Rosalía de Castro: Prosody, Symbolism, and the Objective Correlative

Analyzing Rosalía de Castro's Poetic Innovation

Poetic Structure and the Voice of Nature

The analysis begins by noting the subtle rhyme employed by Rosalía de Castro, often described as defying conventional expectations—as if "plants do not speak" traditional verse forms. This poem utilizes:

• Assonant Rhyme (rima asonante).
• Varying Stanza Structure: Stanzas contain different numbers of verses (e.g., seven, five, and two).
• Monorhyme Hexadecasyllables: Lines of sixteen syllables that rhyme consistently within each stanza (e.g., á-o, a-a, é-o).

The main literary resources to identify include pomposity, symbolism, and epithets. In terms of content, the poem exhibits a marked subjective nature. This is shown in the lyric self, who believes they hear (in the first stanza) natural elements discussing her condition and whispering about her alleged insanity. The self's response, covering the subsequent two stanzas, confirms the symbolic identification of the poet with the natural environment and their mutual contingency.

These natural elements acquire symbolic entity only if they are dreamed of (i.e., poetically elaborated) by the poet's madness, which, in turn, is presented as the very essence of poetry itself.

Assonance, Polymetry, and the Objective Correlative

This analysis focuses on Rosalía de Castro's use of assonance and her rejection of rigid stanzaic structures. The phrase "Cinderella's waters" suggests a specific, perhaps melancholic, imagery. The prosody is characterized by the prevalence of polymetry (or ametry)—the combination of lines of different sizes, here specifically combining heroic verse (hendecasyllables) and heptasyllables.

The analysis should also identify the main resources: pomposity, symbolism, and epithets.

Content, Mood, and Symbolic Correspondence

With regard to content, the analysis highlights the poem's subjective nature, which permeates and "stains" the natural environment. All elements of the landscape and sensory components correspond symbolically with the lyrical mood, functioning as an objective correlative (referenced around verse 21).

Key symbolic elements include:

• Colors: Significantly gray, brown, or ashen.
• Sounds: Imprecatory, monotonous, or foreboding/cautionary.

The entirety of nature appears inclement or adverse. Paradoxically, this adverse nature aligns with the poet's soul, serving as the objective correlative both to corroborate the present sadness and to announce, through chimeras, some future joy. This is emphasized at the end, following the identification of winter seasonal aging (verse 31), which must precede any spring—whether real, dreamed, or desired.