author
Juan Bautista Arriaza
1770–1837
A Spanish poet and diplomat from Madrid, he is best remembered for patriotic verse shaped by the upheavals of the Napoleonic era. His work stands at the meeting point of neoclassicism and the early stirrings of Romanticism in Spain.
1 Audiobook
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 Madrid on February 27, 1770, Juan Bautista Arriaza y Superviela built a career that moved between public service and literature. In his youth he served in the navy, later entered diplomacy, and spent time in posts including London and Paris before returning to Spain.
Arriaza became known as a poet of the late neoclassical period and a figure in Spain's transition toward Romanticism. He wrote lyrical and patriotic poetry, and he is especially associated with poems inspired by the Peninsular War, which helped make his name widely known in his own time.
He remained an important literary figure in Spanish cultural life and was elected to the Real Academia Española in 1829. He died in Madrid on January 22, 1837.