Hazer nuevo lo que no es’

‘Huid, contentos, de mi triste pecho’ is exceptional in Fray Luis’s ‘Odas originales’ in terms of both form and content. It is the only example among them of the verse form of the terceto, or terceto encadenado, while the tone of the poem is largely pessimistic, introspective, and self-analytical. Critics have usually interpreted it as referring to a moment of hope which came to nothing during his long imprisonment, and which may indeed have spurred its composition. However, this article is more concerned with the poem’s literary connections, its imagery, and some of the puzzles of interpretation which it poses. It examines in particular the nature of the first-person voice, in the context of the clear allusions to Garcilaso’s poetry in the opening verses and of the links with Fray Luis’s own verse translation in tercetos of the book of Job, and it suggests how his subtle handling of language can shed light on some of the poem’s more problematic passages

Art · Context (archaeology · Humanities · Imprisonment · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Nothing · Pessimism · Poetry · Sociology · Theology · Tone (literature · Early Modern Spanish Literature · Early Modern Women Writers · History · Philosophy · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies