Description
Book SynopsisMiguel de Unamuno, one of Spain's foremost literary figures, is better known for his essays and novels than for his poetry. Yet it was as a poet that he wished to be remembered and it is in his poems that he reveals the most intimate and sensitive part of his complex personality. To truly get to know Unamuno as creator it is necessary to read his poetry. This anthology of 50 poems, though modest in comparison to his large poetic output, offers the reader some of his most characteristic poems, with an English version prepared by a well-known Unamuno scholar. The English renderings are sufficiently free to allow for the use of rhyme and regular metre, but strive to capture Unamuno's highly personal way of looking at our human circumstance and destiny. In effect the anthology offers a way of approaching Unamuno that differs significantly from an approach via his prose works: it projects a more meditative and warm-hearted individual than the combative Unamuno of popular perception. The 50 poems, each with a short commentary relating it to Unamuno's personal circumstances and to his thought, are arranged under six headings: (1) Family and Home; (2) God and Mortality; (3) The Land; (4) Exile; (5) Language and Poetry; (6) Philosophical Meditations. The anthology thus offers a microcosm of Unamuno's poetic world and should be useful to those who have little or no knowledge of him. It provides a way of learning something about the man and the writer through a part of his production that has received less attention than it deserves and which projects a significantly different image from the widespread view we have of him. The poems are preceded by a substantial introduction which explores the importance and relevance of Unamuno's poetry, his major themes, and his style.
Table of Contents
- Introduction 1
- Unamuno’s Poetic Production 1
- Poetic Themes 7
- The Translation 18
- Editions of Unamuno’s Poetry 22
- Select Bibliography 24
- I Family And Home
- 1 Volviendo a casa / Returning Home 28
- 2 El hogar / Home 30
- 3 Dulce, silencioso pensamiento / Sweet, Silent Thought 32
- 4 Al niño enfermo / To the Sick Child 34
- 5 En la muerte de Concha / Upon the Death of Concha 38
- 6 En mi estudio / In my Study 40
- 7 El niño y el muñeco / The Child and the Doll 44
- 8 La presencia de Concha / Concha’s Presence 46
- II God And Mortality
- 9 Silencios vacíos / Empty Silence 52
- 10 Para después de mi muerte / After I Cease to Be 54
- 11 Leyendo un libro vivo de un amigo muerto /
- Reading the Living Book of a Dead Friend 60
- 12 A la espera / Waiting 62
- 13 Ríos de mi vida / Rivers of my Life 64
- 14 Irrequietum cor / Restless Heart 66
- 15 La oración del ateo / The Atheist’s Prayer 68
- 16 Salmo II / Psalm II 70
- III The Land
- 17 Salamanca / Salamanca 76
- 18 Tierra del Tormes / Land of the Tormes 80
- 19 Al Tormes / To the River Tormes 82
- 20 La peña de Francia / The Rock of France 84
- 21 El lago de San Martín / The Lake at San Martín 86
- 22 Medina de Rioseco / Medina de Rioseco 88
- 23 La voz de la campana / The Voice of the Bell 90
- 24 Portugal (i) / Portugal (i) 92
- 25 Portugal (ii) / Portugal (ii) 94
- IV Exile
- 26 Mi otro sino / My Other Fate 98
- 27 Olas lejanas / Distant Waves 100
- 28 Betancuria / Betancuria 102
- 29 Fuerteventura / Fuerteventura 104
- 30 En el exilio / In Exile 106
- 31 Romances fronterizos / Frontier Ballads 108
- 32 Orhoit gutaz / Remember Us 110
- 33 El cementerio de Hendaya / The Cemetery at Hendaye 114
- V Language and Poetry
- 34 Las caras de la poesía / The Faces of Poetry 120
- 35 La labor del poeta / The Task of the Poet 122
- 36 La palabra que vibra / The Vibrant Word 124
- 37 La palabra cruel / The Cruel Word 126
- 38 La palabra símbolo / The Word as Symbol 128
- 39 Non omnis moriar / Not All of Me Will Die 130
- 40 El nombre del Hombre / The Name of Man 132
- 41 Los hijos de silencio / The Children of Silence 134
- VI Philosophical Meditations
- 42 Kant y la rana / Kant and the Frog 140
- 43 ¿Libres? / Are we Free? 144
- 44 Dios y la palabra / God and the Word 146
- 45 Entropía / Entropy 148
- 46 Las agujas del reloj / The Hands of the Clock 150
- 47 Filosofemas / Philosophemes 152
- 48 La última palabra de Hamlet / Hamlet’s Last Word 154
- 49 Anamnesis / Reminiscence 158
- Conclusion
- 50 La muerte es sueño / Death is a Dream 162
- Commentaries on the Poems 165
