How Sincere Is Garcilaso’s Love Poetry? Essay

Introduction

Garcilaso de la Vega was the primary writer to compose the Italian Renaissance technique in Spain. Many scholars acknowledge Garcilaso as the founding father of the golden age of Spanish poetry. His sonnets, poems, and pastorals, portray beauty and love while assertively accommodating their transient.

The traditional belief is that Isabel Freire inspired Garcilaso’s love poems. For an extended period, Isabel Freire was thought to be the motivation for many of Garcilaso’s love poems, but that observation is now largely rejected. This is because; there is a possibility, that between 1527 and 1529 Garcilaso had a love relationship with a woman named Elvira from Extremadura. This can be inferred from a will made by Garcilaso in 1529. In the Will, Garcilaso accepts Lorenzo as his illegitimate son, and he suggests the likelihood that Elvira may have had a baby by him.

This paper will examine two schools of thought. The paper will start by examining the traditional school of thought who believes that Isabel was the inspiration to Garcilaso’s poetry. This means his poetry was sincere. Secondly, the paper will discard the idea of sincerity in Garcilaso’s poetry. For instance, the paper will look at the emphasis of voice to give the sincerity effect. That is the rhetoric of presence. Finally, the paper will end with a conclusion stating my thoughts on the discussion.

Main Body

The paper will start by arguing that Garcilaso’s poems are sincere. Garcilaso’s feelings were awakened by failure and reflection of many things. Apart from a lover’s disloyalty, the other problems were change, disappointment, time, loss of his lover, withdrawal of support by friend and destiny. The suggestion in eclogue I match with the case of Isabel Freyre, the nuptials to a person considered poor, the passing away of a child during birth ascertain that Garcilaso was thinking of Isabel. In Eclogue III, Isabel Freyre may, in some capacity have motivated the poem of the dead nymph of Nise tapestry whose name is taken away to the Lusitanian Sea.

One can state with confidence that Garcilaso’s preference of pastoral is conscious. In his song V, he makes it evident that he does not aim to compose an epic. He laments that “If like an Orpheus he could control the world with his poetry, he would not sing of an angry mass dedicated to death his countenance sustained with powder, blood and sweat, but only the power of beauty.¹

In Elegy, I (lines 82-92); Garcilaso candidly expresses his displeasure in war:

Which of now is not hurt by the excess of war?
of danger and of banishment?
Who is not weary of the endless process?
who has not seen blood splill on the blade of his enemies?
who has not thought to die a thousand times and escape by accident?
How many have lost, will lose,their wife, their house and their good name
and how many others will see their fortunes plundered or dispersed?
And for all this, what do we get? A little glory? A prize, a word of gratitude ?²

However, the war does not discourage him from writing. The well-known lines illustrate this. They state, “Taking up now the pen and now the sword”³.John Young notes ”in the fifth stanza of the third eclogue has been has often been taken as evidence that Garcilaso was the perfect Renaissance man, turning effortlessly from one activity to the other.”⁴The present statute of him was put up in a small open place in his indigenous Toledo near where the family abode once situated. The statute depicts him in a brave pose showing off a quill in one hand. Furthermore, it shows the other hand holding on the pommel of the sword. Therefore, the expressions in his poem can be inferred as a protest against how intricate it is to sustain the equilibrium between war and writing poetry. In the second elegy, Garcilaso informs us that he sustains himself on diversity, but not without difficulty.⁵ The above words give the readers a feeling that Garcilaso was toned apart. That he was in conflict with himself. This can be connected to his life being drawn to dissimilar directions.

In proving Garcilaso’s sincerity, he does not compose poems and sonnets about war. Perhaps one can infer that it is because he prefers war as “works. Most likely, he wanted his poems to be detached from that element of his life. As observed earlier, Garcilaso likes his audience and readers to see him with a quill, not a sword. In Garcilaso’s second elegy, which he composed after he was injured, he talks of the returns people expect from the war. It is important to note that he does not talk about the war. As much as he does not hit the royal drum, there is no implication that Garcilaso would have ignored the idea of duty or resigned from the armed forces of Charles V. The passing away of Garcilaso implies that Garcilaso was very courageous in the battle to the verge of carelessness. David Foster identifies Garcilaso with the British war poets of World War I. He states:

“His attitude might be compared to the British war poets of World war I. Wilfred Owen abhorred the suffering and waste of life in trenches but remained strongly loyal to those he fought alongside. Siegfried Sassoon, who made a serious protest against the war, was brave in battle to the point of recklessness.”⁶

The account of his demise is that Gracilaso was leading a forward patrol to capture a tower in which peasants were delaying the military advancement. He was first up the ladder and the peasants plunged a stone on him. The stone hit him on the head and seriously wounded him. This means that Garcilaso did not compose poems about war because he lacked military knowledge, but for the reason that his pastoral poems were in harmony with his emotions.

Lastly, regardless of his pastoral themes, Garcilaso’s poems cannot be observed as a get away from the cruel side of reality. In the eclogue, which has four tapestries, there is escalating bloodshed. This eclogue is commonly taken to be Garcilaso’s masterwork. Without doubt, the tales are at odds with the naive beauty of the surroundings: Orpheus and Eurydice, a story of yearning and hopelessness: Venus and Adonis, filled with blood and grief; Daphne and Apollo a depiction of disturbed longing; and lastly the lifeless nymph unquestionably dead, even if it’s not apparent how the nymph died. Garcilaso discusses the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice once more in one of his sonnets (XV). In these sonnets, he declares that he is more justifiable of pity than Orpheus. He gives the reason that he has lost something internal in him, unlike, Orpheus who has lost Eurydice. In this case, Eurydice is external to Orpheus. At face value, one could state that is an egocentric observation. However, if observed through the eyes of a poet that it may be enlightening. Garcilaso’s worry is not about the special love with some unachievable woman, but a look for identity. Garcilaso’s poetry articulates a feeling of life as an ongoing experience with loss and failure, a vice for which poetry is the only solution.

Moving on, I will reject the traditional argument that Garcilaso’s poetry is based on the idea of sincerity and Garcilaso’s love for Isabel Freire.

Daniel Heiple argues that:

“The concept of a sincere grieving lover has too long dominated Garcilaso scholarship, Heiple argues that critics have traditionally ignored the intellectual aspect of the poet, who in fact was a “thinker more inclined to humanistic speculation than to emotive outpourings”⁷

Therefore, it is essential to take into reflection the various types of Italian Renaissance influence. That is Bembo’s works of poetic imitation; Bernardo Tasso’s response against Petrarch’s and mythological iconography in the Italian work of art era.

The argument of sincerity almost corresponds to that of the biographical understanding of Garcilaso’s best-known poems. This paper will move on and discard both the “sincere” Garcilaso and the view that there is any foundation for a biographical understanding for all his poetry.

Some critiques have stated that Garcilaso’s compositions are Petrarchan. Petrarchan poetry generates a false impression of genuine speech through the amatory character. In addition, Petrarchan poetry generates a false impression through the confessional method. Emotional sincerity and tone are vital.

Some critiques have argued that Garcilaso’s poetry used ‘rhetoric of first response’.

Rhetorical guidebooks taught techniques that the writer could falsely create the feeling of emotions. These are the feelings that the writer claimed to feel. This has the effect of affecting his listeners with their sincerity. It is important to keep in mind that present readers did not believe the poet’s amatory invention was correct. However, some readers did look for a realistic foundation for the poet’s emotions, but without ever taking a sustained biographical approach.⁸ An illustration is the opening sonnet, which allows the readers to ascertain the Petrarchan apprehension in the making of lyric persona.

This helps us understand the extent to which academy poets depart from the amatory style. This is in cooperation with love poetry and humorous verse. The opening sonnet tries to involve readers psychologically in the fiction of the love progression by winning their compassion. Consequently, it obtains a situation of strategic significance in the delivery of the poet’s romance. This is because; it draws attention to the first person singular. In addition, it draws attention to the psychological sincerity and integrity of the amatory occurrence illustrated.

In addition, the introductory sonnet ‘canzoniere’ is another instance where rhetorical strategy is used. The poet notifies the audience that the sonnets will pass on information about the path of a love affair. Furthermore, it conveys the message that the poet lover will himself talk through the medium of his verse to the interested listeners. The effect of this rhetorical strategy is that it forms a connection of sympathy between the poet and the audience. Consequently, the poet receives empathy and mercy from his audience.

Finally, Garcilaso’s last poems lack special sensitivity like those motivated by Isabel Freire. However, they exhibit better skills of versification. Take, for instance, the cancion, composed to assist a friend in his engagement with a Neapolitan woman. The third Eclogue is the final poem that Garcilaso composed. It is a fairy-tale poem, composed in octaves, and illustrating the nymph of the Tagus and the two shepherds. The tone of the octave is so all-encompassing and ingenious. However, as charming as it is, it powers itself and wanes the specific lines of music. Nevertheless, the poet still shows a fine feeling of the delicate rhythm of the hendecasyllable. Sadly, Garcilaso died after composing poetry for four years.

Conclusion

I will discard the traditional belief that Isabel was the inspiration for Garcilaso’s poetry. Therefore, I state that Garcilaso’s poems lacked sincerity. It is important to keep in mind that poetry should not be interpreted at face value. Garcilaso was trying to convey a message deeper than love. He was at war with himself. He did many compositions but he never discussed the actions of war. This means Garcilaso had other important issues that disturbed him. To connect with his audience, there was a need for him to use the style of the rhetoric of first response. As a result, Garcilaso gained the audience’s empathy, the notion of sincerity.

Reference List

Foster, D, ‘Spanish Literature: From Origins to 1700’, 2^nd edn, Garland Publishers, New York, 2001, p.202.

Heiple, D, ‘Garcilaso de la Vega and the Italian Renaissance’, 1^st edn ,Pennsylvania State University Press, Michigan 1994,p.24.

Robins, J, The Love Poetry of the Literary Academies in the Resigns of Philip IV and Charles II, 2^nd edn, Tamesis Publishers, London, 1997,p.108.

Young, J, ‘Selected Poems of Garcilaso De La Vega’, 3rd edn, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 2009.p.19,p.20,p.32,52 79,

Footnotes

1. J. Young, Selected Poems of Garcilaso De La Vega, 3rd edn, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 2009.p.32, Lines 13 -15.
2. Ibid,p.52.
3. Ibid, p.79.
4. Ibid, p.19.
5. Ibid,p.20.
6. D Foster, ‘Spanish Literature: From Origins to 1700’, 2^nd edn, Garland Publishers, New York, 2001, p.202.
7. D.Heiple ,Garcilaso de la Vega and the Italian Renaissance, 1^st edn ,Pennsylvania State University Press, Michigan 1994,p.24.
8. J.Robins, The Love Poetry of the Literary Academies in the Resigns of Philip IV and Charles II, 2^nd edn, Tamesis Publishers, London, 1997,p.108.