Customer Reviews

Rimas, Narraciones y Leyendas (Spanish Edition)

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Since I was a little girl Bécquer has always been my favourite writer. His were the first poems I read and whose feelings I really shared. They are simple, sincere, intimate rhymes, influenced by the Romantic German poet Heine. They deal with love, passion, despair and the very essence of poetry in a melancholic way.

Yet what I love the most from Bécquer are his Narratives. They are a collection of Spanish legends beautifully told. You can find amongst them deadly wraiths, extrange weredeer, marble statues that can come into life, ruins, bewitching green-eyed ondines, damned souls, devilish creatures, evocations of medieval Spanish towns and forests and a poet in love with a moonbeam who might well be Bécquer himself. His prose is both poetic and compelling and can easily move in a wide range of stories, from Romantic weird infatuations from horror, from medieval times to untemporal events.

I only regret that there are so few translations of Bécquer's works into English... He is a most loved writer in Spain. His verses are the first to be read and appreciated by teenagers who usually feel reluctant to read poetry. With Bécquer they learn that Poetry are not only beautiful words, but a deep intimate feeling...

Becquer has a melancholy tone to most of his work - although some verses are romantic - the "poor man" sound helplessly filled with despair. Perhaps Byronesque. Some of his imagery is beautiful. I feel he needs a pat on his back, assuring him life will get better.