ARJONA, MANUEL MARÍA DE

ARJONA, MANUEL MARÍA de. - Spanish poet, b. at Osuna, near Seville, 12 June 1771, d. at Madrid, 25 July 1820. The sources of his inspiration may be reduced to three: Latin literature, Italian literature, and religion. Among the Latin poets he especially cherished Horace; from our poets he translated several works by Verri, Filicaia, and Guarino; Rome inspired one of his most highly praised compositions in the classical taste, entitled precisely Las ruinas de Roma (1808). With other poems of his, such as A la Natividad de Nuestra Señora, A la Immaculada Concepción, A Jesús, Al pueblo hebreo, we are in the sphere of religious feeling, which he possessed vividly and sincerely, and which informed not only his verses but also his life, a singularly troubled life which, as a canon of the chapel of S. Fernando and later of the cathedral of Cordova, found him involved in accusations of sympathy with the French invasion, although in fact he always endeavoured to fulfil his duty with zeal and patriotic spirit.