Góngora’s Sonnet “Acredita la Esperanza con Historias Sagradas”: An Emblemorphic Reading

G6NGORA'S SONNET "ACREDITA LA ESPERANZA CON HISTORIAS SAGRADAS": AN EMBLEMORPHIC READING David N. Taylor Northfield Mt. Hermon School Entre poetay profeta hay solo dos letras de diferencia. In his classic study LalenguapoeticadeGongora, Damaso Alonso warns us of the dangers of what he calls "la critica oficial" which tends to affirm and perpetuate a particular "concepto tradicional" (10). "Cuando un mito literario se ha fosilizado tanto como el presente," Alonso tells us, "todo esfuerzo para destruirlo resulta pequefio" (16). Although Alonso was referring to the polemic of the "dos G6ngoras," it s~ems that this postulation could likewise be applicable to certain analyses and interpretations of particularly well known works of a given poet. Such seems to be the case with the "traditional interpretation" of Luis de Gongora' s sonnet 167:"Acredita la esperanza con historias sagradas." What I propose in this study is that critics through the centuries may have been mislead by the title of this sonnet, a title which may have little relationship to the actual topoi found in the work itself. What the lexical,syntactical and architectural (structural) components seem to point to, however, is an emblematic, or what I shall call an emblemorphic, interpretation , based on, as in most emblems, classical mythology. Acreditalaesperanza conhistorias sagradas Cuantos forjare mas hierros el hado a mi esperanza, tantos oprimido arrastrare cantando, y su riiido instrumento a mi voz sera acordado. Joven mal de la invidia perdonado, de la cadena tarde redimido, de quien por no adorarle fue vendido, por haberle vendido fue adorado. l,Que piedra se le opuso al soberano poder, calificada aun de real sello, que el remedio frustrase del que espera? 36 ro David N. Taylor 03 Conducido alimenta, de un cabello, uno a otro profeta. Nunca en vano fue el esperar, aun entre tanta fiera. (1985:253) From the very first critical studies (e.g., Salcedo Coronel [1636]), critics have assumed a biblical toposas a central focus for this sonnet. Following this same lead, Robert Jammes confirms these "conceptos tradicionales": Lo que aqui atrae nuestra atenci6n es este ardor, esta especie de frenesi con el que Gongora se precipita hacia su destino de cortesano; aun es mas visible en el otro soneto ["De la esperanza"] en el que hace de la espera del cortesano una verdadera esperanza en el sentido religioso de la palabra, casi una virtud teologal. No por casualidad el poeta toma sus alusiones del dominio sagrado de la Biblia: ya evoque a Jose triunfante despues de haber sido vendido por sus hermanos, o a Daniel encerrado en la fosa de los leones y luego alimentado milagrosamente por el profeta Habacuc, la idea que constantemente aparece es la del milagro. (288-89) lhe major reason for this "fossilized" interpretation, it would seem, is the fact that little is known about "who" or "why" titles were given to most of Gongora' s poems. If, however, we examine closely many of the titles of the earliest editions, particularly of the sonnets, we find that they are in the third person. It becomes obvious that it was Antonio Chacon who invented these "labels," while he was amassing the vast and varied works of the "claro cisne de Betis" for the 1~28edition of the poet's work. lhus began a tradition which was followed by Foulche-Delbosc, Mille y Gimenez, Jammes, and even Ciplijauskaite in her 1985edition of the poet's sonnets. If, however, we consider sonnet 167without its title (as I have said, almost assuredly added after its composition and not by the poet himself), what direct references or allusions of a biblical nature can be found? Except for the word "profeta" (which can certainly come from other than biblical topoi)in the penultimate verse, there are no obvious biblical figures , allusions or metaphors at all. Jammes seems to be on the right track when he suggests that we compare this sonnet to earlier letrillasand romances "anticortesanos" in order to appreciate Gongora's change of attitude between his earlier works (before 1617)and his later works near the end of his life: "jCuanto camino recorrido ...!" exclaims Jammes (289). Jammes continues: La figura del cortesano, completamente negativa, ahora se aureola, y el pretendiente ridiculo y...