Hour After Hour, Day After Day. Poem by Rosalia de Castro

Hour after Hour, Day after Day ("Hora tras hora, día tras día") Translated by Muriel Kittel.

Rosalia de Castro (1837-1885) was a Galician writer, best known for her poetry and for her contribution to the revival of the Galician language in Spain. She was also one of the leading figures of the ‘Rexurdimento’ (Galician Revival), a literary movement that bloomed during the second half of the 19th century that aimed to liberate Galicia from its cultural and political ostracism.

Rosalía de Castro was born in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Her mother, María Teresa da Cruz de Castro y Abadía was of a noble family from the village of Padrón. Her father, José Martínez Viojo, was a seminarian from the same village, who later served as a priest. She spent her early childhood in the countryside with her godmother María Francisca Martínez and at the age of nine or ten joined her mother to live in Santiago de Compostela, where she received lessons in music, drawing and French.

At age 19, Rosalía de Castro moved to Madrid; one year later, in 1857, Castro published her first collection of poetry, La flor (The Flower). This book was warmly reviewed by the writer and historian, Manuel Martínez de Murguía, who became her husband the following year. Immediately after the marriage, Castro and Murguía returned to live in Santiago de Compostela. In 1859, Castro had her first child, Alejandra, and published her first novel, La hija del mar (The Daughter of the Sea). Her second novel, Flavio, followed two years later.

In 1862, a year after the death of her mother, Castro published a brief volume of poems, entitled A mi madre (To my Mother). In 1863, Rosalía de Castro published Cantares gallegos (Galician Songs), her first collection of poetry written in Galician. This book, based on Galician popular lyrics, particularly appealed to those in sympathy with the Galician regionalist movement, which was led by Murguía. Castro was reluctant to have the poems published and at first wanted them to appear under her husband's name. Ultimately, however, they were published under her name and won her widespread recognition for her literary accomplishment. In the prologue to the collection, the poet acknowledges the influence of another collection of popular poetry, El libro de los cantares (The Book of Songs), written by Antonio Trueba in 1852. Castro surpassed her predecessor, however, in what was her own personal tribute to the already existing body of folk songs from the Galician oral tradition. Each poem is introduced by a popular refrain, followed by an elaboration on its theme, motif or tone, resulting in a lyrical work of powerful creativity. Cantares gallegos was followed by a number of prose works, including the novelette Ruinas (Ruins) and the article "Las literatas" (Literary Women) in 1866. In 1867, Castro published her best-known novel, El caballero de las botas azules (The Gentleman of the Blue Boots), which is a satirical analysis of 19th-century Spanish society and of the popular novels of the time. Two years later, she gave birth to her second child, Aurea, and afterward poor health compelled her to return to Galicia. In 1871, the family moved to La Coruña and later to Santiago de Compostela, following Murguía's job opportunities. While living in Santiago, Castro had twins, Gala and Ovidio, in 1872, and a daughter, Amara, was born in La Coruña in 1874; a sixth child, Adriano, was born in 1875 but died before the age of two; a seventh child, Valentina, was stillborn in 1877. In 1880, poems written in Castile and the Galician cities of Santiago and La Coruña were published in Follas novas (New Leaves), Castro's second collection written in Galician.

In the final years of her life, the poet was quite ill and had little energy to travel, but her love for the sea drove her to a last journey to the seaport of Carril on the Atlantic coast. On July 15, 1885, she died in the Galician village of Padrón, of either uterine or stomach cancer.

In addition to being an exceptional writer and a pivotal figure for Galician nationalism, Castro’s contribution to an imminent feminist sentiment in Spain cannot be ignored. Her decrial of the oppression of women was actually part of a broader concern for all oppressed people. Some critics see her as a Romantic and others as a Realist; however difficult it may be to reconcile these opinions, there is no arguing that her poetry is truly original.

Music Credits: Floating Home by Brian Bolger

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