An Approach to Góngora's "Polifemo"

Abstract

It does no good to pretend, now that Gongora is admitted to the number of the very greatest Spanish writers, that he has become because of that an easy or a straightforward poet who ought to be accessible to any educated reader. He himself would not have wished it so. Most of those who come to know and to love him will inevitably do so as students who are led to him by teachers equipped with commentaries and explanations; and I think this is probably as true of Spaniards as it obviously is of foreigners. Lorca saw this plainly even in the moment of Gongora's literary canonization in 1927: >A Gongora no hay que leerlo, sino estudiarlo. Gongora no viene a buscarnos, como otros poetas, para ponernos melancolicos, sino que hay que perseguirlo razonablemente. A Gongora no se le puede entender de ninguna manera en la primera lectura. There is no other way, to the great poems at least, and perhaps there never has been: from the first, Gongora was presented to the public in editions with commentaries. Even with t...