h the author unites lightness of touch with depth
of feeling. The _pequeno poema_ is merely an enlarged
_dolora_. Campoamor disliked Byron and he disliked still
more the sonorous emptiness that is characteristic of too
much Spanish poetry.[4] In philosophy he revered Thomas
a Kempis; in form he aimed at conciseness and directness
rather than at artistic perfection. His poetry lacks
enthusiasm and coloring, but it has dramatic interest.

[Footnote 4: Menendez y Pelayo (_Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Am._,
I, p. lv) says: "Al fin espanoles somos, y a tal profusion
de luz y a tal estrepito de palabras sonoras no hay entre
nosotros quien resista."]

The poets Manuel del PALACIO (1832-1895) and Federico
BALART (1831-1905), though quite unlike in genius, won the
esteem of their contemporaries. Palacio wrote excellent
sonnets and epigrams. In his _Leyendas y poemas_ he proved
his mastery of Spanish diction; he had, moreover, the
saving grace of humor which was so noticeably lacking in
Zorrilla's legends. The poet and literary critic, Balart,
achieved fame with his _Dolores_, in which he mourns with
sincere grief the death of his beloved wife. Mention
should also be made of the following poets who deserve
recognition in this brief review of the history of Spanish
lyric poetry: Vicente Wenceslao QUEROL (1836-1889), a
Valencian, whose _El eclipse, Cartas a Maria_, and _La
fiesta de Venus_, evince a remarkable technical skill
and an unusual correctness of diction; Teodoro page xlii
LLORENTE (cf. p. 279); Jose GALIANO ALCALA whose verses
have delicate feeling and lively imagination; Emilio
FERRARI (b. 1853), the author of _Abelardo e Hipatia_
and _Aspiracion_; the pessimistic poets, Joaquin Maria de
BARTRINA (1850-1880) and Gabino TEJADO; Salvador RUEDA (b.
1857), author of _El bloque_, _En tropel_ and _Cantos
de la vendimia_; and the poet and dramatist, Eduardo
MARQUINA.

After the death of Campoamor in the first year of the
twentieth century, the title of _doyen_ of Spanish
letters fell by universal acclaim to Gaspar NUNEZ DE ARCE
(1834-1903). Nunez de Arce was a lyric poet, a dramatist
and a writer of polemics, but first of all a man
of action. With him the solution of political and
sociological problems was all-important, and his literary
writings were mostly the expression of his sociological
and political views. Nunez de Arce is best known for his
_Gritos del combate_ (1875), in which he sings of liberty
but opp