Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet: Francisco de Quevedo, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Antonio Machado, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges, Miguel Hernandez

by Willis Barnstone (Translator)

With poems selected and translated by one of the preeminent translators of our day, this bilingual collection of 112 sonnets by six Spanish-language masters of the form ranges in time from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries and includes the works of poets from Spanish America as well as poets native to Spain. Willis Barnstone’s selection of sonnets and the extensive historical and biographical background he supplies serve as a compelling survey of Spanish-language poetry that should be of interest both to lovers of poetry in general and to scholars of Spanish-language literature in particular.

Following an introductory examination of the arrival of the sonnet in Spain and of that nation’s poetry up to Francisco de Quevedo, Barnstone takes up his six masters in chronological turn, preceding each with an essay that not only presents the sonneteer under discussion but also continues the carefully delineated history of Spanish-language poetry. Consistently engaging and informative and never dull or pedantic, these essays stand alone as appreciations—in the finest sense of that word—of some of the greatest poets ever to write. It is, however, Barnstone’s subtle, musical, clear, and concise translations that form the heart of this collection. As Barnstone himself says, "In many ways all my life has been some kind of preparation for this volume."

Genres: Poetry

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Willis Barnstone is an American poet, memoirist, translator, Hispanist, and comparatist. He has translated the Ancient Greek poets and the complete fragments of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. He is also a New Testament and Gnostic scholar.

Reviews

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very neat introduction in Spanish sonnets, having only been familiar with Borges and Lorca, the biographies of the others were quite helpful and informative and even Borges's chapter contained little bits and piece I hadn't known about him. I venture an opinion that Barnstone did well in presenting both the original of the sonnets and his own translations in English, as a Spanish speaker I approve of his work.

I leave you with one of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's sonnets to her (aging) self. It was my first time reading of her, fascinating person, a pretty and witty Mexican nun at the Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar of New Spain's high court in 1665 and a protofeminist that sparked much discourse around herself.

A su retrato

Este que ves, engaño colorido,
que del arte ostentando los primores,
con falsos silogismos de colores
es cauteloso engaño del sentido;
este, en quien la lisonja ha pretendido
excusar de los años los horrores
y venciendo del tiempo los rigores
triunfar de la vejez y del olvido,
es un vano artificio del cuidado,
es una flor al viento delicada,
es un resguardo indtil para el hado,
es una necia diligencia errada,
es un afán caduco y, bien mirado,
es cadáver, es polvo, es sombra, es nada.

To Her Self-Portrait

What you see here is colourful illusion,
an art boasting of beauty and its skill,
which in false reasoning of colour will
pervert the mind in delicate delusion.
Here where the flatteries of paint engage
to vitiate the horrors of the years,
where softening the rust of time appears
to triumph over oblivion and age,
all is a vain, careful disguise of clothing,
it is a slender blossom in the gale,
it is a futile port for doom reserved,
it is a foolish labour that can only fail:
it is a wasting zeal and, well observed,
is corpse, is dust, is shadow, and is nothing.

[Alex Kartelias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking a chance to see what beauty lies in Spanish poetry, I shockingly discovered four poets who are now some of my favorite poets across all cultures. Whether you are Spanish or what have you, these poems deserve to be appreciated by everyone. William Barnston gives beautiful translations with both informative, enticing and responsible commentaries on the poets life, some of their themes, as well as there parallels with literature/poetry/scriptures from different cultures. He's a well respected scholar- having been a translator of The Gnostic Bible as well as on a brilliant collection of Ancient Greek verse- and he successfully presents a world of literature which is all too little known outside of the Spanish world.

[Ci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the life and selected work of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz for the first time. I have no opinion of Barnstone's own scholarship (since I have not read much about Sor Juana from other sources) however it does a sufficiently good job in outlining an extraordinary woman intellect in history. However a simple comparison of Barnstone's translation indicated a particular, tonal selection which this reader finds questionable ("dejar" as in quit, depart, leave, translated as "dump" a love poem).