Hispanic Issue || The Hermit as Baroque Conceit: Adrian de Prado's "San Jerónimo"

The Hermit as Baroque Conceit: Adrian de Prado's "San Jerónimo"Author(s): Patricia de la FuenteSource: MLN, Vol. 90, No. 2, Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1975), pp. 167-182Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2906857 .

Accessed: 22/05/2014 17:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toMLN.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 86.168.24.129 on Thu, 22 May 2014 17:21:25 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2906857?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


M L N 167

UHE HERMIT AS BAROQUE CONCEIT: ADRIAN DE PRADO'S "SAN JERONIMO" o PATRICIA DE LA FUENTE q3 "The formal defining element in any conceit, Elizabethan or medieval or Metaphysical, in any poet or in any language," Rosemund Tuve has pointed out, "seems. . . to be [the] use of multiple logical bases, upon all of which the comparison obtains."1 Although Professor Tuve's invaluable study of imagery does not specifically deal with poets and theorists from the Spanish Golden Age, these are implicitly included in her general definition of how conceits are constructed. For practical purposes, the idea of "multiple logical bases" as a formal element of the conceit should, therefore, provide us with a workable criterion upon which to base a discussion of the conceit in Adrian de Prado's "Cancion real a San Jeronimo en Siria." And, in effect, the application of this criterion reveals the parallel development of two main "logical bases" in the poem which are simultaneously contradic- tory and complementary, negative and positive. The resulting paradox, which generates the organic tension responsible, I believe, for the success of the poem, culminates in SanJeronimo's simultane- ous request for two mutually exclusive conditions, life and death.

"no me conoce el suefio, ni quiero sino solo el de la muerte. Del cual haced, Sefior, que yo despierte a gozaros sin fin, porque si duefio no me haceis de las celicas moradas, el cielo he de pediros a pedradas." (288-293)2

The effectiveness of this passage as a conclusion to bothJeronimo's prayer and to the poem as a whole (except for a brief depreciatory epilogue by the poet) is that it reconciles the duality of these "logical bases" and resolves the tensions resulting from the poet's use of "el recurso violento de trasladar imaigenes y representaciones del mundo

1 Rosemond Tuve, Elizabethan and Metaphysical Imagery: Renaissance Poetic and Twentieth Century Critics (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1947), 264.

2 Arthur Terry, An Anthology of Spanish Poetry, Part II, (London: Pergamon Press, 1968), 139-148. All quotations in the text refer to this edition unless otherwise stated.

MLN 90 154-168 (1975) Copyright ? 1975 by The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.



168 M L N

organico, humano, al inorgainico,"3 as Jose M. Blecua defines this stylistic technique in Adrian de Prado. In discussing the poet's second, incomplete poem, Blecua further describes this technique as a "contraposicion de paisajes. Por un lado, el paisaje yermo, hosco y hambirneto, y por otro, el paisaje renacentista, bellamente acicalado."4 By "contraposicion de paisajes," Blecua is referring to the obvious structural dichotomy in the incomplete poem. For example, verses 1-34 describe the inhospitable and solitary land, in which:

los ru'sticos y agrestes moradores toscas chozas fabrican, donde habitan (16-17)5

But in verses 35 ff., we discover that:

Esta aspereza dura y inhabitada sierra en medio de si encierra un hondo valle, fresco, llano, ameno, (35-38)

in the centre of which there is

. . . un palacio regio alegre de marfil, bronce y naicar adornado, habitacion de alguna ninfa o diosa. (212-214)

The difference between the negative "suelo esteril y arenisco" (12), and the hidden valley "de claras aguas y de flores lleno" (39) is explicitly stated. The valley itself is described in terms of an earthly paradise, which the catalogues of plants (99 ff.), birds (140 ff.), and animals (146 ff.) help to substantiate. The other "outside" world is presented in terms of work, suffering and privation, and suggests an immediate identification with the imperfections of the temporal world as opposed to the perfection of the idyllic valley.

The world depicted in the "Cancion real" shows no such simple dichotomy of values. Through a much more complex and subtle artistry, the poet manages to integrate the negative and positive aspects of life and make them complement each other by coexisting in the metaphor of the desert. The struggle for survival in this desert illustrates the eternal conflict between life and death, and brings home to us the awareness that in the midst of life, death is always the

3Jos6 Manuel Blecua, Cancionero de 1628, Revista de Filologza Espaiola, anejo 32 (Madrid: 1945), 27.

4 Blecua, 28. 5 Blecua, 29-35.



M L N 169

final reality. On the other hand, any triumph in this struggle against adversity, and many do survive in the desert world of the poem, is concrete evidence that in the midst of death there is always the possibility of life, both on a temporal and spiritual level. The desert, therefore, fulfills the dual function of symbolizing both life and death in temporal and spiritual terms. As a world of contraries, it is an ideal backdrop for the Baroque hermit, in whom the paradox of these contraries will find its ultimate expression and resolution. This hypothesis is suggested in the intricate mesh of imagery which makes up the poem and upon which I shall focus my discussion in two specific ways. In the first place, I shall explore the function of double imagery in the poem, its development and interrelationship. Sec- ondly, I shall concentrate on the central conceit of the poem and discuss its evolution up to the point where Jeronimo can say to his God: "el cielo he de pediros a pedradas" (293).

I. The Imagery: "Contraposicion de paisajes."

I borrow Blecua's term because it illustrates exactly the way in which the imagery works in the "Canci6n real."

For the sake of convenience, I have arbitrarily divided the poem into six parts:

Part I - 1-125: Description of the desert Part II - 126-139: Jeronimo's cave Part III - 140-153: The wild bramble Part IV - 154-265: Jeronimo, including the Cross Part V - 266-293: Jeronimo's prayer Part VI - 294-299: Poet's epilogue

The poem opens on the barrenness and disorder of the central "paisaje" or setting: "la desierta Siria destemplada" (1). This "paisaje" is emphasized and sustained by the main imagery throughout the poem and presents so desolate a picture that it prompted Karl Vossler to remark: "Ma's de lo que aqui se ofrece como horrores escenog- raficos de la soledad no puede honradamente pedirse."6

Parallel to the main imagery of the desert, which suggests an explicit temporal and spiritual wasteland, there is, however, another no less important "paisaje" illustrated by a second chain of counter- imagery. This less evident "counter-position" suggests that in the midst of conditions so obviously hostile to survival, life may not only

6 Karl Vossler, La Poesia de la Soledad en Espaha (Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1946), 235.



170 M L N

be sustained but, in fact, actively triumph over death. This double imagery is especially evident in Part I, 1-125:

En la desierta Siria destemplada, cuyos montes prenfados de animales llegan con la cabeza a las estrellas (1-3)

The introduction is to the "desierta Siria destemplada," but we are immediately presented with "montes prefiados de animales" whose heads reach the stars. Our first reaction to "prefiados" is almost the opposite to that induced by "desierta"; it gives us a sense of fertility and budding life, and the "montes" are indeed teeming with animal life in one form or another as the poem goes on to illustrate. The description of the "heads" of the hills reaching the sky is the first of those "recurso[s] violento[s] de trasladar imagenes y representaciones del mundo organico, humano, al inorganico" that Blecua mentions. It is the first of a long chain of similar images which, rather than personify the inorganic and animal worlds, tend to bring man down to the level of animal and plant life, to dehumanize him and equate him and his existence on earth with the desert, and to emphasize the predominance of his animal nature over the spiritual. On the other hand, the "heads" of the hills are pointing heavenwards, and even reach the stars. By extension, Jeronimo is also reaching for heaven in search of a spiritual life diametrically opposed to the harsh physical life around him in the desert, to which he belongs as a temporal being, against his will.

The desert and its barrenness thus provide the main level of imagery in the poem. This "logical basis" is, however, consistently challenged - or perhaps subverted would be the better word - by elements of its own argument:

Aqui solo se ven rajadas pefias de cuyo vientre esteril por un lado nace trepando el misero quejigo. (15-17)

Here again, the words "nace" and "vientre," like "prefiado," are associated with the idea of fertility. If the womb were truly sterile, the sense of desolation would be irrevocable because of its symbolic value as the cradle of life itself. This "vientre," however, is only sterile in the sense of producing a "misero quejigo" and not logically sterile at all since giving birth is the negation of sterility. Furthermore, the fact that this womb of "rajadas pefias," i.e., solid rock and therefore dead, inorganic matter, actually gave birth at all to a living tree is hardly less



M L N 171

than a miracle. A rationalist would say, of course, that earth collected in the crevice, a seed was dropped, sprouted and grew; but he would be ignoring the implications of the poet's specific use of language which points to a deeper and more significant analogy between the hermit and the desert.7 By giving the inorganic rock an organic "vientre" and the ability to give birth, but reducing its productivity to a "misero quejigo," the poet seems to imply a judgement on the temporal world and especially on the miserable quality of temporal life, which is the only life available to man without divine grace. This interpretation is supported by the fact that Jeronimo's cave is also located "en el redondo vientre desta pefia" (126), which suggests his identification with the "misero quejigo." Furthermore, Jeronimo identifies himself with the hardness of the rock in his prayer: "Sefior, si tuve como piedra el pecho" (266). This comparison triggers the following chain of associations: if the hardness of the rock can, under certain circumstances, produce a living organism, then the hardness of Jeronimo's breast may also, given the right conditions, foster the seed of divine grace and give birth to spiritual life within him.

Another example of the "contraposicion" of apparent contradic- tions, as in the "vientre esteril" image, is the case of the storks who survive among the same "rajadas pefias" as the "misero quejigo":

Tienen aquif las providas ciguefnas el tosco y pobre nido fabricado, de los caducos padres dulce abrigo. (18-20)

The birds have won a temporary truce with death and extinction. Their nest is another of those words which connote fertility and life, and since the storks are "padres" we must assume that this fertility is genuine. Besides being "padres," the storks are "providas," and have made their "tosco y pobre nido" a "dulce abrigo." This is a clear instance of the coexistence of contraries in the desert imagery. When one thinks of what a stork's nest in the middle of a desert must be like, it is difficult to imagine it as a "dulce abrigo." In temporal terms, however, it must indeed seem like a haven, and even a heaven in the desolate wilderness of the desert world. Within the limitations of their temporality, this is the only "dulce abrigo" the storks can ever know. This image, brief as it is, invites a comparison with Jeronimo's

7See S. L. Bethell, "Gracidn, Tesauro, And The Nature Of Metaphysical Wit," Northern Miscellany of Literary Criticism, I (1953), especially page 3 1 regarding Tesauro's "second great discovery ... that, when it involves argument (as it does at its 'highest'), wit is always fallacious."



172 M L N

"aposento helado" (128), which is described in terms of an animal's lair: "propria morada de alguin fauno o bruto" (131). The contrast between the "dulce abrigo" and the "aposento helado" suggests that Jeronimo has rejected this type of temporal "abrigo" in favour of the spiritual comfort he hopes to attain in the "celicas moradas" (292). As the storks are provident in their concern for earthly survival and comfort, so Jeronimo is provident in his quest for spiritual salvation by renouncing precisely the temporal values which are important to the storks and, by extension, to most men in this world.

Both the physical description of Jeronimo and his spiritual com- mitment are forecast through the ingenious use of plant imagery:

y armada de cortezas, por la misma herida, sale a buscar la vida una encina tenaz sin flor ni hoja, y, saliendo, en los brazos se le arroja una inuttil higuera mal vestida, a quien tienen del tiempo los sucesos, desnuda, pobre, enferma y en los huesos. (36-42)

This "encina tenaz" may be seen as symbolic of Jeronimo's commit- ment to the spiritual life. The tree comes out of the crevice in the rock "a buscar la vida," "armada de cortezas." The poet's curious combina- tion of words evokes associations which extend the implications of the image. I refer to the fact thatJeronimo is also armed, in a sense, since he wears an "estrecha cota de un cilicio tosco" (275), which is a haircloth described in terms of body armour. Jeronimo's tenacity in his quest for spiritual life is evident in this self-mortification of the flesh. He is also symbolically "sin flor ni hoja," since he describes himself in his prayer as "como un lefio" (287) or like dead wood, and the poet's description of the saint's body suggests the same comparison:

Pensara quien lo viere, en aquel sitio bronco, que es alguin seco tronco (160-162) Del edificio de su cuerpo bello solamente le queda la madera (168-169)

The "inuttil higuera," on the other hand, suggestsJeronimo's physical appearance and his disregard for this side of life.

Blecua talks of the poet's "violent device" of describing inorganic objects in organic, human terms. I would extend this evaluation by



M L N 173

adding that Jeronimo is, conversely, described consistently in terms of inorganic qualities and adjectives previously applied to the plants, animals and rocks of the desert. I have already mentioned the description of Jeronimo's body as reduced to a bare wooden frame (168-169), as compared to "un lefio" (287), and as "alguin seco tronco" (162). His body is also "enfermo" (157), which was foreshadowed in the fig tree, "pobre, enferma, y en los huesos" (42); his beard is "hendida" (182) and falls on his "pecho lleno de roturas" (183), which recalls such characteristics of the rocks as:

Tiene roturas mil este pefiasco (71) Aquif solo se ven rajadas pefias (15) y ... otras mil roturas y rincones (124)

His skin is "parda y tostada" (185), two adjectives used to describe the "riscos" (4, 61). His veins are seen as "confusas sendas" (187) through the skin, which is paralleled in the rocks by the "dos hiedras amarillas ... que"

van paseando aquellos miembros secos, pintando venas hasta las mejillas (64-68)

His eyes are "de color verde y claro, como acanto" (205), which is a perennial bush with prickly leaves. Like the "head" of the "risco," which is described as both bald and ash-coloured:

Entre aquestos pefiascos perezosos levanta la cabeza encenizada la cerviz recia de un pelado risco, (57-59)

Jeronimo's is also bald and grey: La calva circular, grande y lustrosa,

tiene por orla de pequefnas canas a las espaldas una media luna. (210-212)

This implicit correlative is reinforced by the isolated use of adjectives which emphasize Jeronimo's identification with the desert, such as "nariz enjuta" (209), "frente quebrada" (213), "cejas f6rtiles" (214), crowned by "tres arrugas quebradas" (215), "col- umna de cuello seca ... honda" (216-218), "nuez [de] cascara redonda" (221), "huesos desarmados" (223), "espalda mezquina" (273).

II. The Cave, The Bramble and The Cross.

Parts I and IV are the longest sections of the poem and cover the descriptions of the desert (1 - 125) and of Jeronimo (154-265). These



174 M L N

sections are separated by 28 verses of extraordinarily beautiful imagery describingJeronimo's cave (126-139) and the wild bramble (140-153).

Jeronimo's cave is especially significant, I believe, as a kind of half-way-house between earth and heaven, a thesis which the imagery seems to support. The dichotomy occurs when the dark, earthly images in the first lines gradually give way to a brightness which suggests a transcendence of temporality. The cave is in "el redondo vientre desta pefia" (1 26), literally an inseparable part of the temporal and inorganic hardness of the rock. It was fashioned by Nature "toscamente" and suggests the imperfections of the temporal world and its creatures, specifically, the "tosco y pobre nido fabricado" (19) by the storks. This "aposento helado, claro, enjuto" (128) reflects the narrow, comfortless, confining quality of temporal life, but it also implies, through an explicit dichotomy, the transitional character of the hermit's cave:

por una parte de color de alhefia, por otra parte azul y transparente, propria morada de alguin fauno o bruto (129-131)

The cave is both the colour of "alhefia," a bush whose black berries are used as a dye and which belongs to the temporal world, and "azul y transparente," which is clearly the colour of the sky and suggestive of heaven. Furthermore, this cave is a fit lodging for both "fauno o bruto." The "bruto" is man in all his animality, identifiable with the other inhabitants of the desert world. The "fauno," a semi-god of the woods, may well suggest man in the process of transcending his brutishness, as in the case of San Jeronimo. Since a total victory over the flesh can be achieved only through divine grace, the saint's partial victory over his own baser instincts may be implied in this image of a semi-god.8

The rocky walls of the entrances to the cave are dark, dyed "de intenso luto" ( 132), but the entrances themselves are "dos remiendos que el cielo ... pespunta" (135), a beautiful image which counteracts the darkness of the earthly walls with patches of heavenly light. And finally, the predominantly spiritual character of the cave and its tenant is suggested in the brightness of the last image:

8 I realize that the faun or satyr is often used to suggest a moral or physical degradation of man, notably in Spenser's The Faerie Queene; but, since in this case the imagery is working up from the inorganic, through the organic towards the divine, I feel justified in making this comparison.



M L N 175

... una mezclilla do se junta la esmeralda y zafir con los corales, la cual librea luego que amanece con pasamanos de oro el sol guarnece. (136-139)

which points to the eventual triumph of the heavenly light over the darkness and sin inherent in the temporal world of the cave.

The description of the bramble is functionally significant, aside from being a small masterpiece of lyric imagery, because in it the poet repeats the essential idea of the cave passage: the movement from darkness towards light and the triumph of light over darkness and disorder, in much more specific terms. The bramble is growing at the mouth of Jeronimo's cave and throws its "espinosos brazos" (142) heavenwards. It thus parallels the saint's own attitude of supplication and constant prayer. A physical identification with the hermit is also hinted at:

la [zarza] a cuestas por el risco lleva la carga de sus crines y copete, hecho de seda palida cadarza (143-145)

which forecasts the descriptions of Jeronimo's untidy beard:

Desta hendida barba mal peinada caen sobre el pecho lleno de roturas las plateadas canas reverendas (182-184)

As the bramble ascends the "risco," its arms cease to be the "melancolico ribete" (141) around the mouth of the cave and become:

el esmalte y follajes y las puntas y encajes de que lleva vestida con mil lazos la multitud confusa de sus brazos (147-150)

The "melancolico ribete" which is evocative of the "intenso luto, / que tifie pedernales / cerca de los umbrales" (132-134) of the cave, is replaced by the festive "puntas y encajes" and "mil lazos." The closer the bramble gets to the sky, the more beautiful and colourful it becomes, until it comes into contact with the sun which metamorph- oses the bramble's "seda pailida cadarza" (145) into a blazing show of red berries. The earthly bramble achieves its temporal fruition through the intervention of the celestial power of the sun; its

... moras alli reciben luego el baptismo que el sol les da de fuego, (152-153)



176 M L N

in a relationship which looks forward to the spiritual fruition Jeronimo will achieve, also through a celestial intervention.

The description of the cross inJeronimo's cave is a variation of the same theme: the triumph of light over darkness, of spiritual life over temporal death. Through the intervention of Nature, a crack is made in the dark wall of the cave "por donde mete un brazo / unajara que fuera nace y crece" (225-226). The "jara" is, significantly, an ever- green bush which contributes one of its growing branches to form a living cross within the darkness of the cave. The cross is the colour of "ebano," but its blackness is, like the bramble's paleness, transformed by the sun in another religious ritual, an act of adoration:

... cuando amanece, entra a besar postrado [a la cruz] el rubio sol dorado por la mesma rotura, boca o poro. (230-233)

The passage describing the cross culminates with the identification of Christ as the model of spiritual triumph over the rigours of the temporal desert life:

En la cual cruz esta con clavos de oro un Cristo de metal, crucificado, que, a dejar de ser bronce y no estar muerto, no sufriera el rigor de aquel desierto. (234-237)

Christ is presented here as the archetype of the saintJeronimo, who is also, symbolically, "de metal," i.e., a product of the earth, and "crucificado" in the sense of undergoing a purgation of his sins. The double imagery becomes increasingly complex as it moves from an identification ofJeronimo with his temporal environment, inorganic and organic, towards an identification with the divine nature of his spiritual goal. The implication now seems to be that once Jeronimo, like the crucified Christ, ceases to be "de bronce," that is to say, once he dies and ceases to belong to the temporal world, he will, paradoxically, actually cease to be dead in the temporal sense and begin to live in "las celicas moradas," immune to the rigours of the temporal desert.

III. The Central Conceit.

The central conceit in the "Cancion Real de SanJeronimo en Siria" is a typical "concepto gongorino" which develops on different levels throughout the poem until it culminates in the hermit's plea for entrance into the "celicas moradas" of heaven. We are dealing here



M L N 177

with a perfect example of "conceptismo como tecnica poetica en funcion; ... [un] estilo funcionando organicamente para producir una unidad artistica."9 In other words, the artistic unity of the poem hinges on the poet's use of "conceptismo" as an organic technique rather than as merely inorganic ornamention, and on his success in creating what Baltasar Gracian classifies in hisAgudezay arte de ingenio as the "agudeza compuesta."10

Gracian's theory on the extended conceit specifically stresses the unity of the whole through the "primorosa union" or successful linking of the parts: "La [agudeza] enmcadenada en una traza, es aquella en que los asuntos ... se unen entre si como partes, para componer un todo artificioso mental ... Siempre un todo, asi en la composicion fisica como en la artificial, es lo ma's noble, el uiltimo objecto, y el fin adecuado de las artes; y si bien su perfeccion resulta de la de las partes, pero afiade el la mayor de la primorosa union."911 To illustrate a successful union of parts in the "agudeza compuesta," Graciain quotes a sonnet by Francisco Antonio Fuser12 whose central conceit is functionally similar to that used by Adrian de Prado. This central conceit around which both Fuser and Prado build their poems is the "pedernal" or flint which gives off sparks when struck by the "eslabon" or steel.13 In the case of Fuser's sonnet, Gracialn obviously expects us to perceive the function of the "argudezas simples" in each of the two quatrains in relation to the whole and their contributions to the organic development of the central conceit expressed in the tercets: "Aumentase en la composicion la agudeza, porque la virtud unida crece, y la que a solas no pasara de una mediocridad, por la correspondencia con la otra llega a ser delicadeza; y no solo no carece de variedad, sino que antes la dobla, ya por las muchas combinaciones de las agudezas parciales, ya por la multitud de modos y generos de uniones." 14

9 Alexander A. Parker, "La 'agudeza' en algunos sonetos de Quevedo: Contribuci6n al estudio del conceptismo," in Estudios dedicados a D. Ramdn Menetndez Pidal (Madrid: 1952), 348.

10 Baltasar GraciAn, Obras Completas (Madrid: Aguilar, 1967), "Tratado segundo, Discurso LI," 459.

11 Gracian, "Discurso LI," 460-461. 12 Gracian, "Discurso LI," 462. 13 The same conceit is used just as effectively in a different setting by G6ngora in his

romance "Angelica y Medoro," when "el duro coraz6n de Angelica siente la herida del Amor" (DAmaso Alonso, La Lengua Poetica de G6ngora, Madrid: 1961, 25).

14 Gracian, "Discurso LI," 462. Although Gracian did not illustrate "agudezas compuestas" which to his mind were anything less than successful, there is an excellect discussion on "conceptismo"-at-work in Prof. A. A. Parker's essay (Note 9), with



178 M L N

Before going on to examine the successful use of the "agudeza compuesta" as an organic unifying device in Adrian de Prado's long descriptive poem, it might be interesting to take a brief look at a similar poem in which the same conceit does not achieve this organic function. The poem I have in mind is "Cancion Real a San Joan Clymaco" by Andres Melero,15 which represents, according to Blecua, "un ejemplo de la influencia de la 'Cancion a San Jeronimo'."16

The similarity between the two poems is both structural and thematic: the opening lines are almost identical, a long description of the landscape leads up to the cave where the saint lives in pious isolation; this is followed by a detailed description of the saint and his prayer, and both poems end with an epilogue on the inadequacies of the poem as a vehicle for praise. For our purpose we need only consider the prayer which Melero puts into his saint's mouth:

"Si mis culpas, pecados y traiciones en pedernal me tienen convertido, soberano Sefior, qual duro y ciego, baste el ver que con duros eslavones, desta cadena dura que e escojido y de aqueste pedernal, saco yo fuego." (325-330)

The conceit in this passage is identical to that which lies behind the opening lines of San Jeronimo's prayer:

"Sefnor, si tuve como piedra el pecho, con esta piedra ya, sin darle alivio, carne lo hago por sacar ma's medra, y si en la piedra yo sefial no he hecho con lagrimas y llanto, como tibio, basta que haga en mi sefial la piedra." (266-271)

Considered in isolation, both passages are equally effective in convey- ing the determination of the speaker in his quest for the divine spark of grace. As "agudezas simples" they are effective but nothing more. Taken out of context, they are neither illuminating nor very original. Since they are both parts of a larger structure, however, they should

specific examples of cases in which "el conceptismo se malogra." For a detailed study of Gracidn's theory, see T. E. May's two essays, "An Interpretation of Gracidn'sAgudezay Arte del ingenio," Hispanic Review, XVI (1948), 275-300, and "Gracidn's Idea of the Concepto," Hispanic Review, XVIII (1950), 15-4 1.

15 Blecua, 418-427. 16 Blecua, 36.



M L N 179

also be judged on their organic function within the artistic whole, because, as Gracialn has pointed out, "la [agudeza] que a solas no pasara de una mediocridad, por la correspondencia con la otra llega a ser delicadeza."'17

The question then is whether the isolated "agudezas a solas" in the above passages, which certainly seem to fall within the realm of Gracidn's "mediocridad," cease to be commonplace within the artistic whole. Do they, in fact, achieve that metamorphosis from "mediocridad" to "delicadeza" through a successful integration into "un todo artificioso mental"? Is this unity realized between the saints' prayers and the contexts within which they are supposed to function? In the case of Melero, I would say that no, the attempted linking of the conceit governing San Joan's prayer and the rest of the poem fails because the reader's intellect baulks at the leap it is asked to take from the beautiful, almost feminine saint, to the bloody act of penance implied in the conceit. Thus, the conceit does not function organically within the poem but remains an isolated "mediocridad," a conven- tional commonplace which effectively illustrates a traditional idea of penance but conveys no significant insight into the poem as a whole.18

San Jeronimo's prayer, on the other hand, although textually so similar to Melero's conceit, ceases to be a commonplace when it is considered in conjunction with the rest of the poem. It immediately becomes apparent that, in this case, a "primorosa union" is achieved through variations on the central "pedernal-eslabon" conceit occur- ing on different levels in the poem. "Conceptismo" thus becomes an active unifying force, linking the different parts of the poem together by suggesting significant relationships between such disparate elements as the inhospitable desert, the voracious animal life, the tenacious vegetation and the violence of the saint's final plea for survival.

Adrian de Prado introduces this central conceit in the opening lines of the poem, as he describes the

tierra de pardos riscos empedrada, de cuyos avarientos pedernales la colera del sol saca centellas (4-6)

17 Gracidn, "Discurso LI," 462. 18 It is not my intention here to label Melero's poem as unsuccessful; an analysis

which would do justice to it fully is beyond the scope of this essay. My emphasis is on "conceptismo" as a poetic technique and the examples are chosen to illustrate Gracidn's theory of how an "agudeza compuesta" should function.



180 M L N

Starting at the lowest end of the universal hierarchy, the poet presents the rocks as "pedernales" throwing off "centellas" when struck by the sun's rays. Both rocks and sun are given the human attributes of "avarientos" and "colera" which provide the surprise twist to their relationship and suggest a heavenly anger directed against a hard and selfish earth. This first appearance of the central conceit also estab- lishes the basic dichotomy between heaven and the desert world which will be resolved in the image of the hermit.

The next development of this central image is in the animal world of the desert:

Aqui la vil culebra, del lagarto engullida, por escapar la vida, pretende sacar chispas con la cola del pedernal rebelde, que arrebola con la sangre que sale de su herida, y finalmente muere (77-83)

The dying snake, fighting a losing battle, vainly attempts to strike sparks from the "pedernal rebelde" of hard rock and only succeeds in striking sparks of life-blood from its own body. The struggle of the snake for temporal life and its shedding of blood in the process, looks forward toJeronimo's act of self-flagellation with the "mellado canto," the pounding of his breast with a sharp stone to symbolically strike the spark of spiritual light within it.

The poet then moves up into the realm of man with a more complex variation of the same image. In describing Jer6nimo's "piel flaca y arrugada" (173), the poet goes on to say:

la cual solo descubre las enjutas mejillas y las frescas canillas de la vellosa pierna y flaco brazo, el nudoso y decrepito espinazo, y el escuadron desnudo de costillas, las quijadas, artejos y pulmones, de aquellos pedernales eslabones. (174-181)

It appears that the "eslabones" in this case are the "quijadas, artejos y pulmones," which correspond to the catalogue of parts mentioned before. On a literal level, the "quijadas" are "eslabones" to the "mejillas"; the "artejos" to the "canillas . . . piernas y . . . brazo"; and the "pulmones" to the "espinazo y. . . costillas," because the former



M L N 181

are the force behind the movement of the latter. On another, more complex level, the "quijadas, artejos y pulmones" correspond roughly to Jeronimo's mouth, knees and chest. These are the three parts of the hermit's anatomy most mortified in his quest for spiritual salvation: his mouth is deprived of food and produces the voice with which he constantly strikes the ear of God with his prayers; his knees have worn holes in the rocks by continually rubbing against them, and his chest bleeds under the onslaught of Jeronimo's self-flagellation.

Finally, the poet illustrates the relationship betweenJeronimo and his God by an extension of the same conceit. The implications of this relationship are first suggested in concrete terms of physical nourishment in a parallel situation between Jeronimo and the oak tree:

... no conozco sino el sustento que me da una encina por piedras que le tira el brazo anciano por tener siempre piedras en la mano. (276-279)

The oak tree provides Jeronimo with his temporal sustenance in the form of acorns, which the old man only obtains by the laborious method of throwing stones at the tree to literally strike these sparks of life from it. The "eslabon-pedernal" image is not explicit in this passage but I believe that it is clearly implied. The poet then transposes this temporal relationship between Jeronimo and the "encina" into the spiritual relationship between Jeronimo and his God. In the process, the conceit assumes an unexpected violence, which is the essence of its success:

. . . Seftor ... si duefio no me haceis de las celicas moradas, el cielo he de pediros a pedradas. (290-293)

Literally, Jeronimo is saying that he will continue his self-flagellation with the stone until admitted to heaven; but, with his relationship to the "encina" fresh in our minds, we also see him as symbolically beating his way into heaven with a stone in his hand. This image is not only unusual but also functional, since it clearly constitutes the climax towards which the variations of the same conceit have been building. As such, it is the final link in the organic development of the central conceit and forms, in Gracian's terms, an integral part of "un todo artificioso mental."19

19 Gracian, "Discurso LI," 460.



182 M L N

The dichotomy of the life-death imagery is thus reconciled in the hermit SanJeronimo, who prays for the temporal death experienced in such stark terms by the desert creatures around him, in order to achieve spiritual life which is also suggested, though less obviously, in the imagery of the poem. The life-death paradox of the poem is explicitly resolved in the hermit's personal philosophy:

... para vivir siempre, el cuerpo enfermo en esta helada boveda sepulta, que quien se entierra vivo nunca muere. (157-159)20

University of Texas, Austin

20 In the preparation of this article, I am especially indebted to the generous encouragement of Professor Alexander A. Parker, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Texas at Austin, to whom I wish to express my thanks.



Hispanic Issue || The Hermit as Baroque Conceit: Adrian de Prado's "San Jerónimo"

Documents

Transcript of Hispanic Issue || The Hermit as Baroque Conceit: Adrian de Prado's "San Jerónimo"