CAMPOAMOR Y CAMPOOSORIO, kiim/p6 31-mile P kiim/po-U•Wert•-n, IZAMON DE (1817-1901). A Spanish poet, politician, and philosopher. lie was born in Navin, September 24, 1817, and re ceived a elassical education in Santiago and at the Jesuit ('allege of Saint Thomas in :Madrid. which he h-ft without finishing his course. Ile then began the study of medicine at the 'ollege of San Carlos, hut abandoned it to devote himself to journalism and literature. Throughout his life, however, he kept a strung interest in phygielogi eal and physical seienee, and especially in chem istry. lie entered political controversy with the Historia eritic•a de /as Corti N in 1837; was several times elected to the Corte., where he distinguished himself as an orator: wars appointed Governor of Alieante and Valencia in 1854: and engaged in a long, controversy with Castelar which is represented IT hie i'oh'»deas con in denim-meta (1862). Ile took no part in polities from the lievolution of 1868 until the succession of Alfonso N11. in 1874, after which he held several subordinate olliees. was made counselor of state, and later life Senator. Ere refused the title of Grande de Espafia. His atti tude in polities was always that of a moderate conservative. distinguished for his eloquence and his chivalric faithfulness to the royal family.
His trend toward philosophical thought was shown in La filosofia de las lei/es (1846), and confirmed in El personalism° (1830 and 1855) ; he attempted to expound his system in Lo abso lute (1862 and 1865) and El idealism° (1883), the two works by which he is best known outside of Spain. His philosophy is a somewhat inco herent and often self-contradictory eclecticism, tending on the whole to subjective idealism.
By far his most important work was done in poetry. Lightness, grace, and delicate sensi bility marked his early verse: Los ayes del alma ( 1842 ) . and Ternezas y fibres ( 1858 ) . The Fdbabis morales y politicos, first published in 1842, were added to in many successive edi tions. His most characteristic short poems are to he found in the Dolo•as (1856-90, 18 editions, each containing new work), which created a new type of poem much imitated by the younger Spanish poets. These poems condensed into brief lyric form the expression of philosophical, eth ical. and social ideas, treated sometimes with bitter irony, but always with feeling. Ile at
tempted long narrative poems in his epic on Co lumbus (Colon, 16 cantos, 1853 and 1857). and El drama unircrsal (1873). but these are less successful than the shorter narratives, which con tain some of his best work: Los pequeilos poemas (1879, 1836) ; Los buenos y los sabios (1881); Ei amor y el rio Piedra (1882) ; Los de Juana (1382) ; El tren express (1885) ; Nacres pry/m.41os poem as 1887 ) ; Hu fa orat/as ( 1890 ) . La Hind i c/ 7//d0, Los grandes nreb/emas, and Por donde rienc la muerte, are among the hest. He also wrote many plays in verse, none of which succeeded on the stage. They are full of humor and feeling, and rich in ideas, but are lacking in dramatic movement. The best known are: Una mujer generosa ( 1838 ) : Dies Ira' (1873); El honor (1874) : Guerra fi la qucrra Asi se escribe In historic: (1875) : (florins, humanas (1835) ; Cuerdos y locus (1887); El palacio de la verdad, etc. He published his theory of poetry in La poetica (18S3). completed in a new edition (1890), and in La metafisica y la poetica (1891). His last poems of importance are El li•enciado Torralba, a philosophico-ethical narrative poem, and Nueres poemas (1892). He became a mem ber of the Spanish Academy in 1861.
Campoamor's narrative poetry at its best may be compared with that of Victor Hugo. In his usual choice of subjects he rather resembles Cop ptle, to whom, however. he is distinctly superior in conception and treatment. poems of senti ment and thought, such as the Poesias y fdbulas, and the Doloras, he has close affinity with Sully Prudhomme, and the Lieenciado Torralba at t•mpts the same task as Sully-Prudhomme's Bon hcur. In spite of these relations, he is the most original and independent of Nineteenth Century Spanish poets, and is by many considered the greatest of the last half-century. lie is the poet of subjectivity ply- rxerllenrr in all Spanish po etry, and finds fit lyric expression for thought as do few poets of any country.
His Obros completas were edited by Montaner y Simon (Barcelona). Selections from his poetry were published (Madrid. 1879, and Leipzig, 1835). Consult: Juan Valera, Estudios Critiees (Madrid, 1861) ; Fr. Giner, Estudios literarios (Madrid, 1866) ; Melchior de Palau, Aeonteei mitatos /iterarios (1889).