Modern Spanish Lyrics | Page 5

lyrists into two opposing?hosts, the Italianates and those who clung to the native?meters (stanzas of short, chiefly octosyllabic, lines, for?the arte mayor had sunk by its own weight).
The first and greatest of Bosc��n's disciples was his close?friend GARCILASO DE LA VEGA (1503-1536) who far surpassed?his master. He was a scion of a most noble family, a?favorite of the emperor, and his adventurous career,?passed mostly in Italy, ended in a soldier's death. His?poems, however (_��glogas, canciones_, sonnets, etc.),?take us from real life into the sentimental world of the?Arcadian pastoral. Shepherds discourse of their unrequited?loves and mourn amid surroundings of an idealized Nature.
page xx The pure diction, the Vergilian flavor, the classic finish?of these poems made them favorites in Spain from the?first, and their author has always been regarded as a?master.
With Garcilaso begins the golden age of Spanish poetry and?of Spanish literature in general, which may be said to?close in 1681 with the death of Calder��n. It was a period?of external greatness, of conquest both in Europe and?beyond the Atlantic, but it contained the germs of future?decay. The strength of the nation was exhausted in?futile warfare, and virile thought was stifled by the?Inquisition, supported by the monarchs. Hence the?luxuriant literature of the time runs in the channels?farthest from underlying social problems; philosophy and?political satire are absent, and the romantic drama, novel?and lyric flourish. But in all external qualities the?poetry written during this period has never been equaled?in Spain. Its polish, color and choiceness of language?have been the admiration and model of later Castilian?poets.
The superficial nature of this literature is exhibited?in the controversy excited by the efforts of Bosc��n and?Garcilaso to substitute Italian forms for the older?Spanish ones. The discussion dealt with externals; with?meters, not ideas. Both schools delighted in the airy?nothings of the conventional love lyric, and it matters?little at this distance whether they were cast in lines of?eleven or eight syllables.
The contest was warm at the time, however. S�� de Miranda?(1495-1558), the chief exponent of the Italian school in?Portugal, wrote effectively also in Castilian. Gutierre de?Cetina (1518?-1572?) and Fernando de Acu?a (1500?-1580?)?are two others who supported the new measures. One whose?example had more influence is Diego Hurtado de page xxi Mendoza (1503-1575), a famous diplomat, humanist and?historian. He entertained his idle moments with verse,?writing cleverly in the old style but turning also toward?the new. His sanction for the latter seems to have proved?decisive.
Crist��bal de CASTILLEJO (1490-1556) was the chief defender?of the native Spanish forms. He employed them himself in?light verse with cleverness, clearness and finish, and?also attacked the innovators with all the resources of?a caustic wit. In this patriotic task he was for a time?aided by an organist of the cathedral at Granada, Gregorio?Silvestre (1520-1569), of Portuguese birth. Silvestre,?however, who is noted for the delicacy of his poems in?whatever style, was later attracted by the popularity of?the Italian meters and adopted them.
This literary squabble ended in the most natural way,?namely, in the co-existence of both manners in peace and?harmony. Italian forms were definitively naturalized in?Spain, where they have maintained their place ever since.?Subsequent poets wrote in either style or both as they?felt moved, and no one reproached them. Such was the habit?of Lope de Vega, G��ngora, Quevedo and the other great?writers of the seventeenth century.
A Sevillan Italianate was Fernando de HERRERA?(1534?-1597), admirer and annotator of Garcilaso. Although?an ecclesiastic, his poetic genius was more virile than?that of his soldier master. He wrote Petrarchian sonnets?to his platonic lady; but his martial, patriotic spirit?appears in his canciones, especially in those on the?battle of Lepanto and on the expedition of D. Sebastian of?Portugal in Africa. In these stirring odes Herrera touches?a sonorous, grandiloquent chord which rouses the page xxii reader's enthusiasm and places the writer in the first?rank of Spanish lyrists. He is noteworthy also in that?he made an attempt to create a poetic language by the?rejection of vulgar words and the coinage of new ones.?Others, notably Juan de Mena, had attempted it before, and?G��ngora afterward carried it to much greater lengths; but?the idea never succeeded in Castilian to an extent nearly?so great as it did in France, for example; and to-day the?best poetical diction does not differ greatly from good?conversational language.
Beside Herrera stands a totally different spirit, the?Salamancan monk Luis DE LE��N (1527-1591). The deep?religious feeling which is one strong trait of Spanish?character has its representatives in Castilian literature?from Berceo down, but Le��n was the first to give it fine?artistic expression. The mystic sensation of oneness with?the divine, of aspiration to heavenly joys, breathes in?all his writings. He was also a devoted student of the?classics, and his poems (for which he cared nothing and?which were not published till 1631) show Latin rather than?Italian influence. There is nothing in literature more?pure, more serene, more direct or more polished than?La vida del campo, Noche serena and others of his?compositions.
The other great mystics cared less for literature,