c p a s s a g e s f r o m t h e B i b l e . S u c h d e v i c e s a r e e m p l o y e d ,
n o t f o r t h e i r o w n s a k e , b u t f o r t h e b a s i c p u r p o s e o f t h e
I p o e m , w h i c h i s t h e g l o r i f i c a t i o n o f G o d a n d m a k i n g H i m m o r e
j
222
' c o m p r e h e n s i b l e t o m a n . I m o e r i o d e D i o s i s B a r r i o s 1 m a s t e r -
i
p i e c e i n t h e o c t a v a f o r m a n d h i s m o s t f i n i s h e d w o r k .
Aside from the octava real and the sonnets discussed in
Chapters II to IV and VI to VIII, Barrios used other Ital-
ianate forms including the Petrarchan cancion. the cancion
alirada. and the silva. written, almost without exception,
in high baroque style. It is in some of the more preten
tious of these poems that he shows the greatness of his debt
to both Gongora and Calderon. The outstanding poems in
these forms are "Carta funebre" (Coro, pp. 362-365) and
i
" F a b u l a d e N a r c i s o y E c o " ( C o r o . p p . 450-460) i n c a n c i o n
s t a n z a s , a n d a s i l v a ( C o r o . , p p . 469-478), w r i t t e n i n i m i t a - :
t i o n o f G o n g o r a ’ s f i r s t S o l e d a d . T h e s t y l e a p p r o x i m a t e s
t h a t o f t h e p a n e g y r i c o c t a v a s s t u d i e d i n C h a p t e r I I I .
B a r r i o s ’ s o n n e t s a r e w r i t t e n i n a w i d e r v a r i e t y o f
s t y l e s a n d t o n e s t h a n a r e t h e p o e m s a l r e a d y t r e a t e d b e c a u s e
h e u s e d t h e m f o r j o c o s e a s w e l l a s s e r i o u s w r i t i n g . T h e y
a r e d i s c u s s e d u n d e r t h e f o l l o w i n g h e a d i n g s : p a n e g y r i c ,
e l e g i a c , m o r a l , e r o t i c , a n d b u r l e s q u e . T h e p a n e g y r i c s o n
n e t s a r e w r i t t e n i n h i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e , w h i c h i s s p e c i a l l y
j s u i t e d t o t h e p r a i s e o f i m p o r t a n t p e o p l e a n d p l a c e s . T h e
I e l e g i a c s o n n e t s a r e m o s t l y d e d i c a t e d t o e m i n e n t p e r s o n s b u t
223
; a l s o c o m m o n l y t r e a t t h e t h e m e s o f e a r t h l y d i s i l l u s i o n a n d
t h e c o m f o r t s o f r e l i g i o n . C o n s e q u e n t l y t h e y f l u c t u a t e f r o m
t h e h i g h b a r o q u e s t y l e o f t h e p a n e g y r i c s t o t h e p l a i n s t y l e
o f t h e m o r a l p o e m s . T h e s o n n e t s o n m o r a l , p h i l o s o p h i c a l ,
a n d r e l i g i o u s t h e m e s a r e m a r k e d b y a v e r y S p a n i s h s o b r i e t y
w h i c h d e m a n d s p l a i n s t y l e , t h o u g h o n o c c a s i o n t h e p o e t u s e s
a t y p e o f i n g e n u i t y t h a t i s r e l a t e d t o c o n c e p t i s m o . T h e
e r o t i c s o n n e t s a r e o f t e n P e t r a r c h a n p o e m s o f h o p e l e s s l o v e
a n d s u f f e r i n g , b u t t h e p o e t g i v e s h i s l o v e s o n n e t s u n u s u a l
d i v e r s i t y b y e x p l o i t i n g t h e o c c u r r e n c e s o f h i s o w n l i f e , s o
t h a t r e a l i t y o f t e n t r i u m p h s o v e r l i t e r a r y c o n v e n t i o n . T h e s e
s o n n e t s s o m e t i m e s s h o w a l l t h e v e r b a l c o m p l e x i t i e s o f t h e
P e t r a r c h a n s c h o o l , w i t h c o r r e l a t i o n a n d m u l t i p a r t i t e v e r s e s .
S o m e o f t h e m a r e i n t h e G o n g o r i s t m a n n e r , a l t i s o n a n t a n d
f r i v o l o u s . T h e b u r l e s q u e s o n n e t s a r e l e a s t a p p e a l i n g . T h e y
u s e o d d o r h a r s h r i m e s , a n t i - p o e t i c v o c a b u l a r y , a n d s c a b r o u s
t h e m e s , u s u a l l y e x p o s i n g t h e i r s u b j e c t t o r i d i c u l e . T h e y
a r e i n g e n i o u s a n d c o n c e p t i s t a i n s t y l e . I n f o r m B a r r i o s '
s o n n e t s a r e a l m o s t a l w a y s c o n s e r v a t i v e a n d n o t a t a l l e x
p e r i m e n t a l .
S i n c e t h e s o n n e t i s a s h o r t p o e m o f k n o w n a n d s t a n d a r d - -
I i z e d a r c h i t e c t u r e , i t b e c o m e s a v e r y u s a b l e f o r m w i t h w h i c h
! t o c h e c k t h e u s e o f c e r t a i n p h e n o m e n a . I n h i s b o o k , B a r o q u e
224
L v r i c P o e t r y . ^ L o w r y N e l s o n , J r . e x p l o r e s t i m e a n d d r a m a a s
j m e a n s o f s t r u c t u r e i n t h e w o r k s o f v a r i o u s b a r o q u e p o e t s .
C h a p t e r s V I I a n d V I I I o f t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n t e s t h i s c o n c l u
s i o n s b y e x p l o r i n g t h e s e t w o p r o b l e m s i n B a r r i o s ' s o n n e t s .
T h e b r i e f n e s s a n d n e a t n e s s o f t h e s o n n e t f o r m l i m i t t h e
a p p l i c a t i o n o f b o t h t i m e a n d d r a m a a s s t r u c t u r a l d e v i c e s ,
b u t t h e i r d e m o n s t r a b l e p r e s e n c e i n a s e r i e s o f s u c h s h o r t
p o e m s i s i m p r e s s i v e .
B a r r i o s ' s o n n e t s a r e m o s t u s u a l l y w r i t t e n i n t h e p r e
s e n t t e n s e . H i s u s e o f o t h e r t e n s e s r e v e a l s d e l i b e r a t e
i
s t r u c t u r a l i n t e n t i o n . A p p a r e n t l y a r b i t r a r y u s e s o f t i m e j
s u g g e s t t h e d i v i s i o n o f a s o n n e t i n t o t e m p o r a l p l a n e s .
T h e s e t i m e - p l a n e s a r e p l a y e d a g a i n s t e a c h o t h e r a n d s o m e
t i m e s f u s e d s o t h a t , e v e n i n t h e s p a c e o f f o u r t e e n h e n d e c a -
s y l l a b l e s , t h e y s e t u p a k i n d o f a r c h i t e c t o n i c r h y t h m .
M o s t e x a m p l e s u s e t e n s e b r o a d l y , o t h e r s s h o w v e r y s u b t l e
u s e o f t e n s e a n d t i m e - p l a n e .
D r a m a , r h e t o r i c a l s t r u c t u r e , o r " d r a m a t i c a l i t y " i s
I e v e n m o r e l i m i t e d i n i t s a p p l i c a t i o n t o a v e r y s h o r t p o e m .
W e a r e c o n c e r n e d w i t h t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e w h o l e r h e t o r i -
i
c a l s i t u a t i o n ( t h e i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p s a m o n g s p e a k e r , a u d i
|
l^New Haven and London, 1961.
225
e n c e , a n d r e a d e r ) , t h e u s e o f t h e m o d e s o f d i s c o u r s e ( a s s e r
t i o n , q u e s t i o n , a n d e x c l a m a t i o n ) , a n d c e r t a i n o t h e r r e l a t e d
c o n s i d e r a t i o n s . I n t h e s i m p l e s t o f t h e s o n n e t s , t h e s p e a k e r
( t h e p o e t w e a r i n g t h e m a s k o f o n e o f t h e M u s e s ) m a k e s a s e r
i e s o f a s s e r t i o n s , w h i l e t h e o t h e r r h e t o r i c a l m e m b e r s r e m a i n
c o m p l e t e l y u n d e v e l o p e d . I n o t h e r s t h e r e i s c o n s i d e r a b l e
v a r i e t y i n t h e u s e o f t h e m o d e s o f d i s c o u r s e , w i t h q u e s
t i o n s , e x c l a m a t i o n s , d i a l o g u e , a n d d i r e c t q u o t a t i o n . A l
t h o u g h B a r r i o s d o e s n o t e x p l o i t t h e w h o l e r h e t o r i c a l s i t u
a t i o n i n h i s s o n n e t s , t h e r e i s i n t e r e s t i n g i n t e r p l a y b e t w e e n
t h e s p e a k e r a n d t h e a u d i e n c e . V a r i e t y i n t h e u s e o f t h e
i m o d e s o f d i s c o u r s e l i n k s h i s t e c h n i q u e t o t h e g e n e r a l t r e n d
i i
o f t h e p e r i o d . R h e t o r i c a l s t r u c t u r e i s a n i m p o r t a n t e l e m e n t
i n B a r r i o s ' p o e t i c s t y l e s .
B a r r i o s ' m a s q u e s , d e s c r i b e d i n C h a p t e r I X , a r e a m i x e d
f o r m u s i n g b o t h I t a l i a n a t e a n d n a t i v e m e t e r s . P r o b a b l y t h e
i
p a r t s i n n a t i v e m e t e r s a r e s o n g s , w h i l e t h e p a r t s i n r e c i -
i
t a t i v e o r i n t e n d e d t o b e d e c l a i m e d a r e i n I t a l i a n a t e m e t e r s .
T h e S p a n i s h c o u r t m a s q u e s e e m s t o b e a n u n d i a g n o s e d i f
n o t a n u n k n o w n g e n r e . A t l e a s t f o u r e x a m p l e s o f t h i s l i t
e r a r y f o r m a r e e x t a n t , o n e b y B o c a n g e l , E l n u e v o O l i m p o
226
(1648),^ and three by Barrios, of which the best is called
"Epitalamio V" (Coro. pp. 313-328). The various elements
which make up a masque are poetry, spectacle, dance, and
music. The high point of the genre in England came from
the collaboration of Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones, the archi
tect. The significant differences between Jonson1s masques
and the zarzuelas of Calderon are the masking element (with
the participation of masked nobles) in the masque, and the
important dramatic element in the zarzuela. Both used
elaborate stage machinery and costumes, similar situations
involving mythological personages, and even a comparable . j
vocabulary.
Barrios' "Epitalamio V" is very like the later masques
of Jonson in which the anti-masque has become very impor
tant. The revels, in which the maskers dance with members
of the audience, are missing from the Spanish form. The
passages in silvas contain some of Barrios' best verse in
high baroque style, influenced by both Gongora and Calderon,
|The passages in short meters are light and graceful. This
;masque is a masterpiece in a minor form, not unworthy to
I -^Obras de don Gabriel Bocancrel v Unzueta. ed. Rafael
I Benitez Claros (Madrid, 1946), II, 141-217.
227
take a place beside those of Campion, Jonson, and Carew.
Chapters X and XI are devoted to a study of Barrios'
styles in native meters under the headings: narrative, wed
ding, portrait, moral, artistic, and miscellaneous poems.
The most important ones are in romance form.
i :
The narrative poems include seven mythological fables
and two Biblical stories taken from the Apocrypha. They
are examples of Barrios' conceptista or metaphysical style,
,described in some detail here. The example analyzed is
"Lfi
"Historia de Susana" from Estrella de Jacob. The familiar
story, retold in romance meter, is a pretext for a display
,of virtuosity in the witty use of words. Sensual content
and action are alike played down so as not to obstruct the
word-play. Double meanings, sometimes involving fragmenta
tion of words, and name-puns are frequently used. Nature is
reduced to emblems and hieroglyphics. A specific figure
;based on two words repeated in chiastic word-order with a
I shift of meaning would seem to be an earmark of the sub-'
s
s
'period. It is much used by Barrios and his contemporaries
jwriting in Spanish. Metaphors are witty but not graphic,
(Amsterdam, 1686), pp. 1-16.
228
las vividness of visual image would lead the attention away
from the wit. Conceits and ideas lead on to each other in a
method that is not merely logical, and which recalls the
structure of Quevedo's prose as seen in the Suenos.
The wedding poems in romance and other short meters are
playfully ingenious. A kind of tension is set up by equat
ing each bride and groom with his namesake in the Old Testa
ment or any meaning of a name derivable either through pun
or translation. These poems are often written in relatively
complicated stanzas. They are superficial and stereotyped.
The portrait poems, like the narrative poems already
mentioned, avoid any pictorial quality. The metaphors reach
for chance resemblances of unlike things in order to express
banal ideas ingeniously. The portrait romance. rare earli
er, has an established vogue in the later seventeenth cen
tury. Clever word-play is combined with stock imagery. The
most ingenious sub-type describes something in the metaphor
of something else (e.g. a bride described as a house). This
sub-type was much used in religious verse of the time. If
this literary current did not stem from Ledesma, it was
I certainly reinforced and shaped by him.
The moral, religious, and philosophical romances.
229
exemplified by "Esfuerzo harmonico" from Libre Albedrio.^
are in complete contrast to the ingenious poems and only
comparable to the moral octavas discussed in Chapter IV.
The "Esfuerzo," a long poem or series of poems on free will,
is scholastic in form and substance. The closed romance
quatrain of the seventeenth century, as used here, is a
close equivalent of the heroic and alexandrine couplets used
by Barrios' contemporaries in England and France. The ima
gery is denuded of decorative and sensual content and is
used to illustrate and explain the abstract philosophical
concepts presented by the poet. The world view as well as
the method are shared with Christian western Europe.
The admirable artistic ballads are apparently simple,
like some of Gongora's, but are complicated and difficult in
technique. The rhetorical formula of the stanza varies from
ballad to ballad but is relatively fixed within the individ
ual poem.
Another form much cultivated by Barrios is the glosa.
either in double cruintillas (as in the cancionero period),
or, more commonly, in decimas. The effect is very differ
ent. It is noteworthy that the theme of the glosa in double
! (Brussels, 1G88), pp. 1-25.
230
cruintillas. unlike those in decimas. is aiso reminiscent of
the cancioneros.
A satire in quintillas on the life and death of the
atheistic Dr. Juan de Prado (Coro, pp. 355-361) is a most
interesting example of Barrios' conceptista style.
Barrios' poems in short meters are often charming.
Successful or not, they are typical of a vast amount of
verse in Spanish which was being produced in Spain and
abroad.
Miguel de Barrios wrote during an almost unknown and
unrecognized literary sub-period that grew up in the shadow
lof the literary giants of several generations before. It
was largely a derivative period in the sense that it con
tinued the subjects and styles of preceding periods. The
description and analysis of Barrios' poetic styles is, to a
great extent, a description of the literary output of the
period in which ne wrote. It would be possible to bound
this sub-period quite accurately in respect to time and
place through a scrutiny and stylistic analysis of the pub
lished volumes that grew out of the custom of poetic con
gests in connection with national celebration or mourning
and honoring of saints and religious events, which were
231
[produced so copiously during this time. Besides Barrios and
his circle in Brussels and Amsterdam, we are aware of the
circle of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigiienza
jy Gongora in Mexico. In Spain, Francisco de la Torre Sevil
is the axis of another important circle. But these circles
existed in every provincial capital. Barcelona seems to
have been a very important center of ingenious style in
Castilian for many years.
The century that followed Lope's death produced no new
Lope. But it was a century that wrote on its own terms and
produced many a serious poet and tremendous quantities of
verse, some of which survives. The present study is a
slight contribution to the necessary and rewarding task of
exploring and evaluating the almost unknown poetry of an ;
important period in Spanish literature.
BI BL IOG RAP HY
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Moolick, Charles James
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The Poetic Styles Of Miguel De Barrios
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