Le plus beau monument élevé par Minerve.”
5. Josè Joaquin Mora, born at Cadiz, 1783, and yet happily surviving, is another modern poet of great merit. When the French invaded Spain, he entered a regiment of dragoons in the national cause, and was made prisoner in 1809, in consequence of which he was detained in France six years. He took advantage of this residence in that country to pursue his studies, and on the return of peace he undertook the editorship of the ‘Scientific and Literary Chronicle of Madrid,’ which, in 1820, he converted into ‘The Constitutional.’ In 1823 he had to emigrate to London, where he wrote and published several periodical and other works, under the auspices of Messrs. Ackerman, besides various translations. He afterwards went to Buenos Ayres, Chili and Bolivia, from which last republic he returned to London as Consul-General, and published, in 1840, his principal work, entitled ‘Spanish Legends.’ This work, which is highly praised by Ochoa, gives, as the title imports, descriptive accounts of various events in the history of Spain, according to what seems to be the favourite formula of modern Spanish poetry. Another work he published, in 1826, entitled ‘Poetical Meditations,’ is founded principally on Blair’s celebrated poem, ‘The Grave.’ Wolf pronounces him excelling in his satirical essays, which, he says, are full of grace and ease.
In addition to the writers mentioned above, and those whose works form the main purpose of this work hereafter in detail, many others have appeared, both during the latter part of the last century and during the present, who have shown much talent, and have been deservedly received with much favour by their countrymen. It will be sufficient for us here to give the names of Cienfuegos, Tapia, Lista, Gallego, S. Bermudez de Castro, Garcia Gutierrez and Pastor Diaz among them; and to meet any observation that may be suggested on account of no fuller notice being taken of them, it may be allowed me to state, that I have notwithstanding read and examined carefully all their works, and those of many others whose names it is needless to recapitulate. I would further add, that in so doing, although there was certainly much in them to admire, yet there was nothing in them, in my judgement, suited for translation to interest English readers, whose tastes it was my duty principally to consult. Some of those just mentioned and others omitted, I have personally known and appreciated in private life, but in all the selections and criticisms made or repeated, I have allowed no consideration to weigh with me, except the respect due to superior merit alone. So much of this superior merit seemed to me to exist in modern Spanish literature, that I ventured to think the English public would receive favourably this attempt to make them acquainted with it. If it should fail, the blame must attach to the translator; if it be received favourably, there is yet a rich mine of intellectual wealth in store to reward the labours of those who choose to undertake it.
The student who wishes to follow in the same course, will find the way much prepared for him in the various collections of ancient and modern poetry lately published. Those by Maury and Wolf have been already mentioned. Quintana has, in the late edition of his great work, brought down the series of national poets to the beginning of this century; and Ochoa has, lastly, given a very valuable addition to his other labours of criticisms and compilation, in his Notices for a Library of contemporary Spanish writers;—‘Apuntes para una Biblioteca de Escritores Españoles contemporaneos,’ in two volumes, Paris, 1847. Ferrer del Rio has also conferred a great service on the national literature, by giving a series of biographical sketches, ably written, of the principal Spanish writers of the present day, ‘Galeria de la Literatura Española,’ published by Mellado, at Madrid, 1846. From these works, when no other authority is mentioned as of distinct character, the notices in this work have been compiled, except in a few instances, which will be found also generally stated when they have been obtained from private information. The facts, of necessity, could not but be learned from such sources, and the translator is only answerable for the selection of those he thought worthy of being repeated, and the arrangement, in addition to the criticisms that coincided with his own judgement, for his adoption.
In conclusion of these introductory remarks, it now only remains necessary further to observe, that the rules of Spanish versification are very similar to the English, being dependent upon accents, according to the rhythm adopted on certain syllables of each line, whether alternately or further removed. The rule as to rhyme is also the same, admitting of single or double rhymes, used in one case or the other, according as the accent is on the last syllable of the final word or the penultimate. The latter, however, is more common in Spanish than in English, where it seems only suited for the livelier strains of verse.
But in addition to the usual method of using rhymes, dependent in English and most other languages upon the consonants rather than the vowels, the Spaniards have a form of verse of which the rhyme is dependent on the vowel only, and the consonants may be entirely dissimilar. This form of verse they call Asonantes, in contradistinction to the other, which they call Consonantes, or full and perfect rhyme. Thus in the first stanza of the ‘Alcazar of Seville,’ the words prolijas and cornisas are Consonantes or full rhymes, but in the following verses miran and distintas are Asonantes, as also risa and evitan. The Spaniards conceive the Asonantes to be a form peculiar to themselves, but it is one common to many other nations, in the earlier stages of poetical composition. In the earliest Spanish poems, asonants and consonants were used together promiscuously, as may be observed particularly in the early poems in the Galician dialect; and it is curious to trace in this respect, as well as in many of their words, vestiges of their Celtic descent, this same form being also one of the prominent features of Celtic versification. In their modern asonante verse, the Spanish poets usually exclude consonantes, and that form continues in much favour, probably on account of the words in their language, as in the Latin, having generally so much the same sound as to make a variation pleasing to the ear, to break the monotonous effect of a too frequent recurrence of similar terminations. For this reason, no doubt, it was that the Latin poets did not adopt the system of rhymes, and for the same also it is common now in Spanish poems to have lines occasionally to which no other line presents a rhyme, giving thereby a pleasing effect to the whole. In our language, on the contrary, where, from the ruggedness of its character, the terminations vary so exceedingly as to make them often even difficult to be found for the purposes of rhyme, the recurrence of rhyme gives a more pleasing sound to the ear from the degree of surprise that is thus occasioned. In Spanish they might easily be made of one vowel termination for a long poem, so that the difficulty in it is to avoid the too frequent recurrence of the same sound.
Martinez de la Rosa has boasted of the variety of rhymes in Spanish; but he refers to double as well as single rhymes, and in this and in other respects is carried away by his ardour, in admiration of his country’s language, much further than the facts will be found to support him. Thus he also praises the number and variety of metres used in it as extraordinary, when in fact they are no more, so than any other neighbouring language could present. It may be justly conceded, that poetry has been cultivated lately in Spain with much assiduity and success; but there is no peculiarity in the language to give it an advantage over others in respect to metres. The strict censorship which has weighed down the energies of the country, with regard to most subjects of public discussion, has had the effect of directing talent to the cultivation of poetry, as almost the only road to literary reputation. This it is, combined with the sensitive character of the nation, that has made their poets attain the eminence we are bound in justice to award them; and it is fortunate for them that they have in their language so admirable an exponent of their genius, as it must in fairness be allowed, though the merit still remains peculiarly their own.
The following is a summary list of the principal Modern Spanish Poets whose memoirs and writings it is the object of this work more particularly to make known to the English public, given with a statement of dates respecting their lives, for the purpose of enabling the reader to compare more easily the periods in which they flourished. They are, it will be observed, twelve in number, and the list has been divided into two parts, as marking an evidently distinctive character of the poetry in the former and latter part of the epoch which they have rendered memorable.
| PART I. | |||||
| I. | Jovellanos | Born 1744. | Died | 1811. | Age 67. |
| II. | Iriarte | Born 1750. | Died | 1791. | Age 41. |
| III. | Melendez Valdes | Born 1754. | Died | 1817. | Age 63. |
| IV. | Leandro Moratin | Born 1760. | Died | 1828. | Age 68. |
| V. | Arriaza | Born 1770. | Died | 1837. | Age 67. |
| VI. | Quintana | Born 1772. | Living | 1851. | Age 79. |
| PART II. | |||||
| VII. | Martinez de la Rosa | Born 1789. | Living | 1851. | Age 62. |
| VIII. | The Duke de Rivas | Born 1791. | Living | 1851. | Age 60. |
| IX. | Breton de los Herreros | Born 1796. | Living | 1851. | Age 55. |
| X. | Heredia | Born 1803. | Died | 1839. | Age 35. |
| XI. | Espronceda | Born 1810. | Died | 1842. | Age 32. |
| XII. | Zorrilla | Born 1817. | Living | 1851. | Age 34. |