by José de Espronceda

José de Espronceda y Delgado (1808-42) came into the world while his father, a Spanish cavalry officer, was riding to repel the French invasion of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars that shook Europe in the early nineteenth century. Espronceda’s mother, accompanying her husband’s regiment in a carriage, suffered such a jolting on the hurried journey that the boy was born prematurely—in a shepherd’s hut, legend has it, but more likely (scholars suggest) in the mansion of a hospitable aristocrat nearby. The rest of Espronceda’s life matched the turbulence of his birth. At age 15 he joined several friends in plotting against the Spanish government. The rebellious act marked the beginning of a continuing defiance; Espronceda would engage in political agitation right up to his premature death from tuberculosis at age 34. His intrigues resulted in...