José-Maria de Heredia was born on November 22, 1842, at La Fortuna Cafeyere, a coffee plantation near Santiago de Cuba. He was a French poet and translator of Spanish and French ancestry, associated with the nineteenth-century Parnassianism movement. His poetry is characterized by carefully constructed sonnets, historical and mythological subjects, and detailed descriptions. His principal work, Les Trophées (1893), contains 118 sonnets and several longer poems. He was elected to the French Academy in 1894 and became administrator of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris in 1901.

Early Life and Education

José-Maria de Heredia was born on November 22, 1842, at La Fortuna Cafeyere, near Santiago de Cuba. His father, Domingo de Heredia Mieses Pimentel Guridi, was a wealthy landowner of Spanish ancestry who owned a coffee plantation. His mother, Louise Girard d'Houville, was French.

At approximately eight years old, Heredia was sent to France, where he attended the Collège Saint-Vincent in Senlis, near Paris. He studied classical literature and developed an interest in poetry.

After completing his studies in Senlis, he returned to Cuba and briefly attended the University of Havana. He subsequently returned to France, where he studied at the École des Chartes in Paris and attended law courses.

Literary Career and Parnassianism

José-Maria de Heredia began publishing poetry in French literary journals during the 1860s. His early poems appeared in the Revue de Paris and other publications.

He became closely associated with Leconte de Lisle, one of the principal figures of Parnassianism. This literary movement developed partly in opposition to the personal emotional expression of Romantic poetry. Parnassian poets emphasized formal precision, carefully chosen language, and historical or mythological subjects.

Heredia contributed to Le Parnasse contemporain, an anthology associated with the movement. His poetry frequently drew upon ancient Greece, Rome, medieval Europe, and the history of Spanish exploration.

His sonnets used carefully arranged rhymes, musical language, and descriptive imagery. Many concluded with a final line or couplet intended to complete or transform the scene described in the poem.

Translations and Les Trophées

Alongside his poetry, José-Maria de Heredia translated historical and literary works from Spanish into French. Between 1877 and 1887, he published his translation of Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, the account of the Spanish conquest of Mexico written by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. The French translation appeared under the title Histoire véridique de la conquête de la Nouvelle-Espagne.

In 1893, he published his principal poetry collection, Les Trophées (The Trophies). The volume brought together 118 sonnets and additional longer poems. Its subjects included classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, distant landscapes, and historical conquests.

The collection received the Archon-Despérouses Prize from the French Academy in 1893.

In 1894, Heredia published La Nonne Alferez (The Nun Lieutenant), a prose work based on the life of Catalina de Erauso, a seventeenth-century Spanish adventurer.

French Academy and Later Years

On February 22, 1894, José-Maria de Heredia was elected to the French Academy, succeeding Charles de Mazade. He was formally received on May 30, 1895, by François Coppée.

In 1901, he became administrator of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, a position he held until his death.

He also maintained friendships with writers and poets including Leconte de Lisle, Sully Prudhomme, and Catulle Mendès.

Personal Life and Death

José-Maria de Heredia married Louise-Cécile Despaigne in 1867. They had three daughters: Hélène de Heredia, Marie de Régnier, and Louise de Heredia. Marie became a novelist and poet, publishing under the name Gérard d'Houville.

José-Maria de Heredia died on October 2, 1905, at the Château de Bourdonné, near Houdan, France. He was 62 years old.

Published Works

Poetry:
1893 - Les Trophées (The Trophies)
Translations and Prose:
1877–1887 - Histoire véridique de la conquête de la Nouvelle-Espagne (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, translation of Bernal Díaz del Castillo)
1894 - La Nonne Alferez (The Nun Lieutenant)

Selected Poems

The Conquerors (Les Conquérants)

They were a flock of falcons flown from their nests,
Weary of their proud poverty.
From Palos de Moguer, wanderers, soldiers, and captains
Were swept toward a wild dream.

They sailed in search of the legendary treasure
Hidden in the unreachable lands of Cipango.
As they passed the mysterious shores of the West,
Their yards bent beneath the trade winds.

Each evening they hoped for the dawn of an epic.
From the phosphorescent blue of the surrounding seas,
Their dreams filled with golden mirages.

Leaning beyond the white galleons,
They gazed into the depths of the ocean
And watched the stars rise into an unknown sky.

English rendering based on the Turkish translation by Sabahattin Eyüboğlu and Orhan Veli Kanık.

Sonnet

How many, long ago, in the gardens of Bourgueil,
Carved the names of their beloved into the trees?
How many, beneath the gilding of the lofty Louvre,
Laughed and made merry with their heads held high?

What became of them? Who remembers them now?
One by one, they have all passed away.
No one today remembers their names;
No one says that they once lived.

So it is with everything. Marie, Cassandre, and you, Hélène,
Your beautiful bodies would have faded into the earth—
For lilies and roses reign for only a day—

Had Ronsard not come, beside the Seine or golden Loire,
To make you immortal in this world,
Who would now speak of your lives?

English rendering based on the Turkish translation by İlhan Berk.

Source: Biyografiler.com