The Development of a Decima in Mira de Amescua's Theater

Con novedad estoy admirando aquí hoy de Psiquis y Cupido el engaño repetido, pero al revés, porque allí disfrazado Amor oí, que entró a gozar el favor de Psiquis, y aquí es error el que ese manto concierta; pues Psiquis está encubierta, dejándose ver mi amor. ét¿S«b THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DECIMA IN MIRA DE AMESCUA'S THEATER Vehn G. Williamskn, University of Missouri Segismundo's soliloquy comparing the human condition to the natural state (La vida es sueño, Act I. ti) is probably the finest of the numerous such passages to appear in Golden Age theater. The elaborate similes employed by Calderón in those décimas have been the subject of many studies. Menéndez y Pelayo traced the figures and ideas to classic sources.1 Milton Buchanan found similar verses in the theater immediately preceding and following the Calderonian work.2 Farinelli sought direct sources in the writings of sixteenth century mystics, theologians, and poets.3 Alfonso Reyes, in two masterful studies, expanded upon the earlier investigations .4 And Ricardo Monner Sans added some interesting touches in his article of 1924.5 Many references in these accounts to works by Mira de Amescua,4 the appearance of a report by Herrero García in which he cited two more related décimas,7 and repeated suggestions of Mira de Amescua's influence on Calderón's poetic style,8 serve as a point of departure for the present study. In an excerpt from La rueda de la fortuna, one of the earliest works we have from Mira's pen since it can be dated as early as 1604,9 the emperor Mauricio, fearing the fate his dreams have foretold, begs help from the empress . In a speech referring to past misdeeds , Mauricio compares his present condition to that of a bird, a fish, a ship, and a tree: Yo mismo fui mi enemigo. Ave soy que no he volado porque, del cebo engañado, en la red del mundo di. Pez he sido que me así del anzuelo del pecado. Nave de mundo es mi pecho que de vicios se cargó, mas ya llegando al estrecho mis pensamientos y yo pedazo nos hemos hecho. Árbol he sido lozano que en flores pasé el verano, pero el invierno ha venido y sin fruta me ha cogido que tal es un mal cristiano.10 The language of these quintiUas is far from the full development it is to receive in Mira's later theater, particularly in that no contrast of condition is cited, yet the basic elements are present . Mira has preferred to develop the figures along comparative lines; Mauricio here suffers the same fate as do his counterparts. In another early play, El arpa de David (1616), Mira uses the same metaphorical system in a passage where the shepherd Lisardo protests the unshakeable nature of his love for Lisida: Aquí el árbol más sonbrío, que de verde bistió el mayo, desnudo se be de un rayo y del rigor del estío. La fuente más singular que bebe nuestro ganado, naziendo en el berde prado, 32 bíene a morir en el mar. Toda esa berde ribera despoja y seca el otubre, y segunda bez la cubre de flores la primabera. Del tienpo y naturaleza,¿ qué cosa no se alteró? Sólo aqueste monte y yo sabemos tener firmeza.11 In these redondillas the speaker, having first cited the effects wrought by the seasons, finds his love, his human condition , superior to its more natural complements . In view of Buchanan's statement that "Of the objects included in the comparisons, Calderón added only the brooklet,"12 it is interesting to note that the water imagery was already present here, though Mira would develop it even more fully in later works. Nearly equivalent similes are present in La casa del tahur, a play which may be dated as early as 1616.13 There too the poetic figures are used to compare human and natural love. When the series reappears in El rico avariento (1618?) a new dimension is added. Nabal, the avaro of the comedia, contrasts his own poverty...