Manuel José Quintana

Portrait of Manuel José Quintana in his youth years.

Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (April 11, 1772 - March 11, 1857), was a Spanish poet and man of letters. He was born at Madrid. After completing his studies at Salamanca he was called to the bar.

In 1801 Quintana produced a tragedy, El Duque de Viseo, founded on M. G. Lewis's Castle Spectre; his Pelayo (1805), written on a patriotic theme, was more successful.

The first volume of his Vidas de Españoles célebres, containing lives of Spanish patriots, stirred the public imagination and secured Quintana the post of secretary to the Cortes during the French invasion. His proclamations and odes fanned the national enthusiasm into flame. But he was ill rewarded for his services, for on the return of Ferdinand VII he was imprisoned at Pamplona from 1814 to 1820. He was finally given a small post in the civil service, became tutor to Queen Isabella II, and was nominated senator. Though publicly crowned as the representative poet of Spain (1855), he seems to have lived in poverty.

Quintana died at the age of 84. His poems, thirty-four in number, are inspired by philanthropy and patriotism; the style is occasionally gallicized, and the thought is not profound, but his nobility of sentiment and resounding rhetoric attract many generations of Spaniards.

References

• Albert Dérozier: "Les étapes de la vie officielle de Manuel Josef Quintana". Bulletin Hispanique 66 (1964): 363-383
• Albert Dérozier: Manuel Josef Quintana et la naissance du libéralisme en Espagne. 2 vols. Paris: Les belles Lettres, 1968-70. Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon, 95, 105.
• Albert Dérozier: Manuel José Quintana y el nacimiento del liberalismo en España / Albert Dérozier. Trad.: Manuel Moya. Madrid: Turner, 1978.
• Diego Martínez Torrón: Manuel José Quintana y el espíritu de la España liberal (con textos desconocidos). Sevilla: Ed. Alfar, 1995. ISBN 84-7898-106-3.
• E. Mérimée: "Les poésies liriques de Quintana." Bulletin Hispanique 4 (1902): 119-153.
• José A. Valero: "Manuel José Quintana y el sublime moral." Hispanic Review 71 (2003): 585-611
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Persondata
Name	Quintana, Manuel José
Alternative names	Quintana y Lorenzo, Manuel José
Short description	Spanish poet
Date of birth	April 11, 1772
Place of birth	Madrid
Date of death	March 11, 1857
Place of death	Madrid