Francisco Cascales facts for kids
Francisco Cascales (born in 1564, died in 1642) was a Spanish scholar, a humanist, and a writer. He is known for his book Discurso de la ciudad de Cartagena.
Contents
About Francisco Cascales' Life
We don't know much about Francisco Cascales' family. He never wrote about his parents or his family life. Some people think he might have been born outside of marriage.
He studied grammar when he was young. In 1585, he joined the military. He traveled to the Netherlands and France. He spent many years of his youth in these countries. Later, he returned to Spain.
Cascales met many important humanists of his time. He also traveled through Italy. He might have even gone to university there. In Cartagena, he became friends with Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor. However, Cascales did not like Carrillo's writing style, called culteranismo.
Cascales' Writings and Teaching
In Cartagena, Cascales wrote his book Discurso de la ciudad de Cartagena in 1598. In this book, he praised the poets from that area. He then got a job teaching rhetoric there. Later, he taught at a school in Murcia called Seminario Mayor de San Fulgencio.
It seems he wrote plays and comedies for festivals. These plays honored the patron saint of Murcia. Sadly, these works are now lost. However, another book he wrote, Discursos históricos de la muy noble y muy leal ciudad de Murcia (1621), still exists. He wrote this book as a historian for the city.
Cascales was married three times. He only had children with his last wife. She was the sister of two poets, Pedro and Bartolomé Ferrer Muñoz.
His Ideas and Other Works
Francisco Cascales believed in a humanist idea called "eclectic imitation." This meant he would take good ideas from many different writers and combine them in his own works. He used this method a lot in his writing.
He was also a poet. His friend, the famous writer Lope de Vega, praised him in his own work El laurel de Apolo. Cascales also wrote short poems in Latin, inspired by an ancient Roman poet named Marcus Valerius Martialis. He translated a famous poem by Horace called Ars Poetica into Spanish. He also wrote Florilegio de versificación. He started an epic poem about El Cid, a Spanish hero, but he could not finish it.
His Most Famous Book: Cartas Filológicas
The Cartas filológicas is definitely Cascales' most famous book. This book is written like a collection of private letters. These letters are between Cascales and other smart people of his time. He put these letters together and published them in 1626.
The Cartas filológicas talks about many different subjects. It's written in a clear essay style. In the book, Cascales shares his thoughts on history and art. Some of his ideas were quite strong. For example, he had different opinions about the works of another writer, Luis de Góngora. Cascales used these discussions to show off his own cleverness and ideas.
See also
In Spanish: Francisco Cascales para niños
