Josepa Massanés i Dalmau
Josepa Massanés i Dalmau (Tarragona 1811-Barcelona 1887). Born in Tarragona, at Carrer dels Calderers, number 14, at the age of two months she went to live in Barcelona and at the age of five she was orphaned when losing her mother, which is why she was educated and grew up with her paternal grandparents. Her education was self-taught, and she studied Latin, Italian, French and the classical authors.
In 1837, a poem of hers called "The mother's kiss", which had been translated into English, was recommended to the educational centers of New York by the commission of public instruction of the same city. She began writing in Spanish and in 1841 she published her first book Poems in Barcelona. She was the first Romantic poet to publish a book. The same year, a little later, the poet Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda would be added.
In the decade of the fifties, she began her production in the Catalan language with poems such as: "La roja barretina", "Creure és viure"... She was the first female writer of the Renaissance era. Her poetic work in Catalan was collected, posthumously, in the volume called Poesies (1908) with a foreword written by Dolors Monserdà. She was highly regarded by her literary colleagues of the time (Joaquim Rubió i Ors, Prosper de Bofarull, Marià Aguiló...).
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In 1869, she opened a school for young ladies in Barcelona and, through her teaching, contributed to the dissemination of her way of thinking, which was ahead of the times in which she lived.She worked there until 1873, when she was widowed.
She died on July 1st, 1887, at the age of seventy-six and was buried in the old cemetery of Barcelona.
The city of Tarragona named the block, now gone, known as Casa dels Mestres ( House of the Teachers), on Avinguda Lluís Companys, after Josepa Massanés. The writer donated the land to the City Council on the condition that housing for teachers be built there. In Tarragona, we also find the Josepa Massanés Adult Training Center, located on Carrer Fra Antoni Cardona i Grau. The stretch of street that bears her name and runs from Saavedra to Avinguda Catalunya has recently been recovered.
She was the first woman to be part, with a portrait, of the Saló dels Tarragonins Illustres, popularly known as the Saló dels Penjats of Tarragona City Council.
Feminist ideology of Massanés
In the prologue to her book Poems (1841), she defended women's right to writing: "The aptitude for intellectual work is denied to this precious half of the human race and, in case of granting it, in case of recognizing in the woman this gift of brilliant intelligence, she is threatened with contempt if she tries to take advantage of such an esteemed gift, claiming that knowledge harms her.” "No, man cannot degrade us without degrading himself or humiliate us without stepping on his own image".
She insists on proving that the intellectual, emotional and reasoning faculties of men and women are comparable. In the same way, she wants to make it clear that enlightenment and religion are not opposed and that an enlightened woman can educate her children better.
She was a woman who was absolutely aware of the advantages of women's education and the rights of her sex in this field.
Her poem "The resolution", written in July 1837, is also a clear example of this vindication of women in the world of writing. She treated the subject with great irony.
What should I write? Not for sure.
God forbid such mania,
before a pneumonia;
first go to a desert
Before composing I want
to be afraid of a rude husband,
ill-born, stubborn,
stingy, quarrelsome;[...]
Do I write? Holy sky!
You don't like me, D. Juan.
Do you forget what they will say?
and how much do I expose myself to, how much?
Oh, there will be no one to convince me,
well you can argue.
Can a woman write?
in Spain? What a shame! [...]
Museu Víctor Balaguer
TO THE GOOD FARMERS
TO THE GOOD FARMERS
What is it with the songs
in my native language,
that when the heart hears them
it beats harder and faster,
and lips smile,
and the eyes moisten ?
Does it not have harmony and grace
the language of Castile,
Or the Tuscan sweetness
and maybe even the French tongue ?
So, why is it that with the songs
our peasants raise
with accents of joy,
of love or sadness,
we forget about all the tunes of the earth,
as every voice is forgotten
on hearing our mother's voice?
Oh, how sweet it is to savour
this former holy tenderness,
that chains us to the hills of the homeland
with flowers !
And when the country is noble,
and, like ours, immense
it is the glory of the titles
of its ancient nobility,
there is no more legitimate pride
than what we feel for her.
Being Catalan is an honour!
“Thanks be to God”
praise those that feel
Catalan blood boiling in their veins,
those who on their honoured brow
sport the typical red barretina*
*(Catalan peasant’s hat or beret)
[1863]
Poetic Anthology, 1991
LES FESTES MAJORS A CATALUNYA
LES FESTES MAJORS A CATALUNYA
Bons comparets, les vostres festes
molt verament plauen al cor;
elles son grata recordansa
dels franchs costums d’un temps millor
Elles atrauen, elles junten,
ben avinguts com a germans´,
als qui per sòrt i per nissaga
ò per instint, son catalans.
Elles ab pura senzillesa
i patriarcal fraternitat
igualment donan franch hostatge
al proletari qu’al magnat,
i a la donzella forastera
qu’a cercar và garrut aymant,
com als fadrins qu’ab gentilesa
van darts d’amor als cors tirant.
Quants ab menyspreu ò befa miran
nostres anyals festius aplechs,
ò no han nascut en esta terra
ò tenen cors com buscalls sechs.
Puix molt complau i regositja
veure gosar la joventut;
lo qui ab rencunia al jovent mira
trista tindra la senectut.
Flor de la vida, Jovenesa,
tu ets la esperansa i goig del món;
sens ton bullici i ta cridoria,
de la vellesa’ls jorns ¿què son?
Enfilall d’hores neguitoses,
fexos de mals i sofriments;
disfrutèu, donchs, ab honestesa
d’exos gradosos passatemps.
Cobra, qui molt tot l’any treballa,
en eix descans de nou vigor;
fins son recort al vell reanima
en cada anyal festa major.
També, amichs meus, en la velluria
eix temps felís recordarèu,
i tal vegada a ma memoria
algun sospir consagrarèu.
-Ja no existeix -dirèu- l’anciana,
la popular cantora humil,
la que senzilla’ns inculcava
rica moral en pobre estil;
la que mirava aquexes festes
dels temps passats recorts llunyans
qu’ab sant respecte servar deuen
quants tingan sanch de catalans.-
[1879]
Antología poética, 1991
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