MODERN SPANISH
LYRICS

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND
VOCABULARY

BY

ELIJAH CLARENCE HILLS, PH. D., LITT.D.

Professor of Romance Languages in Colorado College

AND

S. GRISWOLD MORLEY, PH. D.

University of Colorado

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1913

iii

PREFACE

The present volume aims to furnish American studentsof Spanish with a convenient selection of theCastilian lyrics best adapted to class reading. It wasthe intention of the editors to include no poem whichdid not possess distinct literary value. On the otherhand, some of the most famous Spanish lyrics do notseem apt to awaken the interest of the average student:it is for this reason that scholars will miss thenames of certain eminent poets of the siglo de oro.The nineteenth century, hardly inferior in merit andnearer to present-day readers in thought and language,is much more fully represented. No apology is neededfor the inclusion of poems by Spanish-American writers,for they will bear comparison both in style andthought with the best work from the mother Peninsula.

The Spanish poems are presented chronologically,according to the dates of their authors. The Spanish-Americanpoems are arranged according to countriesand chronologically within those divisions. Omissionsare indicated by rows of dots and are due in all cases tothe necessity of bringing the material within the limitsof a small volume. Three poems (the Fiesta de toros ofMoratín, the Castellano leal of Rivas and the Leyendaof Zorrilla) are more narrative than lyric. The romances ivselected are the most lyrical of their kind. Afew songs have been added to illustrate the relationof poetry to music.

The editors have been constantly in consultation inall parts of the work, but the preparation of the Prosody,the Notes (including articles on Spanish-American literature)and the part of the Introduction dealing with thenineteenth century, was undertaken by Mr. Hills,while Mr. Morley had in charge the Introduction priorto 1800, and the Vocabulary. Aid has been receivedfrom many sources. Special thanks are due to ProfessorJ.D.M. Ford and Dr. A.F. Whittem ofHarvard University, Don Ricardo Palma of Peru,Don Rubén Darío of Nicaragua, Don Rufino Blanco-Fombonaof Venezuela, Professor Carlos Bransby ofthe University of California, and Dr. Alfred Coesterof Brooklyn, N.Y.

E.C.H.

S.G.M.

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CONTENTS