Luís de Góngora y Argote Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Luís de Góngora y Argote (July 11, 1561 - May 24, 1627), was a Spanish lyric poet.He was born at Córdova, where his father, Francisco de Argote, was corregidor; the poet adopted the surname of his mother, Leonora de Góngora, who was descended from an ancient family. At the age of fifteen he entered as a student of civil law and canon law at the University of Salamanca; but was content with an ordinary pass degree. He was already known as a poet in 1585 when Miguel de Cervantes praised him in La Galatea; in this same year he took minor orders, and shortly afterwards was nominated to a canonry at Córdova. About 1605-1606 he was ordained a priest, and afterwards lived at Valladolid and Madrid, where, as a contemporary remarks, he "noted and stabbed at everything with his satirical pen."
His circle of admirers grew; but the acknowledgment of his genius was grudging. Ultimately, through the influence of the duke of Sandoval, he obtained an appointment as honorary chaplain to King Philip III of Spain, but he did not enjoy the honour for long. In 1626 a severe illness, which seriously impaired his memory, compelled his retirement to Córdova, where he died.
An edition of his poems was published almost immediately after his death by Juan Lopez de Vicuña; the frequently reprinted edition by Hozes did not appear till 1633. The collection consists of numerous sonnets, odes, ballads, songs for the guitar, and of certain larger poems, such as the Soledades and the Polifemo. Many of them exhibit a tortuous elaboration of style (estilo culto) with which the name of Góngora is associated; but though he has been criticised for affected Latinisms, unnatural transpositions, strained metaphors and frequent obscurity, he was a man of rare genius, as acknowledged by those of his contemporaries who were most capable of judging. It was only in the hands of those who imitated Góngora's style without inheriting his genius that culteranisino became absurd. Besides his lyrical poems Góngora was the author of a play entitled Las Firmezas de Isabel and of two incomplete dramas, the Comedia venatoria and El Doctor Carlino.
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