Rosalía de Castro: Life, Poetry, and Galician Romanticism
Rosalía de Castro: A 19th-Century Romantic Voice
Contextualization
Rosalía de Castro lived in the 19th century. Her poetry is part of the Romantic movement, an era of great societal confrontation. Romanticism, as a cultural and political movement, opposed rationalism. Intellectuals of the time realized that reason alone could not explain everything. There are aspects that reason cannot fully grasp: feelings, emotions, ideals, and fantasies. Romantics vindicated their right to express themselves freely.
Rosalía was a Galician author. Galician literature, which experienced a golden age between the 12th and 14th centuries, was suppressed during a period called the “Dark Centuries.” It would be reborn with strength in the 19th century. The Rexurdimento, a movement dedicated to the recovery of the literary use of the Galician language, took place in this century. A parallel movement, the Renaixença, occurred simultaneously in Catalonia.
Analysis of Selected Poems
10 – In Their Eyes…
This poem criticizes passionate love, portraying it as a source of pain. It suggests that the initial happiness of love often leads to disappointment, as love can fade over time.
- Stanza 1: The beauty of the eyes causes him pain.
- Stanza 2: It is a happiness that cannot be explained with words.
- Stanza 3: She says that love is happy and very beautiful because it ends up causing damage. It is what the soul suffers because of love.
Cinderellas of 9…
This poem establishes an identification between the landscape and the poet’s soul, symbolizing desolation. Rosalia contemplates, from her window, a landscape dominated by the gray color of winter, associated with old age and death. In that environment, a farmer with his dog crosses the deserted mountain. In this area, there is a note of color: a green field and a white seagull, a sign of hope. However, this hope is neutralized when the seagull lands in a dark pool. This reflects Rosalia’s soul: lonely, old, sad, and lifeless. In the end, she expresses the desire for the winter of her life to be followed by a cheerful spring, an unattainable dream.
11 – In the Soul, I Carried
This poem explores the connection between thought, doubt, and pain, which always accompany the poet. The pain is described as vast and profound. Sometimes, hope emerges in this tormented soul, but it soon fades. In the end, only disappointment and hopelessness remain.
12 – They Say Plants Don’t Speak…
Rosalía hears nature. Some call her crazy for dreaming of eternal spring, even though she will soon be an old woman whose life is fading. Life fades, but one can cope with that reality through dreams, although this is ultimately impossible.
13 – With Pure…
This is a hymn to the Galician landscape. On a night when the moon shines in a special way, illuminating everything, a deep peace and tranquility are felt. This indicates a moment of calm for the author.
14 – I Love Them…
This poem shows Rosalia’s love for her land. She imagines the bells ceasing to play forever, which fills her with sadness and accentuates her loneliness because those bells fill her soul. This poem reveals Rosalia’s familiarity with the world beyond and her relationship with the shadows, with the dead.
15 – At the Height…
This poem describes the scene of a funeral. The first verse tells us how those close to the deceased utter cries. In the second stanza, that sad concert becomes a symphony. In the third stanza, the singing stops, which is somewhat ironic.
The Lyric Genre
Lyric poetry is a literary genre in which the author expresses their feelings and emotions about an entity or object of inspiration, using verse and paying attention to the number of syllables.