...is, as retrograde, much in line with the author's own pseudo-appraisals of his poetry in various works as well with as those of his contemporaries (Ruiz Pérez 63-65). (1) Proof of the poetry's relative worth is found, for instance, in the fact that Cervantes' verse was not selected by Pedro de Espinosa for the Flores de poetas ilustres de España (1605), a project bent on acclaiming the stylistic innovations of those who wrote "nueva poesía" in Italianate verse; rather, Cervantes' autochthonous poems were published in the more "backward-looking" Romancero general of 1600 (Ruiz Pérez 65). Building on Ruiz Pérez's observations, and by closely analyzing one of the poet's octosyllabic poems, I will argue that such a dichotomy between autochthonous and Italianate, and between backward- and forward-looking, misses the complexity of Cervantes' poetic endeavors. My object of study is Cervantes' "Romance de los celos" (c. 1593), which at firt glance may seem like an un-innovative poem, in a traditional Castilian meter, didactically expounding on a conventional theme: a warning to lovers about the dangers of jealousy. However, within the verses of this ballad--which indeed was published in the Romancero general of 1600--are contained an intricate set of exchanges between high and low culture, between art and literature, between allegorical and literal, and between past and present. Positing this level of complexity to a seemingly-simple text is warranted in part by the poet's claim in the Viaje del Parnaso (1614), that this ballad was among his own favorites: "el de los celos es aquel que estimo / entre otros que los tengo por malditos" (IV:40-42). (2) This article explores the richness of these various inter-related exchanges which, I argue, relate to Renaissance practices of imitation, ekphrasis, and archeology. Additionally, by demonstrating the merits of a close reading of one of Cervantes' less-studied poems, I hope to reduce, in a small way, the metaphorical "territory" described by Ruiz Pérez.

Written as one laisse, this ballad's structure suggests a subdivision that is symmetrical, consisting of two long (I, III) and two short parts (II, IV). Section I (vv. 1-28) contains the description or ekphrasis of a mysterious, foreboding cave--la morada de los celos--by the first speaker, a shepherd who remains unnamed. This is followed by Section II (vv. 29-33) in which a third-person poetic narrator explains the context of the first utterance. Section III (vv. 34-56) is spoken, like the first, by another speaker, Lauso, who elucidates the meaning of the cave to his unnamed interlocutor. Lauso's speech is then followed by the third-person narrative voice's four-verse conclusion (Section IV):

Yace donde el sol se pone, entre dos tajadas peñas, una entrada de un abismo, quiero decir, una cueva profunda, lóbrega, escura, 5 aquí mojada, allí seca, propio albergue de la noche, del horror y las tinieblas. Por la boca sale un aire que al alma encendida yela, 10 y un fuego, de cuando en cuando, que el pecho de yelo quema. Oyese dentro un rüido como crujir de cadenas y unos ayes luengos, tristes, 15 envueltos en tristes quejas. Por las funestas paredes, por los resquicios y quiebras mil víboras se descubren y ponzoñosas culebras. 20 A la entrada tiene puesto[s], en una amarilla piedra, huesos de muerto encajados de modo que forman letras, las cuales, vistas del fuego 25 que arroja de sí la cueva, dicen: "Esta es la morada de los celos y sospechas". Y un pastor contaba a Lauso esta maravilla cierta 30 de la cueva, fuego y yelo, aullidos, sierpes y piedra, el cual, oyendo, le dijo: "Pastor, para que te crea, no has menester juramentos 35 ni hacer la vista esperiencia. Un vivo traslado es ése de lo que mi pecho encierra, el cual, como en cueva escura, no tiene luz, ni la espera. 40 Seco le tienen desdenes bañado en lágrimas tiernas; aire, fuego y los suspiros le abrasan contino y yelan. Los lamentables aullidos, 45 son mis continuas querellas, víboras mis pensamientos que en mis entrañas se ceban. La piedra escrita, amarilla, es mi sin igual firmeza, 50 que mis huesos en la muerte mostrarán que son de piedra. Los celos son los que habitan en esta morada estrecha, que engendraron los descuidos 55 de mi querida Silena." En pronunciado este nombre, cayó como muerto en tierra, que de memorias de celos aquestos fines se esperan. 60

With its four internal sections, the poem is set up as a series of exchanges or traslados, a term I take from verse 37, where Lauso explains how...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



More articles from Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America
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Howard Mancing. The Cervantes Encyclopedia.(Rese�a de libro), September 22, 2007
William Childers. Transnational Cervantes.(Rese�a de libro), September 22, 2007
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