Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March died on the 3rd of March, 1459, in Valencia, and was buried in his family's chapel at the Valencia Cathedral. He left behind no legitimate heirs. What he did leave was poetry. It traveled across languages and centuries, eventually reaching poets who had never heard a word of Valencian. March was born around 1400 in Gandia, a city on the Valencia coast, into a family of petty nobility. He was also a knight. How does a knight become the defining voice of an entire literary century? And what drove him to write verse that struck even his contemporaries as almost unbearably dark?
Pere March, the father of Ausiàs, served at the court of Peter, the younger brother of King Alfonso IV. He was himself a poet. So was Jaume March II, the uncle of Ausiàs. Verse was built into the family before Ausiàs came of age. Pere's second wife was Lionor of Ripoll, and she bore two children: Ausiàs and his younger sister, Peirona. Pere died in 1413, leaving his young son to take over as head of the household. Ausiàs would inherit the family's literary tradition. The next phase of his life, however, would be shaped by the Mediterranean campaigns of King Alfons el Magnànim.
Ausiàs March spent his early adult years in the Mediterranean campaigns of King Alfons el Magnànim. By 1427, he had returned to Gandia. He would never again leave the region where he was born. Two marriages shaped his private life: the first to Isabel Martorell, the sister of the writer Joanot Martorell, and the second to Joana Escorna. Neither produced a legitimate heir. Five children have been attributed to March, all born outside those marriages. In 1450, he moved from Gandia to Valencia. His two wives and his family were buried at the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, not in the city where he himself died.
Pere March had been the treasurer to the Duke of Gandia. The fortune Ausiàs inherited from him made it possible to devote himself fully to poetry. Charles of Viana, prince of Aragon, provided additional patronage. The central influence on March's verse was Petrarch. His Cants d'amor, or love songs, were addressed to a woman he claimed to have first seen in church on Good Friday. He reproduced the rhythmical cadences of the Italian model as closely as the difference in language allowed. The medieval tradition of close literary borrowing was itself something Petrarch had practiced; March was not simply imitating. March was a genuinely original and idiosyncratic poet. His verse is marked by obscurity, a sometimes monotonous morbidity, and an unresolved conflict between desire and moral conviction. In the Cants de mort, the death hymns, he touched a note of brooding sentiment peculiar to himself. All of this reached its apex in the Cant Spiritual. He used Petrarchan rhetoric for psychological meditation in a way that Camões and Shakespeare would also pursue. His success with Italian metres in Valencian emboldened the poet Boscán to carry those same forms into Castilian verse.
The Spanish translation of March's verse appeared in 1539, more than eighty years after his death. That came four years before the first printed edition in Valencian. His poetry had reached Castilian readers before it appeared in print in its own language. Up until both of those dates, his verse had traveled exclusively in manuscript. Composers also reached for his words. Joan Brudieu and Raimon were among those who set his poems to music. The Cants de mort and the Cant Spiritual eventually found a life in sound as well as on the page.
Common questions
Who was Ausiàs March and why is he important in Valencian literature?
Ausiàs March was a Valencian poet and knight born around 1400 in Gandia, who died on the 3rd of March, 1459, in Valencia. He is considered one of the most important poets of the Valencian Golden Century and was among the first to write major poetry in Valencian rather than the troubadour language, Occitan.
What were the main works of Ausiàs March?
Ausiàs March wrote three groups of poems: the Cants d'amor (love songs), the Cants de mort (death hymns), and the Cant Spiritual. The Cant Spiritual is considered the apex of his central conflict between desire and moral conviction.
What language did Ausiàs March write in, and why was that significant?
Ausiàs March wrote in Valencian, the local vernacular, rather than Occitan, the troubadour language that had dominated the tradition before him. He was among the first poets in his region to make this shift, helping establish Valencian as a serious literary language.
How did Ausiàs March influence later European poets?
March's success in adapting Italian metres to Valencian verse inspired the poet Boscán to introduce those same forms into Castilian. His use of Petrarchan rhetoric for deep psychological meditation also anticipated work by poets including Camões and Shakespeare.
When were the poems of Ausiàs March first published in print?
The poems of Ausiàs March first appeared in a Spanish translation in 1539, more than eighty years after his death. The first Valencian-language printed edition followed in 1543; before both dates, his verse had circulated only in manuscript.
Who were the family members of Ausiàs March?
Ausiàs March was the son of Pere March, a poet and treasurer to the Duke of Gandia, and Lionor of Ripoll. His uncle, Jaume March II, was also a poet. He had a younger sister named Peirona, and was twice married: first to Isabel Martorell, sister of the writer Joanot Martorell, and later to Joana Escorna.
All sources
2 references cited across the entry
- 1Ausiàs March – L'autorIluisvives.com