Florencia Pinar
Florencia Pinar is regarded as a prominent composer of secular love poems in late fifteenth-century Spain, particularly within the genre known as cancioneros. She is notable for being potentially the first widely recognized female poet in the country, with a substantial body of work that stands out among her contemporaries, both male and female. While details about her life are scarce, it is inferred that she belonged to the upper class and had formal education, as evidenced by her ability to write in Castilian. Her contributions were acknowledged during her lifetime, as she appears in the influential 1511 compilation, "Cancionero general," which included works by many notable poets of the era.
Pinar's poetry is characterized by complex language and intricate imagery, particularly in her exploration of love and emotion, which has gained renewed scholarly attention in recent decades. Critics highlight her innovative use of poetic forms, including a five-line refrain developed by a contemporary poet, establishing her work firmly in the late fifteenth century. Additionally, there is speculation about her possible familial connection to the poet Gerónimo Pinar, raising questions about authorship and collaboration during that time. Ultimately, Florencia Pinar's legacy is increasingly recognized for its significant influence on the literary techniques that emerged during the Spanish Golden Age.
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Subject Terms
Florencia Pinar
Poet
- Born: fl. late 1400’s
Biography
Florencia Pinar was one of the most significant composers of late fifteenth century Spanish secular love poems known as cancioneros, and was possibly the first widely known female poet in Spain. Of roughly eight female writers of cancioneros during the period, Pinar is the only one with a significant corpus of extant work. Her poems are considered outstanding in comparison with those of her contemporaries of both genders.
What little is known of Pinar’s life is deduced from her poetry—both its content and style, and the sources in which it appears. She likely belonged to the upper class and had some formal education, because she could write in Castilian, and because she is referred to in a introductory rubric to one of her poems as a “dama” or lady. She may have been married, as she is called “señora” in another rubric. She was probably respected during her lifetime, as she is included in the 1511 Cancionero general compilation, and she may have been part of the royal court at some point, along with many of the male poets in the Cancionero general.
Further mystery surrounds one of those male poets, Gerónimo Pinar, who has twelve of the poems in the Cancionero general attributed to him. Some scholars, most notably Barbara Fulks in her 1989 article “The Poet Named Florencia Pinar,” suggest that he was Florencia’s brother, although the evidence is speculative. Geronimo’s surname does not appear in the rubrics to all of his poems, and some scholars assert that at least some of these poems attributed to “Pinar” may actually have been written by Florencia.
Although Florencia Pinar was considered a relatively insignificant poet for the almost five centuries after her lifetime, she received significant critical attention in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Scholars pointed to her skill with the highly formalized language and structure of the canción as well as her mastery of the conceptos, or conceit, particularly reevaluating the intricate sexual imagery in her writing. In her best-known poems, including “Canción de una dama que se dice Florencia Pinar” (song by a lady called Florencia Pinar), she employs a five-line variant of the poetic refrain known as estribillo. This variant was developed by fellow cancionero poet Jorge Manrique and popular with poets born between 1431 and 1445. Pinar’s use of this device thus supports the dating of her work to the second half of the fifteenth century. Pinar is increasingly recognized by scholars for her contributions to developing the poetic strategies and metaphors for the depiction of love and strong emotion that evolved during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into the revered literary techniques of the Spanish Golden Age.