João Pinto Delgado

This chapter studies João Pinto Delgado, the most important literary talent to have emerged from the Marrano background. In common with the other Marrano poets, Pinto Delgado looks frequently to the Bible for his themes: there is an evident attraction in those stories which demonstrate the power of God to effect salvation in times of Israel’s sorrow, as in the case of Esther and the Exodus narrative, both of which Pinto Delgado deals with (Poema de la Reina Ester and Canción). His poetic paraphrase of the Lamentations of Jeremiah (Lamentaciones del profeta Jeremías) expounds the tragedies of Israel’s history, while presenting the view that she is responsible for her travail through having failed to adhere to the Law. This reflects a theme seen elsewhere of the guilt felt by the Marrano regarding the inadequacy of his religious observance (Jewish, that is) while under Christian guise—a guilt which is explored in the unpublished “Autobiographical Poems.” Together with the Lamentaciones, these poems also express the poet’s notion of the Inquisition as God’s instrument for bringing the Marranos back to Judaism by awakening them to their racial and religious origins. In La Historia de Rut, one sees both the theme of the Law and its observance and that of Jewish identity elaborated.