To enhance my Spanish skills, I borrowed a poetry book called ‘Luis De Góngora: Poetic Anthology’ from a Spanish acquaintance. Studying Spanish in Andalusia meant that I had heard about the poet but never read his work before. The book barely exceeded 80 pages and the cover had the melancholic portrait of Góngora.
It was published by the Andalusian Ministry of Culture in 2007, about 380 years after Góngora’s death with 100,000 copies for distribution purposes only.
The book was divided into two sections: the first is an introduction that includes the poet’s biography and an insight into his poetry, and the second is his poems.
The introduction written by Angelina Costa Palacios was very interesting as she included thorough details about the poet’s life, which reflected the immense amount of research done to produce this book.
The poems included are his masterpieces and other enjoyable ones that describe nature, different cities in Spain even a critique of a lady in the court who smelled bad!
His simple philosophy of life is described in the poem “Let Me Go Warm” where he lists simple pleasures of life such as sitting beside a chimney and eating an apple tart compared to pleasure gained from money and power, ending each verse with: “And let the world laugh, and it will.”
But who was Luis De Góngora? He was born in Córdoba in 1561 to a noble family. His father was a judge and his mother was of a pure Christian lineage. He was given her surname to secure future education and job prospects. He produced his first and famous poem ‘Sister Marica’ in 1580, a heartwarming composition narrated by a child who shares his festivity plans for the next day with his sister Marica including games that they’d play and food that they’d eat.
In 1586, Góngora was appointed a priest, which made him travel around different cities in Spain such as Granada, Salamanca, and Madrid.
During his residency in Valladolid in 1603, he met the famous poet Quevedo, his lifetime opponent as both belonged to different Baroque movements. Quevedo accused Góngora of imitating his style and wrote many satiric poems, making fun of Góngora’s gambling habits as well as of his large nose - describing him as a man stuck to a nose.
Nevertheless, Góngora’s linguistic skills were so exceptional that his writing style became known as ‘Góngorismo.’ It was characterised by its ‘syntactic complexity and a large number of metaphors and literary words.”
This was embodied in two of his masterpieces namely Solitude (1613) and the Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea (1627) which was published after his death. His influence was not only restricted to Spain but exceeded to Hispanic poets such as the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695).
Góngora revived words that were little used and made them part of the common language used until now such as adolescent, eclipse, and portion. Despite his genius, Góngora’s life took a tragic turn after the death of three of his defenders in the Spanish court.
Consequently, his work did not get published but was circulated and compiled in songbooks for free. Moreover, his love of cards and bullfights caused his bankruptcy and made him sell his house to Quevedo before returning to Córdoba, his birthplace. In his final days, Góngora suffered from memory loss and died in 1627.
Three hundred years later his work was revived by the Generation of 27 - that included Lorca and Alberti - who named themselves that as a tribute to the tricentennial anniversary of Góngora’s death. All in all, Góngora’s poetry was a delightful discovery and a pleasure to read.
Rasha Al-Raisi is a writer and the author of The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
