Inventio et dispositio dans la Baraxa nueva de versos de Francisco de la Torre y Sevil (1654)

Abstract

In 1654 Francisco de la Torre y Sevil published a book of poems entitled Entretenimiento de las musas, en esta baraxa nueva de versos. It is divided into four sections: religious, heroic, lyric and burlesque. The first three are collections of poems, frequently with entertaining touches of wit. This article analyses the nature of that humour and compares it with that of the burlesque poems. The aim is to examine the characteristics of comic inventio in a work that was published six years after Quevedo’s Parnaso español, whose burlesque verse probably influenced Torres y Sevil. At the same time, the direct references to gaming and deceit in the opening verses, acknowledged by Torre y Sevil or by his admirers, indicate an ingenious internal arrangement whose form and meaning are also discussed.

Keywords

• Baraja
• Burlesque
• Comic
• Gaming
• Golden Age
• Poetry