''Las Soledades'' (''Solitudes'') is a poem by

Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic prebendary for the Church of Córdoba. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widel ...

, composed in 1613 in

silva (Spanish strophe) In Spanish poetry, a silva is a poetic form consisting of in eleven- and seven- syllable lines: hendecasyllables (''endecasílabos'') and heptasyllables (''heptasílabos''), the majority of which are rhymed although there is no fixed order or rhyme, ...

in hendecasyllables (lines of eleven syllables) and heptasyllables (seven syllables). Góngora intended to divide the poem in four parts that were to be called "Soledad de los campos" (Solitude of the fields), "Soledad de las riberas" (Solitude of the riverbanks), "Soledad de las selvas" (Solitude of the forests), and "Soledad del yermo" (Solitude of the wasteland). Góngora only wrote the "dedicatoria al Duque de Béjar" (dedication to the Duke of

Béjar Béjar () is a town and municipality of Spain located in the province of Salamanca, autonomous community of Castile and León. As of 2018, it had a population of 12,961. The historical development of the town has been linked to its once thriving ...

) and the first two ''Soledades'', the second of which remained unfinished. However, some critics like John Beverley propose that the "unfinished" ending can be read as a literary technique that suggests a connection with the beginning of the poem. From the time of their composition, ''Soledades'' inspired a great debate regarding the difficulty of its language and its mythological and erudite references without an apparent didactic purpose. It was attacked by the Count of Salinas and Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar (who composed an ''Antidote against the Soledades''). The work, however, was defended by Salcedo Coronel, José Pellicer,

Francisco Fernández de Córdoba Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

(Abad de Rute), the

Count of Villamediana The County of Villamediana () was a title in the Spanish nobility The Spanish nobility are people who possess a title of nobility confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, as well as those indivi ...

Gabriel Bocángel Gabriel Bocángel y Unzueta (1603–1658) was a playwright and poet of the Spanish Golden Age. Born in Madrid, he studied at Alcalá de Henares and then served as librarian to Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand. He also served as bookkeeper and chron ...

, and overseas,

Juan de Espinosa Medrano Juan de Espinosa Medrano (Calcauso, Apurimac, 1630? – Cuzco, 1688), known in history as ''Lunarejo'' (or "The Spotty-Faced"), was an Indigenous and noble cleric, and sacred preacher. He was a professor, theologian, archdeacon, playwright, a ...

and

Juana Inés de la Cruz Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (12 November 1651 – 17 April 1695), was a Hieronymite nun and a Mexican writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, nicknamed "Th ...

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numer ...

would later add his own ''Soledad tercera'' (''Paráfrasis incompleta'') The

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

of John Crowley's '' Aegypt'' series is named '' The Solitudes'' and the Góngora poem is read by the protagonist, and is referenced throughout the plot.

English translations

*''The Solitudes of Don Luis De Gongora'' (1931) English, Spanish, Book edition: translated into English verse by Edward Meryon Wilson. Published by Gordon Fraser, Cambridge: The Minority Press, 1931. 80 pages. Referenced Dámaso Sr. Alonso's 1927 text of "Las Soledades", published by the Revista de occidenta., Occidenta Magazine, Madrid.--p. xviii. 80 pages
Based on Sr. Alonso's ... text of Las soledades, published by the Revista de occidenta."--p. xviii *''The Solitudes of Don Luis De Gongora'' (1965) Translated by Edward Meryon Wilson, London: Cambridge University Press. *''The Solitudes of Luis De Gongora'' (1968) Translated by Gilbert F. Cunningham, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. *''Luis De Gongora: Soledades'' (1997) Translated by Philip Polack, London: Bristol Classical Press. *''The Solitudes'' (2011) Translated by

Edith Grossman Edith Marion Grossman (née Dorph; March 22, 1936 – September 4, 2023) was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American literature, Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works o ...

, New York: Penguin Books.

References

External links

Soledades
(text) *{{in lang, es}

(text) 1613 books Spanish poems