author
José de Espronceda
1808–1842
A fiery voice of Spanish Romanticism, he packed rebellion, passion, and drama into a life that ended far too soon. His poems are remembered for their energy, dark glamour, and refusal to play by the rules.
2 Audiobooks
El Estudiante de Salamanca and Other Selections
by José de Espronceda
Modern Poets and Poetry of Spain
by James Kennedy, Juan Bautista Arriaza, Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, José de Espronceda, Leandro Fernández de Moratín, José María Heredia, Tomás de Iriarte, Gaspar de Jovellanos, Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, Juan Meléndez Valdés, Manuel José Quintana, duque de Angel de Saavedra Rivas, José Zorrilla
About the author
Born in Almendralejo, Spain, in 1808, José de Espronceda became one of the best-known poets of Spanish Romanticism. As a young man he was drawn into liberal and revolutionary politics, and his opposition to the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII led to punishment, exile, and years spent moving through places including Portugal, Britain, and France.
That restless, defiant spirit runs through his writing. He is especially famous for poems such as "Canción del pirata", with its celebration of freedom and rebellion, and for major works including El estudiante de Salamanca and El diablo mundo. His work helped shape Romantic poetry in Spain with its intense emotion, dramatic scenes, and attraction to outsiders, danger, and doomed love.
Espronceda returned to Spain later in life and also became active in public life, serving for a time in politics. He died in Madrid in 1842, only 34 years old, but his reputation endured, and he is still widely seen as one of the defining poetic voices of 19th-century Spain.