Love in the Poetry of Francisco de Aldana: Beyond Neoplatonism

This study explores the love lyric of one of the greatest, yet oft-neglected, warrior-poets of the Spanish Golden Age - Francisco de Aldana (1537-78). Hailed for his skill by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and the Generation of27’s Cernuda alike, Aldana’s lyric is the unique result of his Florentine education and interactions with the Medici family as well as Benedetto Varchi’s literary circle. Aldana died young, fighting in the Battle of Alcazaquivirin the service of Portugal’s Sebastian I. His brother, Cosme, subsequently edited and published his poetry in three volumes between 1589-93.
Perhaps the most alluring aspect of Aldana’s poetry is his exploration of the natureof love via the reconciliation of seemingly opposing and discordant elements of physical love with the Neoplatonic spirituality more common to sixteenth-century poetry, especially as portrayed by the Petrarchan tradition. Throughclose examination of Aldana’s lyric -religious, philosophical, pastoral, and mythological- this study reveals how Aldana exploits the gaps in Petrarchism, Neoplatonism, and contemporary poetic models to communicate his belief inthe importance of the physical in our search for those fleeting moments of transcendental bliss on the earthly plane.

Paul Joseph Lennon is Lecturer in Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of St Andrews,UK.