Reading and Contextualising Quevedo: : The Case of “Flota de Cuantos Rayos y Centellas”

R E A D I N G A N D C O N T E X T U A L I S I N G Q U E V E D O : T H E C A S E O F " F L O T A D E C U A N T O S R A Y O S Y C E N T E L L A S ' Bernard P. E. Bentley University of St A n d r e w s , Scotland The challenge and pleasure of reading Golden Age sonnets in context is one which attracted Dan Heiple, and for which his book on Garcilaso is a milestone and a model of erudition and sensitivity . His analysis of Garcilaso's "Passando el mar Leandro el animoso" (214-16), which he hinges on Martial's epigram, brings to mind the case of Quevedo's: Flota de cuantos rayos y centellas, en puntas de oro, el ciego Amor derrama, nada Leandro; y cuanto el Ponto brama con olas, tanto gime por vencellas. Maligna luz multiplied en estrellas y grande incendio sigue pobre llama: en la cuna de Venus, quien bien ama, no debio recelarse de perdellas. Vela y remero es, nave sedienta; mas no le aprovecho, pues, desatado, Noto los campos liquidos violenta. Ni volver puede, ni pasar a nado; si llora, crece el mar y la tormenta: que hasta poder llorar le fue vedado. [Describing Leanderfluctuating on the sea: Floating the fleet of thunder, sparks, and rays, / The golden darts which Cupid blindly pours, / Leander swims: themore the Hellespont roars /With mighty wave, the more his moan inveighs. //A malignant light thus multiplied in stars, / A blazing furnace following a feeble flame: / Yet he should not fear, hewho Love does claim, / To lose this fire when Venus' bed he spars. / /Bright sail and hasty oar, a thirsty boat / Leander is to no avail; unleashed / Notus the ocean foams does plough with zest. / / Turn back he cannot, nor proceed afloat; / And if he weeps, the sea and storm's increased: / For even tears are now beyond his depth.] This sonnet is classified by Blecua among the Poemas amorosos, as number 311 in his edition of Quevedo's Obra poetica. This follows Gonzalez Salas' CALiOPE Vol. 6, Nos. 1-2 (2000): pages 251-262 252 «5 Bernard P. E. Bentley Parnaso espanol (1648), in which it is included in the first section of poems inspired by the fourth Muse, Erato, where "Canta poesfas amorosas: esto es, celebration de hermosuras, afectos propios y comunes del amor, y particulares tambien de famosos enamorados, donde el auctor tiene, con variedad, la mayor parte" (Blecua 1:116). The sonnet is placed between "Si tu pais y patria son los cielos" and "Ver relucir, en llamas encendido." Gonzalez Salas gave it the helpful title "Describe a Leandro fluctuante en el mar" since the sonnet describes Leander's last crossing of the Hellespont, to be united with his Hero in spite of the raging winter storm. However, a closer reading reveals that, although it is probably not necessary to reclassify or to move it, the sonnet none the less contains elements that make it difficult to interpret as a straightforward narrative of the tragic event. The sonnet presents yet another example of what Arthur Terry has described as "a unique and complex structure which escapes any simple classification" (167). The sonnet has not attracted much critical attention (Roig Miranda 9), but it has been discussed by Jose Maria Pozuelo Yvancos (130-36) and Julian Olivares (57-59), who both point out that it allegorises the desire and frustration of the lover, and argue that this fits in perfectly within the context of the Courtly traditions of unfulfilled sexual desires. As Olivares explains, this is emphasised by the fact that the sonnet does not explicitly mention Hero, nor does it even bring the lovers together in death, but concludes with the struggle of the drowning lover in stormy waters: "Leander represents the lover who seeks sexual consummation but who is denied this final satisfaction by the rules of the courtly convention. The sonnet does not make this identification, but the imagery per se suggests this situation...