Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/676

656 have won national renown for their eloquence, as well as purity of diction, is quite large.

Spanish poetry is strongly national, despite the successive influence of Italian and French schools. The language is remarkably suitable for versification, notably in forming rhyme, not only consonantal, but alliterative and assonantal. While the ballad has ever retained its hold on popular taste, sonnets were even more frequent in Mexico than in Spain. Epigrammatic verse is common, though inclining to erotic sentiment.

The first attempts at describing the events of the conquest were merely rhyming chronicles. Among descriptive poems must be mentioned Grandeza de México, by Bishop Balbuena, who earned bright fame in his Bernardo and his pastoral Siglo del Oro, both among the finest of their class in the language. Two other subjects engaged the ambitious; namely, the passion of Christ, and the miracle of the virgin of Guadalupe.

Among the authors of shorter poems, odes, sonnets, elegies, satires, and epigrams, deserves special mention Francisco de Terrazas, who figured in 1574, and was honored with praise by Cervantes. Zapata's elegy on the death of the brothers Avila was noticeable for many sweet lines. Church festivals, public inaugurations, celebrations connected with the royal family or prominent citizens, and reunions, gave occasion for displays on this field.

Before closing my remarks on the poetry of colonial