History of Spanish Literature, Volume 1John Murray, 1849 - Spanish literature |
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adventures afterwards Alfonso the Wise Alvaro de Luna Amadis Amadis de Gaula Antonio appeared Aragon Archpriest Argote de Molina Ayala ballads beginning Bernardo Bernardo del Carpio called Cancionero Castile Castilian Celestina century character Charles the Fifth chivalry Christian Chro Chronicle Coplas Count court Crónica curious death Don John Manuel Don Quixote doubt drama early edition favour Ferdinand and Isabella Fernan fiction folio followed French Granada Hist honour imitation Italian John the Second Juan de Mena king knight language Latin letters Madrid manuscript Marquis of Santillana Moorish notice Obras original Paris passage Pedro Perez period persons poem poet poetical popular Portuguese prince printed prose Provençal published reign rhyme romances Sanchez says seems Spain Spanish ballads Spanish literature Spanish poetry spirit stanzas story style tion Toledo tone translation Valencia verses whole written
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Page 26 - These are among the most characteristic passages in the poem. But it is throughout striking and original. It is, too, no less national, Christian, and loyal. It breathes everywhere the true Castilian spirit, such as the old chronicles represent it amidst the achievements and disasters of the Moorish wars; and has very few traces of an Arabic influence in its language, and none at all in its imagery or fancies. The whole of it, therefore, deserves to be read, and to be read in the original; for it...
Page 421 - Thus to allow coming events to cast their shadows before, is better suited to the purposes of the literary historian than of the novelist. His remarks on the Inquisition are striking: " The results of such extraordinary traits in the national character could not fail to be impressed upon the literature of any country, and particularly upon a literature which, like that of Spain, had always been strongly marked by the popular temperament and peculiarities. But the period was not one in which such...
Page 23 - Their shields before their breasts, forth at once they go, Their lances in the rest, levelled fair and low, Their banners and their crests waving in a row, Their heads all stooping down toward the saddle-bow. The Cid was in the midst, his shout was heard afar : " I am Rui Diaz, the champion of Bivar ! Strike among them, gentlemen, for sweet mercy's sake...
Page 137 - James's holy shrine, Thy knighthood first was won ; When Ferdinand, my royal sire, Confessed thee for a son. He gave thee then thy knightly arms, My mother gave thy steed ; Thy spurs were buckled by these hands, That thou no grace might'st need.
Page 53 - doth signify a cruel lord, who, by force, or by craft, or by treachery, hath obtained power over any realm or country ; and such men be of such nature, that, when once they have grown strong in the land, they love rather to work their own profit, though it be...
Page 24 - When they wheeled and turned, as many more lay slain, You might see them raise their lances and level them again. There you might see the breastplates, how they were cleft in twain, And many a Moorish shield lie shattered on the plain. The pennons that were white marked with a crimson stain, The horses running wild whose riders had been slain.
Page 461 - Celestina ;" and some of its sketehes are among the most fresh and spirited that can be found in the whole class of prose works of fiction...
Page 26 - Earnestly their minds are fixed each upon his foe. Face to face they take their place, anon the trumpets blow; They stir their horses with the spur, they lay their lances low, They bend their shields before their breasts, their face to the saddlebow, Earnestly their minds are fixed each upon his foe. The heavens are overcast above, the earth trembles below; The people stand in silence, gazing on the show.
Page 228 - Burgundy, professedly in search of adventures, which they strangely mingled with a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; seeming to regard both as religious exercises. And as late as the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, Fernando del Pulgar, their wise secretary, gives us the names of several distinguished noblemen, personally known to himself, who had gone into foreign countries, ' in order,' as he says, ' to try the fortune of arms with any cavalier that might be pleased to adventure with them, and so gain honor...
Page 202 - As we close it up, (he says—speaking of an old chronicle he has been criticizing.) — we should not forget, that the whole series, extending over full two hundred and fifty years, from the time of Alfonso the Wise to the accession of Charles the Fifth, and covering the New World as well as the Old, is unrivalled in richness, in variety, and in picturesque and poetical elements. In truth, the chronicles of no other nation can, on such points, be compared to them ; not even the Portuguese, which...