José de Espronceda y Delgado

José de
Espronceda y Delgado, (b. March 25,
1808, Almendralejo, Spain—d. May 23,
1842, Madrid), Romantic poet and
revolutionary, often called the Spanish
Lord Byron.
He fled
Spain in 1826 for revolutionary
activities and in London began a
tempestuous affair with Teresa Mancha
(the subject of Canto a Teresa) that
dominated the next 10 years of his life.
He participated in the July Revolution
of France (1830), and following the
death of Ferdinand VII in 1833 he was
allowed to return to Spain, where he was
a founder-member of the Republican Party
and was imprisoned several times for
revolutionary activities. His historical
novel Sancho Saldaña (1834), influenced
by Sir Walter Scott, was written in
prison in Badajoz. El estudiante de
Salamanca (1839; “The Student of
Salamanca”), a milestone of Iberian
Romanticism, is a variant of the Don
Juan legend that carries to extremes the
antisocial and antireligious attitudes
of its protagonist. Espronceda was most
admired for his lyric poetry, and his
Poesías (1840; “Poems”) shows the
influence of both Lord Byron and Scott.
The unfinished poem El diablo mundo
(“The Devilish World”) contains
ideological reflections and is
considered one of his best works.
Espronceda served as secretary of the
diplomatic legation to The Hague (1840)
and deputy to the Cortes from Almeria
(1842). He also wrote several
plays—Blanca de Borbón (1870), Ni el tío
ni el sobrino (1834; “Neither the Uncle
nor the Nephew”), and Amor venga sus
agravios (1838; “Love Avenges Its
Affronts”).