aiieescneuixccccccccccssssssssszzzzzz
 
GARCILASO AND HIS TIME
 

Folio of the Cancionero
by Petrarca

 
    1.-  At the beginning of the 16th century, Spanish poetry found itself in a time of change. Poets of the Castilian tongue knew a great deal of the Italian poetry of that time, but few - among them the Marquis of Santillana - dared to copy their original form.
    From this point, poets like Juan del Encina - also a musician - or Garci Sánchez de Badajoz were going to share their collection of verse with the new Italianised generation.
   These add to the Spanish heritage - 15th century "cancioneros" (collections of verse)or outstanding individuals, like the Valencian Ausias March-, the fashionable Italians, like Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) and contemporaries, like Pietro Bembo.
 
   The decisive moment for the change in our poetry came about when the poet Juan Boscán of Barcelona accepted Andrea Navagiero´s invitation in 1526 in Granada, to write his poetic production in Italian verse. The enthusiam of Boscán encouraged his friend Garcilaso de la Vega, who took this poetry to its highest levels.
 
    2.-  Juan Boscán (Barcelona, 1474-1542) systematically appears as the first poet to have written in Castilian, copying the Italian style. Despite this, he is not considered a brilliant poet amongst our literature. He developed the sonnet, without great success, and his most successful works can be found in his tribute to the golden mediocracies in "Epistle in reply to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza" or in the mythological fable of Hero and Leander. His poems were edited posthumously in 1543. Appendixed, were those of his friend Garcilaso de la Vega.
 

First edition of the
Works of Boscán and Garcilaso		     3.-  From the first moment, Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536) shone as a true master of Italianised Spanish poetry. Within half a century of his works being published, his poems had been remarked upon by prestigious authors like, Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas - el Brocense - and Fernando de Herrera. During the Spanish Gold Centuries, there was not to be a poet who would write without taking his works into account.
 
   These use love as the vital key, where one sings to their beloved in life and after death, supporting themselves within a delicate and austere scenic frame, and in opportune mythological references.
Second edition of the
Works of Boscán and Garcilaso
   They embrace eight octosyllabic poems of old Castilian verses and an immense majority of Italian verses - basically hendecasyllabic. Anong these, we count forty sonnets, five "cancioneros" (collections of verse), two elegies, one epistle and three eclogues, the third of which could be considered his masterpiece. A few Latin odes are added to this.

   He is considered the most faithful follower of Petrarca´s poetry. However, his following of the Italian poet is not passive, as he added the memories of the Latin classics like Horace and Virgiland to a lesser extent Ovidio to the Castilian lyric reading material. During his stays in Italy he would read or discuss authors like Sannazaro who left their mark on his pastoral and bucolic themes.
 
   As muse for his poetry, we are reminded of the name of Isabel Freire, a Portuguese gentlewoman, whose death weighed heavily on our author´s work. And he died quite suddenly at only thirty five, not having had the time necessary to carefully arrange his literary production.
 
   The life of the Portuguese Francisco Sá de Miranda (1481-1558), runs parallel to that of Garcilaso, who composed poems in Castilian as well as in his mother tongue.
Portrait of
Garcilaso de la Vega

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza		     4.-  Six years after the death of Garcilaso, Boscán died. Their still remained other outstanding poets, such as Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1503-1575), author of poems varied in both their form and content. Alongside his sonnets of love and mythology, are his burlesque poems, uninhibited and opposing Garcilaso´s spiritual line.

Cover of Diana
by Jorge de Montemayor

Edition of Various Poems
Hernando de Acuña

 
   During this epoch, we have two poets of similar characteristics to Garcilaso, inasmuch as his poetry and fundamental path.
 
    They are Hernando de Acuña (1518-1580), remembered for his celebrated sonnet in which he exalts the Spanish Emperor, Charles, and Gutierre de Cetina (1514-1557), author of our literature´s most famous madrigal.
   On a more spiritual and almost religious level, the Portuguese, Jorge de Montemayor (1520-1561) stands out, author of a Cancionero (collection of poems) and the first Spanish pastoral novel which mixes verse with prose: Diana
 
    5.-  In contrast to the Italianised fashions, the voices of poets proposing the return to traditional metres emerged, which brought about a revival of the old lyric. This is represented by Cristóbal de Castillejo (1492-1550) and Gregorio Silvesre (1520-1569). Their poems demonstrate an affectionate sense of humour and open attitude with regard to the literature of their time.

D.Miguel Pérez Rosado.
Ph. D. in Philology.