Soneto I de Garcilaso

Garcilaso de la Vega: Sonnet 1
Sonnet 1


1. Cuando me paro a contemplar mi estado,
y a ver los pasos por do me ha traído,
hallo según por do anduve perdido,
que a mayor mal pudiera haberllegado;
5. mas cuando del camino estó olvidado
a tanto mal no sé por do he venido;
sé que me acabo, y más he yo sentido
ver acabar conmigo mi cuidado.
9. Yo acabaré, que me entregué sinarte
a quien sabrá perderme y acabarme
si ella quisiera, y aun sabrá querello;
12. que pues mi voluntad puede matarme,
la suya, que no es tanto de mi parte,
pudiendo, ?qué hará sino hacello?Prose Translation:

When I stop to consider my state, and see the steps along which I have been brought, I find --considering the road where I got lost-- I could well have come to greatermisfortune. But when I forget about the road, I don’t know how I’ve come to so much misfortune; I know that I am dying and I regret all the more seeing my suffering end along with me. I shall die, for Isurrendered myself naively to the one who can ruin me and destroy me if she wished, and she can so wish; for if my love can kill me, her love –which doesn’t favour me—since it can kill me, isn’t thatwhat it will do (i.e. by not loving me, she will kill me)?

Commentary:

Sonnet 1 tells us how the poetic “I” suffers because of unrequited love. The sonnet begins with an image of life as a road--taken from Petrarch—which is sustained for the first five lines. As the "I" looks back, the past doesn’t look so bad compared with the present or future. The present is full of suffering and thefuture looks hopeless since he will die of unrequited love. Still, he does not want to die, because death will end the suffering that gives meaning to his life. In other words, there is joy insuffering, a popular concept in 15th-century Spanish cancionero love lyrics.
15th century cancionero poetry is an outgrowth of literary, courtly love which traces its roots to the medieval troubadour...