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Page 8
That he was a ready debater is shown by his neat rejoinder to Deputy
Font�n. This gentleman had made sneering allusions to men of letters
who dabbled in diplomacy. Far from accepting the remark as a thrust at
himself, as it was intended, Espronceda resented it as an insult to the
then American minister Washington Irving, "novelist of the first
rank, known in Europe through his writings even more than through the
brilliancy of his diplomatic career."
Espronceda's health had been failing for some months. It is said that
chronic throat trouble had so weakened his voice as to make his remarks
in the Cort�s scarcely audible. On May 18, 1842, he journeyed on
horseback to Aranjuez to visit Do�a Bernarda Beruete, a young lady to
whom he was then engaged. Hastily returning to Madrid on the afternoon
of the same day, so as not to miss a night session of the Cort�s, he
contracted a cold which soon turned into a fatal bronchitis. Others say
he was taken ill at a reception given by Espartero. He died May 23,
1842, at the early age of 34. He was honored with a public funeral in
keeping with his position as deputy and distinguished man of letters.
His first place of burial was the cemetery of San Nicol�s; but in 1902
his remains, together with those of Larra, were exhumed and reburied in
the Pantheon for Distinguished Men of the Nineteenth Century, situated
in the Patio de Santa Gertrudis in the Cementerio de la Sacramental de
San Justo.
In forming our estimate of the man, we must carefully distinguish
between the Espronceda of legend and the Espronceda of fact; for a
legend sprang up during his own lifetime, largely the result of his own
self-defamation. Like many other Romanticists, Espronceda affected a
reputation for diabolism. He loved to startle the bourgeois, to pose as
atheist, rake, deposer of tyrants. Escosura sums up this aspect of his
character by branding him "a hypocrite of vice." Many have been led
astray by Ferrer del R�o's statement that in drawing the character of
the seducer, Don F�lix de Montemar, Espronceda was painting his own
portrait. Such criticism would have delighted Espronceda, but the
imputation was indignantly denied by his close friend Escosura. Modern
critics are careful to avoid this extreme; but, in the delight of
supporting a paradox, some are disposed to go too far in the opposite
direction. Se�or Cascales, for instance, is unconvincing when he seeks
to exonerate Espronceda from all blame in the Teresa episode. Like the
devil, Espronceda was not so black as he was painted, not so black as
he painted himself; but he was far from being a Joseph. It is easy to
minimize the importance of the part he played in the national militia.
Doubtless much of his plotting was puerile and melodramatic. His
activities as a revolutionist cannot have greatly affected the course of
events. But it is unfair to deny him credit for constant willingness
to risk his life in any cause which seemed noble. That his conduct was
inconsistent merely proves that he followed no calmly reasoned political
system. He reflects in his conduct the heated sentiment of the time,
varying as it did from day to day. He sometimes compromised with his
ideals, his sense of honor was not always of the highest, but he never
seems to have grown lukewarm in his desire to serve the people. He is
a liberal to the last, a liberal with notions of political economy and
English constitutional practice. His quarrel with the church seems to
have been political rather than theological. He hated the friars and the
church's alliance with Carlism. That the last rites were administered to
him shows that he died a professing Catholic. In appearance Espronceda
was handsome, if somewhat too effeminate-looking to suggest the
fire-eater. He never cultivated slovenliness of attire like most
members of the Romantic school; on the contrary, he was the leading
representative in Spain of dandyism. To sum up, Espronceda's was a
tempestuous and very imperfect character. "Siempre fu� el juego de mis
pasiones," is his own self-analysis. The best that can be said of him
is that he was a warm, affectionate nature, generous, charitable to the
poor, a loyal friend, and one actuated by noble, if sometimes mistaken,
ideals. Years afterward, when Escosura passed in review the little
circle of the Colegio de San Mateo, Espronceda was the only one of them
whom he could truly say he loved.
THE WORKS OF ESPRONCEDA
Of all the Spanish poets of the period of Romanticism, Espronceda is the
most commanding figure. Pi�eyro, adopting Emerson's phrase, calls him
the Representative Man of that age of literary and political revolt.
More than that, criticism is unanimous in considering him Spain's
greatest lyric poet of the nineteenth century.
First of all he interests as the poet of democracy. The Romantic poets
were no more zealous seekers for political liberalism than the
classic poets of the previous generation had been; but their greater
subjectivity and freedom of expression rendered their appeal more
vigorous. Espronceda's hatred for absolutism was so intense that in
moments of excitement he became almost anti-social. The pirate, the
beggar, the Cossack, were his heroes. The love of this dandy for the
lower classes cannot be dismissed as mere pose. He keenly sympathized
with the oppressed, and felt that wholesale destruction must precede
the work of construction. We look in vain for a reasoned political
philosophy in his volcanic verse. His outpourings were inspired by the
irresponsible ravings of groups of caf� radicals, and the point of view
constantly changed as public sentiment veered. According to his lights
he is always a patriot. Liberty and democracy are his chief desires.
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