This article is an analysis of Luis de Go´ngora’s skillful employment of
language to characterize King Henry IV of France in the funereal sonnet ‘‘El Cuarto
Enrico yace mal herido.’’ Go´ngora wrote his poem in 1610 to honor Henry who was
murdered in Paris in that same year by Jean-Franc¸ois Ravaillac. In the text the
Spanish lyric poet creates historical, mythological, and heraldic allusions, rhetorical
figures, and images of color. In particular, he is adept at forming various types of
metaphors. By relating these metaphors to charges on Henry’s coats of arms as well
as to accounts of the king’s personal history, Go´ngora paints a brilliant verbal
picture of one of France’s most beloved rulers. This vibrant description of King
Henry reveals that Go´ngora, the baroque poet, was also Go´ngora, the master of
portraiture and expert commentator on events connected to the period in which he
and the monarch lived.

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• Go´ngora’s Sonnet ‘‘El Cuarto Enrico yace mal herido