Soledades


Las Soledades is a poem by Luis de Góngora, composed in 1613 in silva in hendecasyllables and heptasyllables.
Góngora intended to divide the poem in four parts that were to be called "Soledad de los campos", "Soledad de las riberas", "Soledad de las selvas", and "Soledad del yermo".
However, Góngora only wrote the "dedicatoria al Duque de Béjar" and the first two Soledades, the second of which remained unfinished.
From the time of their composition, Soledades inspired a great debate regarding the difficulty of its language and its mythological and erudite references. It was attacked by the Count of Salinas and Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar. The work, however, was defended by Salcedo Coronel, José Pellicer, Francisco Fernández de Córdoba, the Count of Villamediana, Gabriel Bocángel, and overseas, Juan de Espinosa Medrano y Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Rafael Alberti would later add his own Soledad tercera
The first novel of John Crowley's Aegypt series is named The Solitudes and the Góngora poem is read by the protagonist, and is referenced throughout the plot.

English translations