Fernando de Herrera: poesía “elegidia” clásica y elegía renacentista

Abstract

Interesting conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of Herrera’s commentary on Garcilaso, the Anotaciones. The first one is that, rather than a commentary, the Seville humanist has in fact composed a treatise on poetics focusing on elegiac poetry, maybe because he was concomitantly working on his much announced Art of Poetry. Similarly, we can assess Herrera’s deep and wide knowledge not only of classical authors and metre, about which he provides insightful remarks, but also of Italian and Spanish authors. He was also largely influenced by Julius Caesar Scaliger treatise on Latin poetics from which he draws ideas and classical references always displaying extraordinary ability to synthesise the numerous sources he resorts to. The supposed epistolary relationship between Herrera and Camões supported by references contained in the elegy he addresses to Camões is also of great interest.