José Ignacio Javier Oriol Encarnación de Espronceda y Delgado (25 March 1808 – 23 May 1842) was a Romantic Spanish poet, one of the most representative authors of the 19th century. He was influenced by

Eugenio de Ochoa Eugenio de Ochoa (1815–72) was a Spanish author, writer, and translator. References *Richard Eugene Chandler and Kessel Schwartz''A New History of Spanish Literature''.Louisiana State University Press, 1991. ; pp. 337–338 External ...

, Federico Madrazo,

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Richard Chenevix Trench Richard Chenevix Trench (Richard Trench until 1873; 9 September 1807 – 28 March 1886) was an Anglican archbishop and poet. Life He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Richard Trench (1774–1860), barrister-at-law, and the Dublin wri ...

and

Diego de Alvear Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. E ...

Life

Espronceda was born in Almendralejo, at the

Province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the s ...

. As a youth, he studied at the Colegio San Mateo at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, having Alberto Lista as a teacher. When he was 15 years old, he formed a secret society named "''Los Numantinos''" alongside his friends Ventura de la Vega and

Patricio de la Escosura Patricio de la Escosura Morrogh (5 November 1807–1878) was a Spanish politician, journalist, playwright and author associated with the Romantic school Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, ...

, conspiring against

Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

and intending to avenge the death of

Rafael del Riego Rafael del Riego y Flórez (7 April 1784 – 7 November 1823) was a Spanish general and liberal politician, who played a key role in the outbreak of the Liberal Triennium (''Trienio liberal'' in Spanish). Early life Riego was born on 7 April ...

. For this, he was imprisoned in a monastery and exiled. Afterward, he left Spain and lived in Lisbon, Belgium, France, England and

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. On his return to Spain in 1833, he became active in the extreme left-wing of Spanish political culture. Espronceda is also known for his affair with

Teresa Mancha Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

, for whom he wrote "Canto a Teresa" (from ''El diablo mundo''). He died of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

in 1842. In 1902, his body was moved to

Panteón de Hombres Ilustres The Pantheon of Illustrious Men ( es, Panteón de Hombres Ilustres) is a royal site in Madrid, under the administration of the Patrimonio Nacional. It was designed by Spanish architect Fernando Arbós y Tremanti, and is located in Basilica of N ...

, Spain.

Literary production

Having been inspired to a literary career by his teacher Alberto Lista, Espronceda began to write the historical poem ''El Pelayo'' during his stay in the monastery. The poem was never completed. Later he wrote the novel ''Sancho Saldaña''. His other important works include '' El estudiante de Salamanca'', whose main character is Don Félix de Montemar, ''

El mendigo EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

'', '' ¡Guerra!'', '' Al dos de mayo'' and '' El diablo mundo'', long

lyric poem Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

s, the latter remained unfinished. Also important were ''A Jarifa en una orgía'', ''El verdugo'', ''El canto del cosaco'', ''La canción del pirata'' and ''Himno al sol''. Many of his works display the tendencies of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, and along with José Zorrilla he is considered Spain's most important Romantic poet, as well as the most rebellious. In 2006 Diego Martinez Torron has published the first annotated edition of the complete works of José de Espronceda with unpublished text, and with also unpublished text in ''El otro Espronceda''.El otro Espronceda, edicion de Diego Martinez Torron, Sevilla, Alfar, 2016, (Alfar Universidad, 215)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * Geoffrey Brereton, ''Quelques précisions sur les sources d'Espronceda'' (Paris, 1933)

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espronceda, Jose de 1808 births 1842 deaths People from Almendralejo 19th-century Spanish poets Romantic poets Writers from Extremadura Spanish male poets 19th-century Spanish male writers Spanish literature Romanticism