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, Federico Madrazo, Alfred Tennyson, Richard Chenevix Trench and Diego de Alvear.

Life

Espronceda was born in Almendralejo, at the Province of Badajoz. As a youth, he studied at the Colegio San Mateo at

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 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, conspiring against Ferdinand VII and intending to avenge the death of Rafael del Riego. For this, he was imprisoned in a monastery and exiled. Afterward, he left Spain and lived in

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, Belgium, France, England and

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

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in 1842. In 1902, his body was moved to Panteón de Hombres Ilustres, 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'', '' ¡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. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, th ...

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 and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, 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