Inspired by the Breton landscapes, the poet dedicates several works to the French peninsula.
Retrospective. Back in 1893. José Maria de Heredia feeds paradoxes. It was in alexandrins and precious sonnets that this Cuban by birth, hispanicized by his father, chose to use Molière's language. A fluent French and a perfect mastery of verse and letters were all there.
From his first journey to his native land, José Maria brings back colorful recollections in the form of postcards. Visions in technicolor that he also applies to Brittany, the land of his friend the painter Emmanuel Lansyer.
A nostalgic prologue to America, Brittany came to life under his feather, embellished with satin shades similar to the silks of canopies: golden broom, pink heather, emerald salt and black granite.
Everything is an explosion of opposite colors, everything tends towards a flamboyance of another age: ( Bretagne ).
When Heredia rubs shoulders with the Celtic warriors, the sonnets surf on the clichés of an ancient Brittany, populated by hairy shepherds.
"The land of the old clans, dwarves and demons, keeps you still on the granite of the mountains, the immovable man next to the immutable thing," he wrote.
Jose Maria de Heredia. SIPA archive photo