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|  | by Roger Moore
St. Thomas University
Fredericton, NB, Canada
Some Comments on Teaching Golden Age Spanish Poetry
Introduction and Declaration
Commitment to Poetry
The Creative Classroom
The Poem Itself
Peripheral Studies
Some Immediate Conclusions
Introduction and Declaration
This is not an academic paper on ways in which to interpret Quevedo's Miré los muros de la patria mía; rather it is a collection of a variety of means by which the poem may be introduced to a class of students at various levels of Spanish. Note that I use the word introduce, for I am not certain that poetry can be taught, especially in a crowded classroom to a very different generation of students that, on average, reads less, writes less, is more visually conscious, and appreciates different forms of media from the ones to which we, as teachers, are accustomed.
In fact, I would ask you, at this point, to meditate briefly upon the meanings of poetry and teaching, for the socio-cultural spaces that surround Quevedo's poem extend beyond the writing and reception of Quevedo's text in seventeenth century Spain to include its reception in the 21st Century: that is to say, today or tomorrow, in your classroom, wherever that may be. This gives an added importance to the exact relationship between you and your students, your way of communicating with them, and their own manner of allowing themselves to be communicated with. There are, as all good teachers know, some compromises to be made in each individual classroom situation. What compromises you make are up to you; for each teacher must approach her own class from her own strengths and her own interests and must involve her own students in her own special way. Thus, I begin by stressing the necessity of offering and finding meaning within your own individual social and academic context, that context being the intimacy of your methods, in your class room, faced by your students.
It is also important to realize that we live in a world that, while not exactly denying poetry, has placed severe and very different demands upon it. In much of our society, like it or not, the closest things to metaphysical wit, in many instances are, the television advertisement, the rock video, rap music, the catchy headline, a musical jingle, and the political one liner, destined to put down an unfortunate rival. The question I place before you now is: how do we make poetry, any poetry, let alone classical Spanish poetry of the seventeenth century, rise off the page and live for the students in our classes? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to resuscitate classical poetry. How can you, in your classroom, in the front line of the educational trenches, bring this poem Miré los muros de la patria mía back to life and to make it meaningful for your students?
How you do this depends upon many factors:
- you
- your personality
- your relationship with your students
- the level of your students
- the personalities and work rate of your students
Above all, how you confront your class, on a daily basis, is an independent decision, taken by you, perhaps in consultation with your chair, with your colleagues, with your students, perhaps taken on your own. What I offer are some ideas that have worked for me at various times and in different circumstances, sometimes with this particular poem, sometimes when introducing other forms of poetry. Hopefully, some of these ideas will also work for you.
Commitment to Poetry
If you are not committed to poetry, it can be difficult to present poetry in a positive way. Since I am a published poet and totally committed to poetry, I often begin my public appearances by reading a poem. I choose a different poem each time, one that in my opinion suits the circumstances and provides my audience with an insight into my current way of thinking. I do this for several reasons:
- to express my commitment to, and my confidence and delight in, poetry
- to show that poetry plays an important role in my daily life
- to draw attention to the sound and structure of words
- to present imagery and insight as necessary and meaningful parts of our world
- to go beyond linear thinking
- to make an audience receptive to the enriched nuances of words
- to draw an audience's attention to the intimate relationship between reader and audience, poet and listener
Following this tradition, I will now invite you to read a poem about, amongst other things, the relationship between teacher and taught. Pedro Salinas once wrote that "La poesía se explica sola, si no, no se explica." With this poem that I now present, I am demonstrating my commitment to poetry and my questioning of a certain style of authoritative, punitive teaching. I will say no more.
Inquisitor
He told me to read,
and plucked my left eye from its orbit;
he slashed the glowing globe of the other.
Knowledge leaked out: loose threads dangling,
the reverse side of a tapestry.
He told me to speak,
and squeezed dry dust between my teeth.
I spouted a diet of Catechism and Confession.
He emptied my mind of poetry and history.
He destroyed the myths of my people.
He filled me with fantasies from a far off land.
I live in a desert where people die of thirst,
yet he talked to me of a man who walked on water.
On all sides, as stubborn as stucco,
the prison walls listened, and learned.
I counted the years with feeble scratches:
one, four, two, three;
for an hour, each day, the sun shone on my face;
for an hour, at night, the moon kept me company.
Broken worlds lay shattered inside me.
Dust gathered in my people's ancient dictionary.
My heart was a weathered stone
withering within my chest.
It longed for the witch doctor's magic,
for the healing slash of wind and rain.
The Inquisitor told me to write down our history:
I wrote how his church had come to save us.
©Roger Moore, 2000
Listening: We sometimes forget that poetry is written to be read aloud and listened to. We should bear this in mind when presenting Miré los muros de la patria mía. So: record the poem in Spanish; play it to your students. Get colleagues to record the poem. Play different recordings in class. Give the students different voices, different pronunciations, different reading rhythms. Let the students talk (in English or Spanish) about poetry as sound. Do any of your students play musical instruments? Ask them to try putting Miré los muros de la patria mía to rhythm and music.
Speaking: Ask students to formulate questions about the sound of the poem, the meaning of words that are heard, but not yet seen. What ideas / images / metaphors do the sounds trigger? Ask students to repeat what they have heard, or think that they have heard. Let them summarize what they have heard, let them summarize what they have "seen" in the images and metaphors of the poem. Let them, from sound only, create their own poems, their own metaphors, in English or Spanish, depending on the level and the language in which you are teaching.
Reading: Circulate the written text of Miré los muros de la patria mía. Ask students to read the poem to each other; demonstrate your own understanding of the poem's rhythms and its natural speech breaks; use phonetic symbols for aids to pronunciation; use standard markings for those natural rhythms and breaks in the poetry, also use ascending lines and descending lines at the places where the speaker's voice should rise and fall; ask students to record readings; play back the recordings and assist with rhythm and pronunciation; organize a poetry reading for this and other poems by Quevedo and other early modern Spanish writers. Stress breathing: and take a break during the class to enable your self and your students to stretch and breathe. If your institution supports a Department of Drama, ask one of the drama instructors to visit your class and to demonstrate breathing, reading, and relaxation techniques. The breathing - moving - speaking session is often an incredible learning experience for students who watch television without necessarily understanding the effort that goes into acting as a discipline; and remember, acting and performance represent the active use of living words.
Writing: Ask your students to write prose renditions of what they have now read and heard. Ask your students to generate their own poems in English or Spanish.
One Practical Method: Have the class choose twelve meaningful words from Miré los muros de la patria mía. From this list, ask each individual to choose a minimum of 6 words and a maximum of 10 to generate new poetry in Spanish or English. Now ask your students to write a new poem. Encourage the creation of short poems with metaphors or story lines. These can be personal or fictitious. No rhyme should be required at this stage, though you may be surprised at the number of people who rhyme actively and creatively from pure intuition and feel for language. At this initial moment, no shape should be requested other than the natural form of metaphor and personal idiosyncracy.
Other Practical Methods: Other methods abound in the many works about teaching creative writing. Here's another one: select single words, lines, images, metaphors, units of meaning from Miré los muros de la patria míaand generate creativity from these mini texts. Use established techniques of mind mapping and spider webbing for the creation of associative fields and additional imagery. Speaking specifically of Miré los muros de la patria mía, remember that walls / muros and fatherland / patria will have different cultural meanings according to the immediate backgrounds of your students. And remember, too, that the associative fields surrounding the seemingly simple word wall are very different for the generation that has witnessed the tumbling, brick by concrete slab, of the Berlin Wall or seen Pink Floyd's video of The Wall, to mention only two major modern influences. Remember too, that Pink Floyd gave a classic performance of The Wall right by the Berlin Wall. The wall, then, and tearing down the wall, may have radically different meanings for our students; it is, in my opinion, one of our duties to be conscious of the students' alternative cultures, especially when they impact directly on the members of our class.
Creativity: Ask your students to design a poster based on their understanding of Miré los muros de la patria mía. Hold a poster competition. If your classroom is technologically enhanced, invite your students to design a cd rom cover; ask them to design a 30 second tv or radio commercial featuring a live performance of Miré los muros de la patria mía in an upcoming Quevedo poetry recital.
The Poem Itself
Textual Exegesis: I will not go deeply into an explanation of the possible meanings of Miré los muros de la patria míaas the attached bibliography on Miré [see "More" at the bottom of the page]; lists approximately 30 articles, many of which offer detailed commentaries on different aspects of the text. After a selection of these articles has been consulted, a line by line examination of grammar and vocabulary will be easy enough to prepare. The exegesis should look for the exact meaning of the poem at those points where it is possible to locate it. Areas that present difficulties should be explained, alternative interpretations offered, and words noted that have multiple meanings and extended thematic associations. Clearly, muros, patria, monte, and ganado fall into this category as there is a long tradition of debate about the specific meanings and symbolism of each item.
Construction of the sonnet: The formal construction of a sonnet is fascinating. If your students are advanced enough, exercises in poetic creativity might well include the in class writing of a sonnet. You can examine the various ways of selecting and using rhyme words, the difference that line length makes, the effects of possible variations in interior line stress, the separate values attached to the quatrains and the tercets, and the creation and placement, should you wish to explain the Shakespearian tradition of sonnet construction, of the lapidary rhyming couplet. All these activities will lead your students to a better appreciation of what poetry is, how it is constructed, and the quality of effort that other people have put into their own creative endeavors. Aspects of sonnet creation then might include:
- Quatrains
- Tercets
- The traditional break at line 9
- Quevedo's use of breaks in lines 12, 13, or even 14
- Varying rhyme schemes
(1) ABBA ABBA CDC CDC
(2) ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
(3) ABBA ABBA CC DEED
(4) ABBA ABBA ABBA CC
- various forms of interior stress within the line
The placing of the rhyming couplet in the English sonnet form is of particular interest and students can be allowed to experiment creatively with their own sonnet forms. Many teachers with experience in creative writing techniques believe strongly that it is only after students have tried to compose sonnets for themselves that a true appreciation of the nature of the form can be gained.
Textual Variants in Spanish: The point here is to emphasize that poets in general, and Quevedo in particular, work with many coexistent texts, not just with one, single, final version of a poem. Occasionally, as with Miré los muros de la patria mía, we are permitted to follow the stages in the creative process. Thus, we can follow or challenge, accept or add to, the order of the variants as they are set out in Blecua's critical edition. In this fashion, variants may be arranged chronologically and studied for changes and revision patterns. There are, incidentally, six major versions of the poem currently available to us, each offering a slightly different text. These can be found in:
- Ms. 4117 of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid
- Cancionero de 1628
- Ms. 3706, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid
- Cod. CXIV from the Biblioteca Provincial, Évora
- Ms. From the library of Eugenio Asensio
- The posthumous Parnasso español of 1648
Again, I will not go into the variant tradition of the mss. in great detail, as it has been well studied elsewhere. However, work on the manuscript variants might continue in some, or all, of the following directions:
- Establishing a chronological order for the variants
- Textual revisions and changes between the versions
- Clarification of difficult readings
- Authority of both changes and variant readings (were they made by the author, an editor, or a scribe?)
- The poetic intensification that occurs within each new version of the poem
- Quevedo's poetic creativity in general
- The nature of poetic creativity itself, including:
- The change from la muerte to mi muerte
- The elimination of the clothing
- The introduction of the sword
- The changing order of certain lines
- The changing order of certain rhyme words
Other questions which might be considered include:
- Was it Quevedo or González de Salas who split the Heráclito cristiano, choosing to publish Miré los muros de la patria mía as a poem separated from its poetry sequence?
- Was the splitting done with or without Quevedo's knowledge and consent?
- What differences do the biographical and cultural socio-(con)texts make to our understanding of the poem?
- What differences does it make to read Miré los muros de la patria mía in and out of its religious or political context?
- Which version of the poem do modern editors use when they restore Miré los muros de la patria mía to the Heráclito sequence?
- Do modern editors in fact use one authenticated version or do they recreate their own new variants of the sonnet from among the various ms. versions?
Texts and (Con)Texts: The starting point here is that even within the seventeenth century there were two very different socio-cultural (con)texts for Miré los muros de la patria mía and they resulted in two very different interpretations of the poem. The first presents Miré as a single poem that stands on its own. It occurs alone in anthologies or can be found as an isolated poem in the muse Polimnia, of the Parnasso español (1648). In this context, the poem takes on political and social overtones and the socio-political relationship between poet and country can be emphasized. This poem, with its subtle changes in text, can be shown to differ in function from the same poem when it is read in its second context, that of a psalm, number 17 in Blecua's critical edition of Quevedo's poetry, in a variable sequence of up to 28 religious poems of a penitential nature, dedicated to Quevedo's aunt, and bearing the title of the Heráclito cristiano, with the date 23 April 1613. Any study of Miré los muros de la patria mía in this second context will have to approach Quevedo's poem as part of a longer poetry sequence. This will allow the instructor to embark upon very different areas of study:
- The biographical context of the crisis of 1613
- The themes of the Heráclito cristiano
- The nature of the poem cycle entitled the Heráclito cristiano
- Variations in Miré los muros de la patria mía in the different versions of the Heráclito
- The question of editorial and authorial authority (who chooses which text and how and why)
- The nature of penitential poetry
- The relationship between Semana Santa o Lamentaciones de F de Q V a la Muerte de Nuestro Señor Jesuchristo (Ms. 4117), Lágrimas de un penitente (Tres Musas, 1680), and the four versions of the Heráclito cristiano (1613)
- This leads into such peripheral studies as the influence of the Jesuits upon Quevedo and the Ignatian Meditation Exercises and their influence on Jesuit Holy Week retreats with their silences and their contemplation of the sufferings of Christ
Comparative Translations: I have placed translation theory in this section, The Poem Itself, as I believe that a close study of original and multiple translations can help with the understanding of the complexity of the text. Translations, for me, fall into three separate and very distinct categories:
- Prose translations that attempt to convey exact textual meaning (e.g. J. M. Cohen, and Elías Rivers; and note that these prose translations appear underneath the original Spanish, as a guide to it)
- Verse translations that convey structure as well as textual meaning (e. g. John Masefield and David Gitlitz)
- Free verse translations that may wander away from the original text to become new poetic creations in their own right (e. g. Robert Lowell Roger Moore, and the student versions which appear below)
Translations can be compared word for word and line for line (a) with each other and (b) with the Spanish original; this method also assists textual exegesis, especially if the student's Spanish is not as strong as their English. You can also ask your students to produce their own translations. Personally, I like to blend the translation class with the creative writing class. The resulting writings can vary from the worthy to the worthless. Here, for example, are two creative translations written in less than 10 minutes each as direct results of creative translation classes.
The first is a Jackpine sonnet in the tradition and style of my good friend, the late Milton Acorn:
Miré los muros de la patria mía
I looked at the defenses of my native land:
empty silos, bombs and rockets melted down.
"Put your faith," the TV said, "in diplomacy,
not in the metal walls of flying ships." I went
outside. Cattle were lowing against the falling
temperature, tails to the wind. Steam
rose from their flanks, then was scattered
like an overnight dream of ghosts. Inside,
on the sink, a shriveled tea bag, dried up stains;
my trusty coffee pot, rusty on the stove,
was chipped and raw at the rim. I took my
hunting rifle in my hand. Its crooked barrel
served me as a walking-stick. As I limped
around, my mother's photo spoke to me of death.
©Roger Moore, 2001
The second is a rap poem created, as one might say, in a moment of urgence, and written to be chanted, danced to, or sung:
Rap Song -- Miré by Frankie Q.
Now, Miré's a sonnet by Frankie Q.
And he's got a thing or two to say to you.
It's all about a town with a very small wall
that's so fallen down it's no wall at all.
It's old and it's rotten and it cannot last
like a runner on the track who's run too fast
at the start of the race, and he's run out of breath,
so he's hit that wall, and he feels like death.
And there's cattle lowing and the sun's in the sky
but it's winter time, so the sun's not high,
and the shadows are long, and the wind's getting cold,
and it's all about a man who's growing old.
He looks around his house and all he sees
are dead people's faces and living memories.
He's trapped on the ground floor, can't climb stairs,
everything he touches he'll leave to his heirs.
There's a pain in his side, and he can't catch his breath,
and all that he sees, reminds him of death!
©Roger Moore, 2001
That students can produce their own, viable creative work, even in a matter of hours and or days, is shown by these translations from my 2001 Third Year Introduction to Translation class here at St. Thomas University.
Enseña como todas las cosas avisan de la muerte
(I am haunted by death at every turn)
I looked upon my embattled city,
its skyline once redolent with power;
diminished in stature by its darkest hour,
a wasteland provoking nothing but pity.
Walking its streets, I saw all stripes of humanity
now condemned to confront "a new normal";
their interactions unerringly formal,
the legacy of patent insanity.
I returned to my flat, and found it spent
of all warmth and eerily hollow;
my possessions more ghosts choking every room.
I felt overcome, my resilience rent,
and everywhere I turned in sorrow
lurked the shadowy presence of doom.
©Jacob Thorpe, 2001
Miré los muros de la patria mía
Version of 1613
I looked at the walls of my native land
that once were strong, now eroded
by the tiring passage of time
I went to the fields and saw the sun
drinking the streams from melted ice
and from the hills, the cattle low
at shadows dismissing daylight
I entered my house and saw weariness
that surrendered to the plundering of ages
and I found my sword shared the same fate
My used clothes are worn out,
I can't find anything to place my eyes on
where I can't see the image of my death
©Shannon Boutilier, 2001
Miré los muros de la patria mía
The great walls of my birthplace staring back at me, once sturdy and strong,
now crumbling to bits. The racing of time taking its toll, robbing all its
fortitude. Retreating to the field, I observed the selfish sun
drain the channels of a fatigued winter's ice. Moaning
cattle, agitation, as the imposing mountain steals
their sunlight. Retiring to my asylum, vintaged
and stained, a reminder of my timeworn
environment. My sword, old and bent,
not shiny and new. My hanging
cloak torn with time,
once
riches, now rags.
See nothing...
My death.
©Domatila Riera, 2001
Psalmo di(e)csiete
I behold the walls of my homeland
at one time so strong, now in ruins falling
Father Time has weakened this land
and it waits for cold death to come calling
I entered a field and saw the sun sipping
liquid from brooks which now flow
And to the mountain cattle stood with anger dripping
for its shadow made them grow cold
I entered my home to rest, and what I saw
were years of ruin and rubble to which I did surrender
And my sword that shared the same fate I did draw
Worn and torn were my clothes
And there did not exist one thing upon which my eyes could gaze
that did not spin my memory into a death filled haze
©Emily Brown, 2001
Peripheral Studies
While the suggested methods in The Poem Itself center on the text, the proposals in this section are removed from the text to the periphery. Here are some peripheral approaches that you have all probably considered at one time or another.
Biographical approach: This begins obviously with the biography of Quevedo and it concentrates on the following questions which are central to an understanding of Miré los muros de la patria mía:
- Who is Quevedo?
- What was the crisis of 1613?
- Can we relate the crisis of 1613 to Ignatian Meditation exercises and the creation of a sequence of religious poetry?
- Is it possible for us to explain the radical differences in Quevedo's writing: the religious treatises, the love poetry, the picaresque novel, the scurrilous sonnets, letrillas, and romances?
- Is Quevedo's repentance genuine?
- Why is Miré los muros de la patria mía so central to Quevedo's life? Remember: it was first written when Quevedo was 23 years old (1603); then it was revised at age 33 (1613); and finally it was apparently revised again at age 63 (1643), two years before the poet's death.
- Why such an obsession with this poem?
Historical context: You can invite your students to place the poem in its historical context. Topics for possible examination include:
- Renaissance and Reformation
- Seventeenth Century Europe
- Seventeenth Century Spain
- The post Armada period
- An Empire diminished
- The reigns of Phillip III and Phillip IV
- The centralization of government and the loss of personal power and control
- The role of the favorite in political circles
- Quevedo as participant in world events
- Quevedo as an outsider / an insider
- Quevedo as objective / subjective observer
Literary history: The literary and cultural history of early modern Spain is equally fascinating. Topics for examination can include:
- The advent of Italianate poetry in Spain
- The change from traditional verse forms
- The introduction of the 11 syllable line into Spanish verse
- The continuance of traditional verse forms
- Continued use of the 8 syllable romance line
- Comparison between the effects of arte mayor and arte menor in poetry
- A history of the sonnet in Spain (from the Marqués de Santillana's Sonetos fechos al itálico modo, through Garcilaso and Boscán to Herrera, Lope de Vega, and Góngora, arriving finally at Quevedo)
- An extended view of early modern Spanish poetry including poetry from the schools of Sevilla and Salamanca
Visual Arts: The visual arts can be shown to create a parallel visual world to the creative literary arts. A parallel discussion might be started on how the Renaissance interpretation of the world differs from the Baroque interpretation with regard to the visual and literary arts. There are enormous parallels between the written world and the visual world, parallels which we who teach the written word are not always willing to recognize and introduce. Specific topics might include:
- The nature of perspective
- Classical art and the Renaissance
- Chiaro-oscuro
- A comparison between El Greco and Velásquez
- Telling a story in a visual medium
- From stasis, through movement, to distortion and emotion
The Search for an Imperial Language: During the early modern period in Spain, there was a series of divergent views on how language should and might develop. This search for a modern language parallels, in many ways, the search that we are currently undergoing with our computerized jargons and the enormous development of English as a potential world language. In early modern Spain, this effort may be summarized in the phrase A Search for an Imperial Language. The development of Spanish during the early modern period is well worth examining. Possible topics include:
- Towards an imperial language?
- Imperial Spanish
- Quevedo versus Góngora
- Conceptismo versus culteranismo: two sides of the same coin?
- The development of Spanish poetic language
Information Technology: The world wide web and with it the creation of personal web pages has become so all pervasive that a contemporary treatise on teaching, however brief, would not be complete without its web section. Here are some possibilities:
- Search the web for Quevedo pages
- Design a Miré web page
- Design a Quevedo web page
- Hold an online discussion and post the conversation generated by the poem in and out of class
- Post translations and creative poems on the web
Some Immediate Conclusions
Clearly, there is in my opinion no single approach to teaching Quevedo's Miré los muros de la patria mía. So much depends on the socio-cultural context of both teacher and taught. Hopefully, there are some ideas in this study that may interest you. The bibliography [see More... at the bottom of this page] will outline some of the work that has been achieved in the area of Miré . Whether you be liberal or conservative in your approach to teaching and no matter what the level at which you teach, may you and your students enjoy a commitment to poetry and take as much pleasure from the reading and writing of poetry as I and my students most certainly do.
Appendix A
How to teach Miré los muros....
Listen to the poem, read it out loud,
read it alone, or read it in a crowd.
Read it to yourself, to a friend when you meet,
get your friend to read it and listen to the beat.
Put it to music, beat the rhythm on a drum.
Let the words flow out, let the meanings come.
Trigger word pictures a jack flash in your brain.
Take a break. Have a stretch. Release that pain.
Breathe deep. Think deep. Let the feelings flow.
Memorize the poem: let the metaphors grow.
Paint yourself a painting: put posters on the walls.
Dance Quevedo rhythms through the old school halls.
Build a chat room for talkers, build a new web site,
choose cool colors, make it look bright and right.
Do a poetry recital, write an ad for tv,
Design a cd cover, set your brain cells free.
Try going to the library, try searching on the net:
place the poem in its context and better yet
Look up Golden Age Spain, Reformation, and Armada,
Empire Re-Conquest, Baroque, and Nada.
Write sonnets and tercets, try rhyming in Quatrains,
Set your whole mind free: don't keep it in chains.
©Roger Moore, 2001
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