The study of the presence of objects and paintings in Spanish literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has a long history, since the pioneering works of Miguel Herrero, Deleito y Piñuela, and Rodríguez Marín, among others. These specialists in early modern Spanish literature, history, and visual arts analyzed how poets and painters engaged in a dialogue through their poems, plays, and paintings. In the latter half of the twentieth century, there has been a renewed interest in the interaction between poetry, painting, and material objects. Mary E. Barnard's book is “about the ways in which cultural objects and material sites were used by poets who were writing in the years around 1600” (3). In order to fulfill her objectives, Barnard brings in Henri Lefebvre's concepts of perceived space, spatial space, and lived space. She also cites other modern theorists like Michel de Certeau, Paul de Man, and Roger Chartier.
The book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter, “The Agency of Objects,” analyzes poems by Francisco de Quevedo. In her analysis of “Retirado en la paz de estos desiertos,” Barnard focuses on Quevedo's idea of the poem as “voices of the dead” and the musical knowledge of the author. She further explores two epitaphs, one of Christopher Columbus where he is seen as “silent, a relic without agency” (23), and the other of the Duke of Osuna, the elegy of a warrior who fell from grace after a military campaign in the Mediterranean Sea. Her critical approach to the silva “al pincel” is detailed and insightful.
The second chapter, “Material Rome,” deals with Quevedo's poems on the ruins of Rome, influenced by classical and modern Neo-Latin poets. Barnard describes how the objects—the ruins of the old city—produce “a complex memory of Rome” (42) through its reading of various moments in Rome's history. Her reading of the sonnet “Miré los muros de la patria mía” as a reference to both the Islamic and medieval walls of Madrid, as well as a criticism of King Philip III and his minister, the Duke of Lerma, is not entirely convincing.
The third chapter, “Producing Pastoral Spaces,” is dedicated to the analysis of “Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea” by Luis de Góngora. Barnard divides the poem into five parts, according to the different landscapes described by Góngora. Her analysis reveals how the setting of each section is integral to Góngora's argument; only her supposition that Polyphemus's eye represents violence and melancholy lacks heft (72).
The fourth chapter, “Staging Myth,” analyzes the interaction between two sonnets by Juan de Arguijo and two paintings on the ceiling of his library, which all tell the story of Phaeton and Ganymede. She provides an original approach that establishes a relationship between these works. The only lack is that Barnard does not explain the moral lesson inferred from those two myths by the moralists and artists of the seventeenth century.
The final chapter, “A Mystic and Her Objects,” was for me the most interesting; it is dedicated to the mystical poetry by Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza. Barnard analyzes with great depth and understanding the mystical experience narrated by Luisa de Carvajal. She describes the Jesuit and Franciscan influences on the nun's poetry. At the same time, she emphasizes the Petrarchan erotism of the description of Jesus Christ's body. Barnard points out that Luisa de Carvajal based her description of Christ on the convent's crucifixes. One important aspect that Barnard analyzes is the concept of the entry to the garden as a mystical penetration.
In conclusion, Mary E. Barnard's A Poetry of Things makes an important contribution to the study of Spanish seventeenth-century literature. Her book provides the reader with a novel perspective on the poetry of Quevedo, Góngora, Arguijo, and Luisa de Carvajal. It is disappointing that there are portions of her analysis that do not reflect the contemporaneous analyses of these works, which would have provided additional insight into the imagery and analogies present within them.
