Rosalía de Castro's Poems 17-19: Pain, Transience of Life and Nostalgia

Summary

This study document analyses three poems by Rosalía de Castro: Poem 17 on pain as a constant companion, Poem 18 on the transience of life, and Poem 19 on nostalgia, landscape and solitude. It explains the metrical structure, rhyme and literary devices of each poem. Readers will learn how form and theme work together in Rosalía's verse.

Key points

Poem 17 has 8 lines of irregular 11 and 7 syllables, with assonance rhyme in pairs, and presents pain as an unavoidable companion.
Poem 18 uses lines of five, six, ten and twelve syllables across three stanzas and treats life as a rushing torrent.
Poem 18 employs the ubi sunt motif (where are they) to stress impermanence.
Poem 19 follows the popular cantarcillo structure of three octosyllabic lines with assonance between lines one and three, similar to a soleá.
Poem 19 uses parallelism, anaphora, concatenation, repetition, comparisons, personifications, metaphor and contrast.
Poem 19 moves from a girl's nostalgia for the bells to a landscape of Galicia and ends with a woman alone at home who does not pray.

Test yourself

Poem 17: Pain's Constant Companionship

This short poem is composed of 8 lines with an irregular combination of 11 and 7 syllables. It features assonance rhyme in pairs, with the odd lines remaining unrhymed. This structure aligns with the metric of the *silva arromanzada* or assonance. The poem emphasizes how, on the shores of Sar, pain always accompanies Rosalía. This suggests that the sufferer, filled with pain, is never truly alone, as pain is a constant companion. This concept echoes the existential idea, previously explored, that man is a being thrown into the world, unaware of their fate, a fate that nevertheless possesses meaning.

Poem 18: The Transience of Life

This poem features lines of five, six, ten, and twelve syllables, distributed irregularly across three stanzas. Assonance rhyme is present, with some lines remaining unrhymed. The poem's theme, the transience of life, is a recurring motif in European literature of the Middle Ages.

Stanza 1: Life is depicted as a rushing torrent, swiftly moving. Heaven, earth, and the very limits of life are in constant flux, a reminder of life's fleeting nature.
Stanza 2: Imagery reinforces the obvious: everything that passes is irretrievable, like the fading perfume of a wilting flower or the dissipating sounds of waves on the beach.
Final Lines: The *ubi sunt* motif (*where are they*) emphasizes impermanence and expiration. Everything, absolutely everything – joys and sorrows – has disappeared.

Poem 19: Nostalgia, Landscape, and Solitude

Rosalía utilizes a popular *cantarcillo* (a short song) structure, consisting of three octosyllabic lines with assonance rhyme between the first and third lines (a *soleá*). Identical stanzas are sung until the last, where a verse is added that rhymes with the second verse of the initial stanza, creating a cyclical effect. The poem is rich in literary devices:

Parallelism
Anaphora
Concatenations
Repetition of words and phrases
Comparisons
Personifications
Metaphor
Contrasts

Part 1: A girl hears bells and experiences nostalgia and longing. The sound of the bells also increases her love of solitude and pain.

Part 2: While the sound of bells offers some consolation to the girl.

Part 3: The young man returns to his happy home. Along the way, he witnesses a sunset and the rising moon.

Part 4: A night vision of a landscape, initially poorly illuminated by the moon. The poem then describes the Galician landscape: mountains populated by trees, dense foliage, birds, and so on.

Part 5: The woman is found alone in her home. The sound of the bells invites her to pray, but she does not.

FAQ

What metre does Poem 17 use?

Poem 17 is composed of 8 lines with an irregular combination of 11 and 7 syllables. It is linked to the metric of the silva arromanzada, which uses assonance rhyme.

What is the ubi sunt motif in Poem 18?

Ubi sunt means 'where are they' and is used in Poem 18 to emphasise impermanence. Everything, including joys and sorrows, has disappeared.

What structure does Poem 19 follow?

Poem 19 uses a popular cantarcillo structure of three octosyllabic lines with assonance between the first and third lines, similar to a soleá. The last stanza adds a verse that rhymes with the second verse of the first stanza.