Discover The Solitudes of Góngora

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Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561 - 1627), known simply as Góngora, was one of the poets and Spanish playwrights of the Golden Age and author of the Solitudes. Góngora, in addition, is the maximum exponent of culteranismo, also called as gongorismo, a literary style belonging to the Baroque that is characterized by the use of poetic forms that are difficult to understand, based on complicated metaphors and a very rich vocabulary full of cultisms.

In a PROFESSOR, we are going to analyze one of the most emblematic works of the author, The Solitudes, knowing the argument in depth. It is an unfinished work but, even so, it has managed to establish itself as one of the most important in the history of Spanish literature. Here you have a summary of The Solitudes by Góngora.

Index

1. Who is Luis de Góngora
2. Introduction to Las Soldades by Luis de Góngora
3. Summary of the First Solitude
4. Summary of the Second Solitude of Góngora

Luis de Góngora y Argote was born in Córdoba in the year 1561, in the bosom of a noble family. His father was Don Francisco de Argote, judge of property confiscated by the Holy Office of Córdoba and of the lady Leonor de Góngora, from whom the poet decided to take the surname.

He studied at the University of Salamanca, where He was quickly noted for his literary gifts. He took minor orders in 1575 in the Cordovan cathedral, where Bishop Pacheco admonished him on several occasions for attending the choir infrequently and for chatting in it. He was also accused of attending secular parties and composing satirical verses that had nothing to do with the life of a saint.

Throughout his life, he composed numerous sonnets, romances and satirical and lyrical lyrics that some musicians used for their melodies. Of course, Góngora's personality has been widely studied over the centuries due to its complexity. And not only his work has been the object of study, but also his friendships or enmities, such as, for example, the confrontations with Francisco de Quevedo or the contempt he felt for Félix Lope de Vega. All these controversies garnered a barrage of criticism of the author of Las Soledades.

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In this summary of Las Soledades de Góngora we have to bear in mind that it is a work that it was not finished. The total of the solitudes of the Cordovan author was going to be four, but he did not finish by completing the tetralogy and was left in the middle. This has been very fruitful in terms of studies and speculation, since we have nothing of the other supposed two parts.

What we do know is that Góngora raised solitudes as stages in the life of man, narrating in them the hardships, experiences and misfortunes that human beings go through. The first two, which are the only ones we have, focus on the narration of the arrival of a castaway and how he crosses a river.

In the play, Góngora tells us the story of a man who wanders the world fleeing from everything and everyone, hinting at some points that he even tries to flee from himself. The cause of the flight is none other than that of a love disappointment, one of the great themes of the lyric. During his escape, the young man reflects on the essence of the human being while he tries to find himself.

Here we leave you with a analysis of Las Soledades de Góngoraso that you can get to know this literary work better.

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The protagonist of The Solitudes, a shipwrecked young man shows up reaching the shore. The structure of the share is divided into three days. On the first of these days, the young man arrives at the beach and tries to make out his surroundings. He in the distance he sees a bonfire and decides to approach it. Said bonfire is of some goatherds who invite the young man to spend the night with them.

On the second day, the castaway decides to set out on his way with one of the goatherds. During the walk they meet some mountain people who are going to a nearby village. One of the mountaineers approaches the shipwrecked young man and, through his threadbare clothes, realizes that he has suffered a shipwreck. Because of this, the highlander sadly remembers how he lost one of his children on the high seas and curses, with regret and sorrow, all maritime activity. The mountain himself is in charge of inviting the young man to a wedding to be held the next day in the village.

On the third and last day, the wedding to which the young man is invited takes place and a series of dances and various diversions are celebrated. Loneliness ends with a set of beautiful and rich metaphors in which Góngora describes the place and the nature of the environment of the young castaway just after telling that the newlyweds retire to their room.

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We continue this summary of Las Soledades de Góngora to talk about the second loneliness that begins in the fourth day of history. In this new dawn, the young man sets out on a new journey with a fisherman from the village. This journey takes him down the side of a nearby river that he ends up crossing. During this trip, he ends up sailing with a group of sailors who tell some stories of love and feats of their lives and the lives of their children. After spending the night on the boat, near the coast, the young man has the pleasure of contemplating, already on land firm, how hunting with hawks is carried out, the author describing this practice with great beauty and gallantry.

Behind this, the author left this work unfinished written in silva with heptasyllables and hendecasyllables. Although it has been concluded that Góngora planned it with the idea that it would cover the ages of youth, adolescence, virility and old age. However, no more evidence has been found of this great work by the author and it has gone down in history as an unfinished poem.

If you want to learn more about the Golden age of Spanish literature, do not hesitate to consult other studies published in unPROFESOR.

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