Juan de Mena, (b. 1411, Córdoba—d.
1456, Torrelaguna, Castile), poet who
was a forerunner of the Renaissance in
Spain.
Mena belonged to the literary court
of King John II of Castile, where he was
renowned for the Latin erudition he had
acquired at the University of Salamanca
and in Italy. He is best known for his
poem El laberinto de Fortuna (1444; “The
Labyrinth of Fortune”), also called Las
trescientas (“The Three Hundreds”) for
its length; it is a complex work that
owes much to Lucan, Virgil, and Dante.
Writing in arte mayor, lines of 12
syllables that lend themselves to
stately recitation, Mena sought to make
the Spanish language a literary vehicle
adequate to his epic vision of Spain and
her mission. His themes are medieval,
but his use of Latinisms and rhetorical
devices and his references to classical
personages suggest an affinity to the
new manner of expression that came to be
associated with the Renaissance.
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