Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: Rhymes and Poetic Themes

Posted on Mar 8, 2025 in Latin

Bécquer’s poems are a sub-theme of love and indifference, influenced by Romanticism. For Bécquer, love is the feeling that moves people, but it has two sides: a troubled yet vital experience. Most of his legends are set in distant epochs, a favorite time for him. There is a presence of fantasy, using plausible elements. His style is simple and quite distant from ornate rhetoric, using many adjectives.

Bécquer only published 15 rhymes before he died; the collected works in the manuscript *The Book of Sparrows* were lost during a revolution. His *Rimas* represent poetry. There are two kinds of poetry:

  • Lyric (which Bécquer cultivates): Expresses feelings, with many references to nature (not idealized, but wild and uncontrolled, where there is never calm or peace, drawing heavily on night landscapes and sunsets).
  • Narrative: Focuses on historical events.

His style is very concise, using different meters, and is very simple. He was influenced by Heinrich Heine and the Andalusian *copla*. For Bécquer, poetry is a way of communicating with the people.

Division of Bécquer’s Themes:

  • I – VII: Literary poetic creation and inspiration.
  • IX – XXIX: Love excited, and its effects on the soul.
  • XXX – LI: Failure of love, heartbreak, pain, and suffering (unrequited love).
  • LII – LXXV: Loneliness and death.

When the poet addresses these issues, he does not rely on fiction but on his own feelings. The treatment of love in the rhymes is much deeper. The style of the poems is very short, using different meters within a poem. His influences are German Romantic poetry and traditional Castilian poetry.

Analysis of Specific Rhymes:

  • Unnumbered Rhyme (Arrow that flies):

    • Structure: Divided into two parts. The first part (verses 1-16) gives examples. The second part (verses 17-20) presents the author’s thoughts.
    • Theme: Seeking the meaning of the poet’s life.

  • XIV: Two parts: obsession with eyes, and the question of “where are you?”. Theme: Love or obsession of a man towards a woman, expressed through their eyes.

  • XI: Two parts: rejection and acceptance.

  • LII: Two parts (1-4 and a separate conclusion). Addition of feelings and a conclusion.

  • LIII: Two parts (1-4 and 5-6). Structure: “will return… but…”. Theme: Unrequited love, heartbreak.

  • VII: Theme: The poet talks about himself, his creative gift, and his need to find someone to inspire him. Written in the third person.

Spanish Grammar: Verbs

Verbs are categorized by:

  • Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
  • Number (Singular, Plural)
  • Time
  • Aspect (Perfective: includes *pretérito perfecto compuesto* and other tenses; Imperfective)
  • Mood (Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative)
  • Voice (Active: the verb’s action is performed by the subject; Passive: the verb’s action is performed on the subject)
  • Conjugation

Verb Tenses (Examples with “Cantar” – To Sing)

Indicative

  • Present: *Canto*
  • Present Perfect: *He cantado*
  • Past Imperfect: *Cantaba*
  • Pluperfect: *Había cantado*
  • Past Simple: *Canté*
  • Past Anterior: *Hube cantado*
  • Future: *Cantaré*
  • Future Perfect: *Habré cantado*
  • Conditional: *Cantaría*
  • Conditional Perfect: *Habría cantado*

Subjunctive

  • Present: *Cante*
  • Present Perfect: *Haya cantado*
  • Past Imperfect: *Cantara/Cantase*
  • Pluperfect: *Hubiera/Hubiese cantado*
  • Future: *Cantare*
  • Future Perfect: *Hubiere cantado*

Imperative

  • Present: *Canta* (tú)

Semantics

Semantic Fields: Groups of words related by meaning.

Semantic Phenomena:

  • Meaning: *tree* – trunk plant
  • Signifier: *tree* – t + r + e + e
  • Synonymy: Different signifiers that have the same meaning.
  • Antonymy: Two signifiers that have opposite meanings.
  • Hyponymy: *flower*, *rose*, *tulip*, *daisy*…
  • Hyperonymy: *rose*, *tulip*, *daisy* are *flowers*.
  • Polysemy: One signifier with many meanings.
  • Homonymy: Two words that sound the same (or similar) but have a different origin and may have a different grammatical category (e.g., *vaca* – *baca*, *vino*).

Coordinate Conjunctions

Types of coordinate conjunctions and examples:

  • Copulative: (*y*, *e*, *ni*)
  • Disjunctive: (*o*, *u*, *o bien*)
  • Adversative: (*pero*, *mas*, *sino*, *aunque*, *sino que*, *antes bien*, *excepto*, *sin embargo*, *no obstante*)
  • Distributive: (*ya… ya*, *ora… ora*, *bien… bien*, *unos… otros*, *aquí… allí*)
  • Explanatory: (*es decir*, *por ejemplo*, *o sea*)
  • Consecutive: (*así que*, *luego*, *conque*, *así pues*, *de modo que*, *por lo tanto*, *por consiguiente*, *en consecuencia*)