Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
One of the greatest renaissance writers.
Biography
- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's actual birth date is unknown.
- He was christened on October 9, 1547 in Alcala de Henares, Spain.
- He spent most of his later years in Madrid and he dies there on April 23, 1616.
- When Cervantes was younger he was in the military.
- He was captuted for 5 years and when he was released on ransom, he could not pay it.
- Most of his life was spent trying to pay off his ransom debts.
- Cervantes was always in a finnancial hole.
- After his release, he spent some time in the Royal Navy in Portugal and Seville.
- He never had a very steady job because he was in and out of jail for his debts.
- But he was lucky enough to find work in he theater's writing plays.
- There is not much known of his education.
- The only exposure he had to writing was when he wrote a commerate book to Queen Isabel and he was praised for his work.
- Miguel was an author, " and is the greatest novelist of the Spanish language".
- He wrote the Novelas Emplares, Don Quixote de la Mancha and Lopez de Hoyos are some of his masterpieces.
- His patron was the Count of Lemo who comissioned him to write Journey to Parnassus and Don Quioxte de la Mancha, which he is best known for.
Works Cited
Miguel De Cervantes. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web
"General Logon Page." Gale Error Page . N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=GALE%7CAAA000201045&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1631001237&>.
The Work
- Cervantes is most famous for his novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha.
- Part one was written in 1604 and published in 1605 in Madrid.
- The book was significant because at the time Spain was a huge power and Don Quixote gave the stressed people a comic relief.
- It is also the most important piece created during the Spanish Golden age.
- Don Quixote was the one of the first comic books of that era.
- I find this piece interesting because it was a new type of book back in that time. It was also an entertaining book and it was not boring. I think that since it was such a hit then and now that Don Quixote will always be.
- An excerpt, "Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of."
- In this excerpt, Cervantes speaks all of humanism.
- He describes the human and how we look and love, and of how it is better to be a good person than to be beautiful.
- The speaker makes it clear that he knows that he is ugly but that he is dearly loved, thus all humans are loved no matter how they look.
Works cited
"Don Quixote Quotes By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra." Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/121842-el-ingegnoso-hidalgo-don-quijote-de-la-mancha>.