BECQUER, GUSTAVO ADOLFO Spanish poet and romance-writer, was born at Seville, and died in great poverty at Madrid, where he had earned a precarious living by translating foreign novels. His works were published posthumous ly in 1873 (7th ed. 191 I). In such prose tales as El Rayo de Luna and La Mujer de piedra, Becquer is manifestly influenced by Hoff mann, and as a lyric poet he has analogies with Heine.