Jacint Verdaguer (Folgueroles, 1845-Vallvidrera, 1902) is the major and most representative nineteenth-century Catalan writer. He contributed to the renaissance of Catalan culture, from a Catholic and conservative position with a body of work that includes epic and lyrical poetry, narrative prose, journalism and travel writing, which had a tremendous popular reception unequalled at the time. In the seminary at Vic, studying for his ecclesiastical career, he familiarised himself with rhetoric and the classics and it was here that he began his poetic writings.

Notable are his epic poems in the romantic vein "L'Atlàntida" (Atlantis) and "Canigó", and the collections "Idil.lis i cants místics" (Idylls and Mystical Songs), "Pàtria", "Montserrat", "Flors del Calvari" and "Aires del Montseny". In prose, he published "Excursions i viatges" (Excursions and Trips), "Dietari d'un pelegrí a Terra Santa" (Diary of a Pilgrim to the Holy Land), a collection of "Rondalles" (Stories) and another of articles published in the press "En defensa pròpia" (In Self Defence). He was proclaimed "Mestre en Gai Saber" (Master in the Art of Poetry) in the 1880 Jocs Florals (Literary Contest) in Barcelona. His work, set to music by different composers (Nicolau, Morera, Millet, Falla, etc.) and extensively imitated, published and studied, has been translated, in good part, into the major languages.


Web page: Xulio Xulio Ricardo Trigo for AELC.
Documentation: Òscar Vendrell i X. R. Trigo.
Update: Toni Terrades.
Translation: Julie Wark.
Photographs: © Fundació Jacint Verdaguer [FJV].