Nota sobre la recusatio en Herrera: la imitación de los elegiacos latinos en Versos, I, elegía 6

Abstract

In the poem «En tanto que, Malara, el fiero Marte», Fernando de Herrera remakes basically two elegies of Propertius (I, 7 and II, 34), to which he adds several echoes of Ovid and of other passages of the poet of Umbria. On the one hand, this paper consists of the examination of the imitative process, which can be defined as composite and creative. On the other, it emphasizes the significance of the text in order to the study of elegiac genre in Herrera and Spanish Renaissance poetry: firstly, it proves the direct influence of Roman erotic poets; secondly, it illustrates the revival of the recusatio theme to be applied to contemporary discussion about poetical hierarchy and value; finally, it offers a very clear example of how lyrical love topics could be modified to adapt classical elegy to petrarchist conventions of modem poetry.