Antonio Enríquez Gómez

This chapter focuses on Antonio Enríquez Gómez, whose talents lay in two directions: the satirical and the purely poetical. In the first, he set out to rival the wit of the archenemy of judaizers, Francisco de Quevedo, though it cannot be said that it was a contest which he won. On the other hand, he stands up much better in comparison when he breaks away from the Quevedo mold into his own somewhat original use of biblical sources, Job and Ecclesiastes, as seen in La culpa del primer peregrino. The Romance al divín mártir also shows the poet putting his talent for wit and incisive argument to good use in addition to expressing his main religious themes. One sees the other side of the poet at its best in Sansón Nazareno, both in the Gongorine description of Samson’s first love and in the final moments of the hero in the last canto. While perhaps not the most profound of poets, Antonio Enríquez Gómez has the capacity to express his feelings, particularly his religious feelings and his identification with Judaism, with a sincerity and skill whose effect is often moving.