Table of contents:
LIFE
José de Espronceda is a Spanish author who belongs to the Romanticism movement. He was born in Almendralejo, Badajoz province, in 1808 and died in Madrid in 1842.
he was known as the Spanish Byron for being one of the best poets of Spanish romanticism. During the ten years that the absolutist regime lasted in Spain, he fled from it to Lisbon, first, and to London, later. During his stay in Lisbon, he fell in love with a woman named Teresa Mancha, with whom he later lived in Paris while planning a conspiracy with the liberals.
In the year 1833 he returned to Spain under an amnesty. The treatment that he dedicated to Teresa was getting worse and worse culminating this abandonment with his work "Canto a Teresa". Espronceda focused his life on literary creation, but also, in part, on his political incursion, forming part of a republican board in 1840. Two years later he died of typhus.
LYRICS
His first poem of his, encouraged by his teacher Lista de él, was not finished, but it was epic in nature and was en titled «Pelayo». He also overlooked his historical novel called "Sancho Saldaña" in 1834.
Except the previous two, the rest of the poems can be classified into three different groups:
– Poems Political and Patriotic:
«Dos de Mayo» and the sonnet to the death of Torrijos, who was shot for rebelling against oppression,they are two poems that have an ex alted tone and demand revenge.
“To the homeland” goes against the absolutism that ruled the country.
– Poems addressed to marginalized people and how they break the rules:
These are protest poems aimed at raising social awareness. The most relevant are: "The Pirate's Song", "The Beggar", "The Death Row", "The Executioner" and "The Cossack's Song".
– Poems dedicated to the ex altation of nature, love or friendship: the most important work of this group is the one titled “Hymn to the Sun”, aimed above all at nature. This poem is very long and applies carpe diem in a very creative and original way.
THE STUDENT FROM SALAMANCA AND THE DEVIL WORLD
These two works deserve a point apart from the rest of José de Espronceda's works for being considered his two best poems
«The student from Salamanca» is a long-standing legend that is combined with elements of a dramatic nature. The plot revolves around Félix de Montemar, who murders the brother of his lover. This action has consequences that lead him to a satanic situation and punishment, even running into Beelzebub, who takes him to hell.
«The world devil» is a philosophical poem of considerable length that was full of symbology and of which he never wrote an end. In this poem, the pessimistic vision with which he faced life doomed to death stands out. Near the end of the poem he inserts the"Canto a Teresa" that he wrote years ago without having a very coherent connection.
