"Nothing is harder...than to render a classic in contemporary idiom yet retain its sense of time and space....Edith Grossman delivers."--Carlos Fuentes, "New York Times Book Review"

The Spanish Renaissance--a period of glory that endured from the late fifteenth century through the seventeenth century--comes to life in its greatest poems, rendered with passionate fervor and a stylistic brilliance. Edith Grossman includes in this beautiful, collection-worthy volume facing-page Spanish, a historical introduction, and biographies of the poets: Jorge Manrique (not translated since Longfellow); Garcilaso de la Vega, a soldier and courtier who wrote love poetry; Fray Luis de Leon, a converso Jew; San Juan de la Cruz, whose poems are the finest exemplars of Christian mysticism; Luis de Gongora, the great sensualist; Lope de Vega, the great rival to Cervantes; Francisco de Quevado, the ultimate Baroque poet; and Sor Juana, the nun whose haunting poetry embodied the voice of Mexico. 10 illustrations.