Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (April 11, 1772 - March 11, 1857), was a Spanish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

Life

He was born 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 ...

. After completing his studies at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

he was called to the bar. In 1801 Quintana produced a tragedy, ''El Duque de Viseo'', founded on M. G. Lewis's ''Castle Spectre''; his ''Pelayo'' (1805), written on a patriotic theme, was more successful. The first volume of his ''Vidas de Españoles célebres'', containing lives of Spanish patriots, stirred the public imagination and secured Quintana the post of secretary to the Cortes during the French invasion. His proclamations and odes fanned the national enthusiasm into flame. But he was ill rewarded for his services, for on the return of

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

he was imprisoned at

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

from 1814 to 1820. He was finally given a small post in the civil service, became tutor to Queen Isabella II, and was nominated senator. Though publicly crowned as the representative poet of Spain (1855), he seems to have lived in poverty. Quintana died at the age of 84. His poems, thirty-four in number, are inspired by philanthropy and patriotism; the style is occasionally gallicized, and the thought is not profound, but his nobility of sentiment and resounding rhetoric attract many generations of Spaniards.

References

;Attribution *

Sources

*Albert Dérozier: "Les étapes de la vie officielle de Manuel Josef Quintana". Bulletin Hispanique 66 (1964): 363-383 *Albert Dérozier: Manuel Josef Quintana et la naissance du libéralisme en Espagne. 2 vols. Paris: Les belles Lettres, 1968-70. Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon, 95, 105. *Albert Dérozier: Manuel José Quintana y el nacimiento del liberalismo en España / Albert Dérozier. Trad.: Manuel Moya. Madrid: Turner, 1978. *Diego Martínez Torrón: Manuel José Quintana y el espíritu de la España liberal (con textos desconocidos). Sevilla: Ed. Alfar, 1995. . *E. Mérimée: "Les poésies liriques de Quintana." Bulletin Hispanique 4 (1902): 119-153. *José A. Valero: "Manuel José Quintana y el sublime moral." Hispanic Review 71 (2003): 585-611

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quintana, Manuel Jose 1772 births 1857 deaths 19th-century Spanish poets 19th-century Spanish male writers Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish male poets University of Salamanca alumni