Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, La Araucana [The Araucaniad]

Bryce Maxey (Yale University)

Ed. by Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Yale University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.2.01: Spanish Literature and Culture from the Beginning to the Golden Age.
Vol. editors: Andrew M. Beresford (University of Durham), Stuart Green (University of Leeds), Juan Pablo Rodriguez (Yale University), Duncan Wheeler (University of Leeds)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1569 - 1589

Places

Spain (Publication/ performance; Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Epic
Poetry (any)

Resources

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Alonso de Ercilla (1533-94) published the three volumes that comprise

La Araucana

in 1569, 1578, and 1589. The poem was an instant success and soon became the most admired and imitated epic of the Spanish Golden Age. Due to Ercilla’s heroic depiction of Araucanian resistance to Spanish colonization,

La Araucana

was chosen as the national poem of Chile after the country gained its independence. Today it remains a canonical work in the fields of Spanish and Latin American literature and history.

The poem narrates a five-year period of warfare (1553-58) between the Araucanians—a group of war-like, semi-nomadic natives of southern Chile—and the Spaniards who were attempting to colonize the region. While most other Amerindians were quickly forced to surrender in the face of Spain’s

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2135 words

Citation: Maxey, Bryce. "La Araucana". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 June 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35831, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, La Araucana [The Araucaniad]

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