Catalan Renaissance Poetry: A Comparative Analysis
Century and the Fifteenth Century: A Decay and Renaissance
‘The pattern’ was written by Bonaventura Carles Aribau (Barcelona, 1798-1862) while working in Madrid. It was published by The Steam in 1833 and became the symbol of the movement known as the Renaissance. This movement promoted the exaltation of the Romantic landscape (Montseny, Llobregat) and “The pattern” was the first poem to be published according to the new Romantic tastes.
For Aribau, exiled from Catalonia, there is only one way to satisfy his longing for his homeland: language. He uses syntactic resources, metaphors, and symbols to express his farewell to Catalonia. He yearns for the geography, the torrents, and the Catalan language. The poet turns to the language and personifies it. The recovery of the language and identity are central topics of the Renaissance. Aribau compares himself to a migrated tree. In the nineteenth century, Catalan language reemerges.
The ode is structured in six eight-line stanzas with Alexandrine verses rhyming AABBCCDD, with alternating masculine and feminine rhymes. Each verse has 12 syllables with consonant rhyme.
Nouveau: Miquel Costa i Llobera’s “Pine of Formentor”
Miquel Costa i Llobera wrote the poem “Pine of Formentor,” taking as a reference the pines on the cliffs of the Formentor peninsula, on the northeast coast of Mallorca. The landscapes serve as inspiration for his work. The first stanzas praise the pine and express the poet’s love for it. The second and third stanzas sing the virtues of the tree, attributing to it simplicity, perfection, and strength against the elements.
The fifth and sixth stanzas speak of the creative genius that dominates everything. From the seventh stanza onwards, the “Pine of Formentor” becomes a symbol of the poet’s perfect guide: the stimulus for the surprising and the unknown. The pine is converted into a symbol of strength and perfection.
The poem features archaisms (“my heart / ses leaves”) and Mediterranean imagery (vineyard, olive tree, orange, pine). It also employs comparisons (like a giant), emphasizes the vitality of the pine, and uses celestial imagery.
The poem consists of four stanzas with fourteen Alexandrine verses in an AABBCCDD rhyme scheme. Rhetorically, it uses personification and hyperbole.
Nouveau: Joan Maragall’s “The Blind Cow”
“The Blind Cow” is one of the poems by Joan Maragall (Barcelona, 1860-1911), a thinking person, conservative, and an exponent of modernist poetry. He wrote as a refuge from the disaster of 1898, where Spain lost Cuba and Puerto Rico. It was probably written in 1893, inspired by the landscape between Camprodón and Sant Joan de les Abadesses, where the poet summered with his family. This poem is very popular and falls within modernism, where nature takes on great importance. Maragall captures the essence of natural observation. He writes from reality, not imagination, using a vitalist spirit, as shown when the cow rises again.
The poem features repetition of sounds (alliteration), creating a slow pace, like the cow’s walk. One of the themes is solitude. Literary resources are used to highlight and isolate concepts: blind, alone, fall. The poem also uses enjambment, polysyndeton, antithesis, and alliteration. There is an enumeration of actions: clashes of snout (perhaps the author wants to show the clash of society with reality), returns (vitality, optimism). The poem repeats sounds and consonants. Many verses describe the causes of the cow’s blindness. It is marginalized by its tragic fate, surrounded by loneliness, but ends up accepting it.
The poem consists of twenty-three deca-syllabic verses without a regular rhyme scheme.
Nouveau: Joan Maragall’s “Ode to Spain”
“Ode to Spain” reflects Joan Maragall’s position on the crisis brought about by the Spanish-American War in the summer of 1898. The poem, written in 1898, was published in the journal Catalonia. The main theme is regenerationism. Spain is personified as a mother. The poem uses the first person and features enjambment in verses 1-2 to isolate the concept of “not-Castile.” It does not mention Catalan, as it was written in Spanish. Rhetorical questions appear in the third verse, and the author engages in a monologue with Spain. He concludes that he cannot change the country.
The poem uses Spanish metrics with a combination of 9-syllable and 10-syllable verses. Key concepts include homeland, identity, and language as a symbol. Maragall criticizes the people for clinging to past riches and calls for regeneration. He advocates for a new Spain, leaving behind the old ways.
The poem is structured in eight six-line stanzas with irregular meter and rhyme scheme. It is presented as a dialogue with Spain, but it is essentially a monologue of the poet using rhetorical questions.