Analysis of Rhymes of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Analysis of Bécquer’s Rhymes
Themes of Love
Group 1: Rhymes I-XI (Observations on Poetry)
These poems revolve around poetry itself, reflecting Bécquer’s preoccupation with the art form. This reveals his struggle to articulate his feelings. Poetry is presented as a quality of mind, an internal impulse seeking expression. It’s often linked to nature, mystery, or the feeling of love embodied in a woman. Although intangible, poetry finds expression through the ‘living, breathing’ woman, becoming the ‘poetic word made flesh.’ Bécquer suggests that poetry isn’t merely feeling, but the expression of a struggle between inspiration and reason. Like other Romantics, he believes a genius needs a stimulus, often a woman, to express their feelings. He strives for detachment, evoking emotions and imagined experiences, creating a separation between himself and his poetic expression.
Group 2: Rhymes XII-XXIX (Love and Idealization)
Love takes a more positive tone, drawing from Bécquer’s experiences with a degree of vagueness. He’s ambiguous in describing women’s eyes, hinting at an idealized, impossible love, leading to both valuation and disappointment. While some rhymes celebrate love optimistically, others portray women as an unattainable ideal. However, women are sometimes presented as inferior beings, unable to understand the poet or spiritually empty.
Group 3: Rhymes XXX-LI (Heartbreak and Nature)
This group explores heartbreak. The world of dreams and nature highlights the tangible and intangible. Nature frames the human drama, emphasizing the transient nature of existence. It also reflects the poet’s mood, ranging from wild and stormy to calm and clear. Bécquer’s preference for Nordic landscapes hints at his foreign roots.
Group 4: Rhymes LII-LXXXVI (Pain, Death, and Dreams)
Themes here include pain, death, and anxiety. The dream world becomes a true poetic state, blurring the lines between reality and dream. Oneiric reality overflows, becoming a source of mystery. Bécquer favors evanescent, almost unreal worlds, seen through fog or distance. Sleep allows him to reinvent reality, with a preference for the dream state itself. This view of sleep is crucial for understanding early 20th-century surrealist poetry, which builds upon the Romantic legacy and Freudian psychology. Metaphysical anguish and death are also prominent themes.
Technical Language and Style
Despite being considered an emotional poet, Bécquer carefully crafted his rhymes, combining depth with a semblance of spontaneity. Key technical features include:
Metrics
- Varied meters (e.g., octosyllabic, limerick, popular song forms) alongside assonanced rhyme for a natural, lightened effect.
- Use of the broken foot (a line differing in length from others in the same stanza).
- Predominance of traditional heptasyllabic and hendecasyllabic meters, combined freely.
- Careful attention to internal rhythm through accent placement.
- Frequent use of enjambment, softening the sound and enhancing flow.
Structure
- Varied structures, with symmetrical structures built on parallelistic groups being most common.
- Use of bimembre (two groups joined by a conjunction) and threefolding (three groups linked by commas and conjunctions) structures.
- Emphasis on symmetry through parallels.
- Elaborate and studied structure, mirroring the studied style.
Language
- Bécquer’s struggle to express feeling, believing language is less rich than the feeling itself.
- Creation of a new poetic language drawing from nature, music, dreams, and human emotions.
- Carefully chosen lexicon with suggestive power, giving the rhymes a popular tone.
- Conscious use of rhetorical devices (e.g., imagery, hyperbaton) while maintaining a natural, authentic feel.
Rhetorical Devices
- Comparison: Your eyes as blue as the sea.
- Epithet: My mother is very short.
- Hyperbole: Oh, I will not starve.
- Hyperbaton: Bark my dog (instead of My dog barks).
- Metaphor: Your hair is golden laughters.
- Personification: The flower in the meadow sings.
- Repetition: She looks and looks so happy.