Some Comments on Iterative Thematic Imagery in Quevedo's <i>Heráclito christiano</i>

A copy of Quevedo's Heràclito christiano was sent to Dona Margarita de Espinosa, the poet's aunt, on the third of June, 1613.^It seems to have been composed when the author was in the thirty-third year of his life, at a time of grave personal crisis.^It is not clear why Quevedo chose such a signifi- cant title for this work, but it is possible to speculate that he associated Heraclitus-known to the Spanish Renaissance as el llorente, the weeping philosopherwith the tears and lamentations present in his own poetry.^Heràclito is presumably christiano because the poems are motivated by a Christian outlook that depaganizes, so to speak, the pre-Socratic phil- osopher.Although it is commonly known as the Heràclito christiano, Quevedo's title does not stop there; it continues "y segunda harpa a imitacion de David."James O. Crosby has noted that David is the "primer rey de la dinastia de Judea" of whom it is said that he played the harp skillfully and that he "se arrepintiô de sus pecados."He had committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the death of her husband, Uriah.Crosby also tells us that "a David se le han atribuido diversos Salmos del Antiguo Tes- tamento, como, por ejemplo, el «miserere» del pecador que pide mis- ericordia de Dios" (Psalm 51).Other psalms express similar sentiments and run parallel to the poems of Quevedo.Crosby suggests as ejtamples psalms 37, 38, 50 and 51.^Even a quick reading ofthese psalms shows that the similarities between them and Quevedo's poetry are not to be found at the surface level of sim- ple repetition for Quevedo's Heràclito christiano is deeply imbued with the spirit of the psalms.And it is this "spirit" which the investigator must pin- point.John McKenzie's classification of the psalms into five distinctgroups may help.He distinguishes between the following types, each with its own different structure and style: 1) Royal Psalms; 2) Hymns; 3) the Lamentation or Supplication which is itself divided into Collective amentations and Individual Lamentations; 4) Individual Songs of Confidence; and 5) Thanksgiving Songs.^^^^^," ,.^^^^^",,^.j" ".^..B^r^iin?^j

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