Jacint Verdaguer

Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló ( born May 17, 1845 in Folgueroles at Vic, † June 10, 1902 in Barcelona) is a poet from Catalonia, who, as the most important of the movement to revive the Catalan language and culture in the 19th century, the Renaixença applies. He is also under the name Mossèn Cinto ( " Father Cinto " ) known. In addition to several monumental epics His work also includes numerous religiously inspired ballads and folk songs, which still enjoy great popularity.

Biography

Verdaguer was born on 17 May 1845, son of a very poor stones knocker. Poverty has accompanied him throughout his life, but could not prevent it matured into a cheerful, inwardly sophisticated poet.

At the age of 11 years Jacint Verdaguer began studying at the seminary in Vic. At 18, he took a job as a teacher, but continued his studies in parallel on.

In 1865 he participated in the Joes Florals ( a traditional poetry competition ) in Barcelona, ​​where he won four straight away prices. The following year, he won two more prizes.

In 1870 he was ordained a priest and preached first in Vic and around 1876 he took a position as a ship chaplain at the Compañia Española Transaltántica for the route Cádiz Havana. The Atlantic voyages inspired him to his epic L' Atlàntida. In 1877 he was awarded the special prize of the Deputation of Barcelona for this. Also in 1877, Verdaguer took a job as a priest in the service of the Earl of Comillas.

The impressions of his trips to the emigrant ships incorporated in 1890 in his poem L' Emigrant, which was set to music in 1893 by Amadeu Vives.

In 1878 he traveled to Rome, where he was Pope Leo XIII. an audience granted.

After another award at the Joes Florals In 1880 he received the honorary title Mestre en Gai Saber ( "Master of the cheerful knowledge" ), which is awarded to authors who have won at least three different years. In the same year he wrote the text for the spread throughout Catalonia praises of the Black Madonna of Montserrat, the Virolai. This is still daily sung by the Escolania, the boys' choir of the monastery in Montserrat monastery.

His 1883 published book Oda a Barcelona ( "Ode to Barcelona" ) issued by the Government in a circulation of 100,000 copies.

In 1884, he traveled through France, Switzerland, Germany and Russia.

After a trip through the Rossello appeared in 1886 in 1886 his epic from the time of the Reconquista Canigó (named after the Pyrenees summit Canigó ).

In 1888 he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

In 1893 he gabT to his place at the Earls of Comillas and settled first in Santurari de la Gleva in Osona down later in Vallvidrera, Barcelona.

Jacint Verdaguer died on 10 June 1902. His burial in the cemetery of Montjuïc was accompanied by one of the largest crowds in the history of Barcelona.

Its particular importance to the present can be seen that, according to no personality more roads and places in Catalonia are named as by Jacint Verdaguer. In addition, his portrait was depicted on the banknote to 500 pesetas.

L' Atlàntida

Verdaguer epic L' Atlàntida is closely linked with the Catalan Modernisme, the resurgence of the long-suppressed Catalan language and culture in the late 19th century. It includes ten songs. It was ( including the German ) translated from Catalan into several languages. The Provençal poet and Nobel Prize laureate Frédéric Mistral was an ardent admirer of this work, which represents a unique synthesis of Christianity, Celtic and Greek history of Catalonia and Spain. Plato's rousing portrayal of the sinking of Atlantis was after the poet's own words, the reason for his work: " And Atlantis, this real drawbridge, was from the hand of God destroyed because he wanted to separate the worlds at the time of corruption, into later they centuries again nice put together by the giant arms of Columbus. " Verdaguer describes in his epic the sinking of Atlantis and leaves the geographical shape of Spain, the new Atlantis, with its cities, rivers and mountains emerge from mythical battles. As an example may, the founding myth of the Catalan capital of Barcelona are:

Hercules looked at his journey through the world and the Pyrenees are in flame facing the terrible dragon Geryon had set on fire. He saw the pretty young Pyrene, the rightful queen of Spain, who had just escaped the flames. The dragon did dethroned and since she could escape this, the Pyrenees set on fire. Pyrene ( pyr German: fire) but eventually dies in the spill from the burning Pyrenees liquid iron. Heracles vowed to get revenge. He pulls down the Mediterranean coast and kneels before the altar of Jupiter down on the mountain of Montjuïc:

While the renaissance of Catalan culture had begun long before the appearance of L' Atlàntida in 1877, but not until this work fully took advantage of the great poetic possibilities of the Catalan language by - similar Frédéric Mistral Mirèio (1859 ) for the Occitan - drew on the medieval literary standard form of Catalan.

Works (selection)

  • L' Atlàntida (1876 ) Translation: Atlantis. German by C. Commer, Freiburg im Breisgau 1897
  • Translation: Atlantis. German by Clara summer, Freiburg im Breisgau 19113

Footnotes

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