Poetry
La amada inmóvil
Not translated into English
Amado Nervo · 1920
Opening lines
Dios mío, yo te ofrezco mi dolor:
¡Es todo lo que puedo ya ofrecerte!
Tú me diste un amor, un solo amor,
¡un gran amor!
My God, I offer you my sorrow:
it is all I can offer you now!
You gave me a love, a single love,
a great love!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from es.wikisource.org
Synopsis
Poems born of the death of Ana Cecilia Luisa Dailliez, whom he met in Paris on 31 August 1901 and who was carried off by typhoid fever on 7 January 1912 in the Madrid apartment where the poet kept her hidden. He mourns her, remembers their days together, her gentleness and her wit, and asks himself what remains of the dead and whether it is possible to find her again. The book, dedicated to the woman he says is lost “forever?”, mixes poems and prose thoughts.
Context
The poems were written in 1912, at the death of his companion, and their author kept them to himself: the book, posthumous, did not appear until 1920 according to most sources, 1922 according to others, with an introduction by Alfonso Reyes, who was then directing the edition of his complete works in Madrid. A few pieces had already appeared in a 1914 collection. The book carries the dedication “encontrada en el camino de la vida el 31 de agosto de 1901”. Critics at first praised its sincerity, then the following generation rejected it.
Who it is for
Short pieces, in simple language and immediate to read; no French or English translation of the collection found.
Prizes and reception
The best-known book of verse by its author, a poet whose popularity long matched that of Rubén Darío.
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