“Ave (aunque muda yo)”: The Image of the Nightingale in Góngora's Love Sonnets

Abstract

The nightingale is one of the most metatextual symbols in poetry, but its meaning varies considerably from one context to another. In the works of some poets, the bird is a figure of orality, a symbol of virtuosity in singing. In others, however, it is a metaphor for writing. In classical mythology, the nightingale is the metamorphosis of Philomela, who after being raped and having her tongue cut out by Tereus, reveals what has happened to her by weaving a tapestry with images of Tereus's transgression. The bird is thus associated with silent signs that resemble those of a text. This essay examines the representation of the nightingale in three sonnets by the Baroque poet Luis de Góngora, and contrasts his use of the image with that of Garcilaso de la Vega. Whereas Garcilaso represents the nightingale as an ideal of perfect singing and as a natural analogue of the poet, Góngora emphasizes its writerly nature and creates a more complicated relationship between the lyric voice and the bird.

Keywords:

• Garcilaso de la Vega
• Églogas; Luis de Góngora
• “Con diferencia tal, con gracia tanta”; Luis de Góngora
• “Oro no rayó así flamante grana”; Luis de Góngora
• “Ya que con más regalo el campo mira”; Fernando de Herrera
• “Suäve Filomela
• que tu llanto”; metapoetry/ metatextuality; nightingale; Philomela

Notes

1. On representations of the nightingale, see Chandler; Pfeffer; and Zapata.

2. On the influence of Virgil's nightingale on Golden Age Spanish poetry, see Lida de Malkiel 100–18.

3. On the image of the nightingale in Góngora, see Chaffee; Gornall; Huergo; Lida de Malkiel; O’Reilly; Poggi; and Zapata.

4. On the “strofa primaverile” in troubador poetry, see Rivella.

5. See Abrams 1–29.

6. “Hojas se llaman las de los árboles, y a su semejanza también las de los pliegos de papel en que se escribe” (Salcedo Coronel II: 354).

7. As Zapata notes, “mezcla Góngora la actitud de Filomela como personaje mitológico antes de la metamorfosis (‘a escribir del cuñado el atroz hecho’) y como ave tras ella (‘en las hojas de aquella verde planta’)” (46).

8. The nightingale's ability to “mudar estanza” reinforces her authorial role, for “estanza” can refer not only to a room but also to a poetic strophe. Similarly, the lyric voice's inability to “hacer mudanza” suggests not only his paralysis but also his poetic incapacity, because “mudanza” is a stanza of a villancico.

9. In this respect, I disagree with Poggi's observation that “Góngora logra construir una analogía casi matemática entre el canto del ruiseñor y el del poeta: es decir, en sentido técnico, entre los saltos de nota del primero y el contrapunto que en sus versos (mejor diría en sus números) crea el segundo” (258).