Jump to content

Mirror of patience

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Espejo de paciencia
AuthorSilvestre de Balboa
LanguageSpanish
GenreEpic poem
Publication date
1838
Publication placeCuba
Pages40 pages

"Mirror of patience" (Spanish: Espejo de paciencia) is an epic poem written in 1608 by Silvestre de Balboa.[1] It is considered the first literature piece written in Cuba. It was occult until the year 1838 when was published in El Plantel, a nineteenth-century magazine. Before, the writer José Antonio Echevarría found it between the shelves of the library of the "Society of Friends of the Country".[citation needed]

The poem is about a true story that occurred in the port of Manzanillo in 1604, when the bishop of the Island of Cuba, Don Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano, in a travel to visit the farms in Yara, was kidnapped by the French corsair Gilberto Girón, with the intent to make the town pay a huge ransom. Then a group of neighbors from Bayamo prepare to fight against the corsairs. In combat, a black slave named Golomón defeats Gilberto Girón and cuts off his head. The bishop is rescued and the people celebrate.

References

  1. ^ The Rise of Spanish American Poetry 1500-1700: Literary and Cultural Transmission in the New World. Vol. 22. Modern Humanities Research Association. 2019. ISBN 978-1-78188-706-6.