Juan de Mena

Quote by Juan de Mena.

Quote by Juan de Mena.

Juan de Mena (1411 - 1456) was a Spanish writer distinguished by his search for a poetically lofty vocabulary in Castilian. His best known work is Labyrinth fortuna, in her the traits of a cultured lyric, a little rigid and invariable, are obvious. Therefore, his style prioritizes a sublime content to the detriment of a more common and current expression.

Although his work has been framed by most scholars as part of the pre-Renaissance period, its metric shows the typical “overload” of the baroque. Specifically - despite going ahead by more than a hundred years - Juan de Mena's poetry fits perfectly with the characteristics of the literature of the culteranismo

Biography

He was born in Córdoba in 1411, he was orphaned at an early age. According to sources such as writers.org, "the absence of documentation on his parents makes one suspect that he had a Judeo-convert origin." In 1434 he graduated from the University of Salamanca with the degree of Master of Arts. In 1441, Mena traveled to Florence as part of the retinue of Cardinal de Torquemada.

From there he moved to Rome to complete his humanistic training. Two years later he returned to Castile to serve Juan II as secretary of Latin obituaries. To the aforementioned monarch, Juan de Mena dedicated his most famous poem, Labyrinth of Fortuna. In 1444 he was appointed chronicler of the kingdom, although some historians dispute his authorship of the chronicles of John II.

Personal issues

There are few reliable records and a large number of uncertainties about the sentimental and private life of Juan de Mena. Among these "rumors", it is believed that during his youth he married a young woman from a good family from Córdoba. However, the woman's name has not even been precisely determined, and the couple does not appear to have fathered any descendants.

On the other hand, Marina de Sotomayor is another of the noble females associated with the Cordovan poet. But historians have never been unanimous in determining whether it was in the role of (second) wife or lover. There are also no formal records of children recognized by Juan de Mena.

A poet obsessive with his work and linked to the aristocracy

Juan de Mena was described by prominent intellectuals of his time —among them Alonso de Cartagena and Juan de Lucerna— as a man obsessed with poetry. To such an extent, that many times he neglected his health for it. Likewise, he developed a close friendship and shared literary tastes with personalities such as Álvaro de Luna and Íñigo López de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana.

Precisely around the figure of this last aristocrat Juan de Mena wrote The fifty. It is a very widespread poem from its publication (1499), Also known as Coronation of the Marquis of Santillana. Actually, the basis of this work was written in prose, Commentary on the Coronation (1438)

The poetry of Juan de Mena

Coplas against the seven deadly sins o Reasoning with death it was the last poem written by him. The work was completed posthumously, since Juan de Mena could not finish it before his death in Torrelaguna (Castilla), in 1456. However, Until his last opera the Spanish poet maintained a fairly solid consistency of style, consistent with his predecessor poems.

Features and style

  • Twelve-syllable meter, lacking rhythm, with little flexibility and monotonous accents every two unstressed syllables.
  • Poetics in higher art with sophisticated terminology. In addition, some of his writings present eight-syllable verses of similar complexity.
  • Cultisms and neologisms through words brought directly from Latin (without modifications).
  • Frequent use of the hyperbaton, as well as verbs in the present participle and in the infinitive.
  • Use of archaisms to fit the metric.
  • Deliberately baroque rhetoric — overloaded — with amplifications: periphrasis (detours or evasions), epanalepsis, redundancies (anaphora), chiasms, duplicates or polyptoton, among others.

Maze de Fortuna o The three hundred

It is made up of 297 couplets in major art. According to Ruiza et al. (2004) this work is “considered one of the most successful samples of the allegorical-Dantean tendency arisen in the Spanish literature of the XV century, the Labyrinth of Fortuna stands out for the use of major art, its sound rhythm and eloquent and elaborate language ”.

Apart from its symbolism, the significance of the text lies in the passionate description of historical events that seek to appeal to Iberian patriotism. Therefore, the intention of the Spanish poet to generate a feeling of national unity represented by King Juan II is very palpable.

Chiaroscuro

Labyrinth of fortune.

Labyrinth of fortune.

You can buy the book here: Fortune maze

This work demonstrates the obsession of the Cordovan poet for the preparation of a refined literature. It is distinguished by the intermixed use of stanzas of major art (twelve syllables) and minor art (octosyllables). Equally, In its content, the notions of conceptism are evident within a truly dark and lyrical context.

The prose of Juan de Mena

As with his poetic work, Juan de Mena used a Latinizing lexicon in his prose. For this reason, his way of writing was repeatedly alluded to by the Renaissance humanists Hernán Núñez and El Brocense. In addition to the aforementioned Coronation of the Marquis of Santillana, the Spanish writer made an adaptation of the IliadEntitled Homer romance (1442)

Likewise, dedicated to King John II, Homer romance was highly praised and successful during the XNUMXth century, because it represented a synthesized version of the Iliad original. Likewise, historians and academics from different eras have agreed to praise the preparation of the prologue to this book for its extraordinary artistic conception.

Other important prose by Juan de Mena

In 1445 he wrote Treatise on the title of the Duke, a relatively short text of a formal and chivalric character. Juan de Mena wrote this document in honor of the nobleman Juan de Guzmán, after being proclaimed Duke of Medina Sidonia by King Juan II. Finally, Memory of some ancient lineages (1448) is the last known prose work of the Spanish intellectual.

The latter is a text related to the real family tree (with its respective emblems) of John II. Further, Juan de Mena prepared the foreword to Álvaro de Luna's book, Book of the clear and virtuous women. There, he praises his friend and protector for his courageous defender of those women who had been the subject of insulting comments in different publications of the time.

Poems by Juan de Mena

Comparison

(CVIII)

"It's fine as when some evildoer,

at the time that they enjoy another justice,

fear of grief makes him cobdicia

from then on to live better,

but since fear has passed by him,

return to his vices as first,

that's how they bolted me to despair

desires that want the lover to die ”.

Sing of Macias

(CVI)

"Loves gave me a crown of loves

because my name for more mouths.

So it was not my worst evil

when they give me pleasure from their pains.

Sweet mistakes conquer the brain,

but they do not last forever as soon as they please;

Well, they made me feel bad that you grow,

know how to unlove love, lovers ”.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.