presence and progression of "saudade" in the poetry of Rosalia de Castro

Saudade, a sentiment similar to but stronger than the English word "melancholy," has been a subject of much interest on the Iberian peninsula for centuries, especially among Galician-Portuguese writers. Rosalia de Castro, a nineteenth-century poet and author from Galicia, is recognized as one of Spain's most talented writers, partly because of her ability to express the various phases of a sentiment which is so difficult to understand. In her poetry Castro skillfully describes the feelings of the Galician people and, in doing so, bares the depth of her own saudade. The loss of love and departure from one's homeland are aptly presented as causes of saudade as well as the poet's love for nature and longing to return to the beauty of her native province. In her personal suffering, Castro's longing evolves into a desire for death. Her expressions of this sentiment in verse induce in the reader a desire to learn more about this little-known province and its people.