A Well-Known Poetess: Rosala de Castro
A well-known poetess, Rosala de Castro outshone her peers in the field of poetry. Rosala de Castro, who was born in 1837 in Galicia's capital, became well-known because she was the first female author to write under her real name, as opposed to her contemporaries who preferred the pseudonym. (Foster 4). In fact, this was a blatant demonstration of her aggressiveness, resolve, independence, and steadfast opposition to the historical tropes of the time, which undermined the autonomy of women in society.
The Galician Revival
She was soon introduced to the Galician revival, also known as the "Rexurdimento," at the time she became influential referring to the movement that was so phenomenal and that significantly characterized the last half of the nineteenth century, whose main agenda was to liberate Galicia the ostracism of its political and cultural establishments. The society Rosalía de Castro was born in and raised had a lot of social and political compromises, elements which predisposed its people to a spree of vulnerabilities (Foster 23).
Challenges Faced by Rosalía de Castro
Considering that Galicia before the conquest by the Roman had been occupied by the Celts, the political and cultural independence of this society was at stake up to as far as the Iberian Peninsula in the northwest. Consequently, Rosalía de Castro was appreciated and recognized as the most audacious, daring, and determined literary writer who took the history of Galician from the dark ages, since the long-gone influence of the literary traditions of the Portuguese. Nevertheless, despite her success in the literature arena, Rosalía de Castro faced many challenges at the time she authored her works. Some of the intriguing problems included the fact that she was marginalized, religiously repressed, and ridiculed by the culture of the day in Galicia. Therefore, both the language and the people were in dire controversy with her intuitions. To analyze the significance of Rosalía de Castro, it is not only imperative to discuss her place and time in the context of her literature but also essential to examine her poem of Hour After Hour, Day After Day, which holds core the theme of her capacity to empower her society across millennia.
Analyzing the Poem: Hour After Hour, Day After Day
While analyzing the poem Hour After Hour, Day After Day with an endeavor to bringing out the literary meaning Rosalía de Castro put across, there are many aspects that come out reverberating with palpable social, ethical, natural, political, as well as intuitive aspects. This poem stands conspicuous in meaning and context, to portray Rosalía de Castro as a towering poet of the nineteenth century. While utilizing her vernacular dialect, the Galicia, Rosalía de Castro was capable of chiefly composing the verses in the Hour After Hour, Day After Day poem, amidst the incorporation of themes related to political poetry, as well as folklore (Castro 1).
The Longings of Her People
The longings of her people, in the Galician culture, are at the core of this poem. Furthermore, she compels the reader into an atmosphere of logos and pathos when she gets even more nostalgic, to ensue the aspects of the love of nature, which borders on pervasive melancholic despondency. Indeed, all these multifaceted objectives that emerge from her poem do well characterize the renaissance of the Galicia society, and hence she emerges as an acclaimed progenitor of literature and versifier. By mentioning the concepts of nature, she implies how human beings have a lot of might when it comes to influencing their fellow humans; however, nature is untamable, and it goes beyond the abilities of the human person to influence, "From the waves that caress the beach and one after the other die in that caress" (Castro 1). However, Rosalía de Castro challenges her audience to stay optimistic, ready to confront challenges, and focus on the ultimate price of their lives, "Times now past, tears and laughter, dark afflictions, soothing falsehoods" (Castro 2). Therefore, the poem Hour After Hour, Day After Day serves as a broad spectrum literary background that projects the acumen, the prowess, and the unmatched insight of Rosalía de Castro in the discipline she had an unwavering passion for.
Figures of Speech in the Poem
Two figures of speech are evidenced in the poem Hour After Hour, Day After Day by Rosalía de Castro. One is the use of anaphora. This stylistic feature is evidenced in the title of the poem, whereby the word hour and day have been reiterated to emphasize the passing of time. On the other hand, the aspect of hyperbole is a figurative stylistic feature used by the author in her work, to exaggeratedly emphasize on the emotional and psychological distress she suffers following the social injustices that define her biographical dimension.
Biographical Aspects and Social Context
While Rosalía was doing her poems and authoring her publications, there was a lot that was going on in her life. Indeed, in her poem Hour After Hour, Day After Day, there were personal biographical aspects that primarily influence her language to the core, and her diction is actually a mirror through which her audience learns of the social injustices meted against her she confronts in audacity. The emotional, psychological, and distressful reverberations witnessed in her work are the manifestation of the fact that Rosalía was termed an illegitimate child. Her childhood life was compromised, following the incomplete family life she faced, and the society that stood aloof to judge her harshly (Castro 1).
Social and Cultural Shifts
Rosalía grew up in her paternal aunt's house, and considering that her father was a sacristan, the psychological pressure she faced might have been the primary compulsion that predisposed her diction to be such emotional and touching language in her poem. Indeed, this cloud would later embrace with significant influence the literary atmosphere of her book the; En las Orillas del Sar, which could be judged as psychological distress or poetic motif. Moreover, at the time, there was a lot that was going on in her society when she was writing her famous books. There was political instability as well as social disintegration. The cultural stereotypes that characterized the moment became impending blocks for those that stood out of the crowd to claim their place in the society. A good example would be the female emancipators, including Rosalía, whose path of success was shaped by resistance and founded on a solid background of social ridicule. Furthermore, in the last half of the nineteenth century, there was a social evolution in the Galicia society, whereby the movement was a social force mobilized to overcome the cultural stereotypes and the traditional precepts which were held as morally upright, despite in reality being elements that resisted change and promoted dogmatism.
Rosalía de Castro: A Revered Poet
Castro stood out in her society because of many reasons. She was one of the most revered poets in the Spanish culture in the nineteenth century. She wrote much of her poetic work in Galicia, the traditional dialect at her birthplace. In her poem Hour After Hour, Day After Day, her verse is not only simple but also mystical as well as intensely symbolic, with amalgamations of themes of religious fervor, cultural longing, and love of nature as well as deep melancholy (Foster 44). Despite the relatively less evidenced applause she received at the onset, her posthumous reverence in the mid-twentieth century was of substantial global impact in the literal arena. In 1863, she attained two volumes of poetry, both the A Mi Madre and the La Flor all dine in the Castilian language, where she speaks of love and conventional poetry. Nevertheless, in Cantares Gallegos, she arouses pathos and emotional compulsion by highlighting how her Galicia people struggle for cultural, traditional, and political autonomy, as well as the celebration of the female gender in the tireless efforts made toward reinforcing their society. Moreover, the Follas novas and the Cantares Gallegos are essential components of the En Las gorillas del Sar, wherein Castro paints a reflection of her loneliness and loss to draw the emotional attention of her audience (Foster 166).
A Lasting Impact
Indeed, the work of Rosalía de Castro, especially the poems through which she brings out the diverse themes of culture, traditions, political inclinations, social injustices, and cultural shifts, remains to be sharp and vivid in the contemporary world. Her emotional and confessional approach is robust a tool that compels her audience into an attentive atmosphere that captures her themes and purpose. In a critical analysis, she suffers without bitterness, yet her works have the capacity to cause the sharpest pain amidst a completeness in the manifestation of love.
Works Cited
Castro, Rosalia de. “Hour After Hour, Day After Day Poem by Rosalia de Castro.” 2014. PP. 1-3.
Foster, Geraldine R. “Nature and Emotion in Rosalia de Castro’s ‘En Las Crillas Del Sar.’” 2008. PP. 1–362.
