The existence of resolute defenders of Neoclassical and Baroque aesthetic creeds did not preclude attempts to reconcile tradition with innovation. Poets such as Alfonso Verdugo y Castilla, Count of Tor-repalma (1706-1767), Jose Antonio Porcel y Salablanca (1715-1794), Jose de Villarroel (nephew of Diego de Torres Villarroel), Velazquez, Agust´ın Montiano y Luyando (1697-1764), and others sought a third way which would reconcile opinions and tastes. The tertulias where they came together were the Academia del Tr´ıpode, situated in Granada (1738-1748), and its successor, the Madrid-based Academia de Buen Gusto (1749-1751). In these academies poetic compositions were read and debated, and discussion led to the production of theoretical and satirical texts, fruits of an environment where friendship did not exclude the possibility of holding differing opinions. In this respect they upheld a major tenet of Enlightenment ideology, the value of friendship.3

Although literary history often presents a view of eighteenth-century poets in the Baroque style as vulgar poetasters, there are some whose quality cannot be ignored. Such is the case of Gabriel Alvarez de Toledo (1662-1714), one of the founders of the Real Academia Espan˜ola. He began as a poet, knew several ancient languages as well as French, Italian, and German, and later in his career wrote important historical texts. Critics have recognized him as one of the most important poets of the early eighteenth century.4 Alvarez de Toledo was a spirited writer with a fairly difficult style who produced satirical and festive works as well as ones on religious and mythological subjects. Preeminent among his writings is La burromaquia (“The Battle of the Donkeys,” 1744), a poem in octavas reales which embodies all the virtues and defects of the Baroque style, and though at times it recalls Virgil or Lope de Vega, at others it is

3 David T. Gies, “Ars amicitiae, poes´ıa y vida: el ejemplo de Cadalso.” In Coloquio Inter

National sobre Jose Cadalso (Abano Terme: Piovan, 1985), pp. 155-172.

4 Russell P. Sebold, El rapto de la mente. Poetica y poesia dieciochescas (Barcelona: Anthro-

Pos, 1989).

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Excessively rhetorical and affected. As was the case with many authors,

´

Alvarez de Toledo’s collected works appeared posthumously, published

By Diego de Torres Villarroel in 1744.

Another writer in the same vein was Eugenio Gerardo Lobo (1679– 1750), a soldier who took up poetry early in life, as exemplified by his poem in praise of the Virgin entitled “El triunfo de las mujeres” (“The Triumph of Women”). Here, the virtues and merits of the most famous women of antiquity are as nothing compared to the Virgin Mary. Being a soldier, Lobo was not interested in pursuing a literary career, nor did he concern himself with publishing his poetry, which appeared without his permission in 1718 under the characteristically Baroque title Selva de las musas (“Forest of the Muses”). Lobo wrote lyric, epic, satirical, and religious poetry, as well as festive works (at which he excelled) and drama. Among his better-known compositions are “A una sirvienta arrimona” (“To a Haunting Servant Girl”) and “Iro´nicas instrucciones para ser buen soldado” (“Ironic Instructions for Becoming a Good Soldier”). Even though he imitates Go´ ngora’s style in most of his works, his sonnets also reveal traces of Garcilaso de la Vega and the Petrarchan poets.

Diego de Torres Villarroel (1691–1770) achieved fame as an author during his lifetime, modeling himself on the poet and satirist Francisco de Quevedo. Torres was one of the few authors in eighteenth-century Spain who managed to make a living as a writer, and what is more he realized that literature could be a profession like any other. He wrote large quantities of poetry, especially burlesque and satirical verse, though he also experimented with other styles. As a professional author Torres offers his readers a broad range of compositions on contemporary themes, demonstrating an impressively rich vocabulary and wide variety of metrical forms: silvas, octavas, liras, sonnets. Perhaps because of his association with Quevedo, a writer of extraordinary poetic range, Torres’ verse conveys a depth and immediacy capable of engaging present-day readers. He possessed the capacity to write in various styles and to compose works in serious and popular vein, from learned compositions in the Baroque manner to the popular style of street ballads.

As for Lobo, Torres, and other poets situated in the Baroque camp, they were also acquainted with and sometimes imitated the classical models of Spain’s Golden Age. In their attempts to domesticate for a Spanish audience what they believed originated in France they were not alone. Another such author was Jose´ Antonio Porcel (1715–1794), a canon from Granada who was a member of both the Real Academia Espan˜ola and the Real Academia de la Historia and who patterned his work on both Go´ngora and Garcilaso. His much admired compositions circulated in manuscript until their eventual publication at the end of the nineteenth century. El Adonis (published in 1999), his most famous work, recounts

• A second strand comprises historical ballads…

Popular poetry Popular poetry, however, suffered no crisis or decline. Though often marginalized from high cultural debate, popular poetry was constantly criticized and denigrated, despite flourishing throughout the century in its chapbook format. “Literatura de cordel,” literally “literature on a string,” was so called because it was exhibited at street vendors’

• Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the throne…

The most famous of the surviving autobiographies is the Vida (“Life,” 1743) by Diego de Torres Villarroel. Torres tried his hand at almost every literary genre, especially the more lucrative, popular ones such as almanacs. His autobiography is that of an ordinary man, and the work’s success led others to

• In his translations published in the newspaper El museo universal…

Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Poetry in the second half of the nineteenth century 453 And materialism. The moral abyss created by reason and a possible lack of religious beliefs is accompanied in Gritos del combate by attacks leveled at Darwinist and scientific philosophies, as well as at bloody

• However, as the eighteenth century ended, a variety…

Though Neoclassical aesthetic principles and practices continued to be advocated for over a century after Luza´n’s trailblazing text, they did little to diminish the appeal of popular drama, which flourished in spite of the absence of explicit theoretical underpinning.5 What the aesthetic debates made evident was the diversity of tastes

• Whether hailed as Prince of Light or decried as Prince…

Thus interwoven with social experience, poetry had the power to fashion public personas and, in the process, to articulate aesthetic, political, or religious creeds. The previous generation’s masters of the schools of Salamanca (Luis de Leo´n) and Seville (Fernando de Herrera) were claimed as standard-bearers in contests over the cultural