The Image of the Hero and the Function of the Poet in Heredia's Les Trophées

Starting with two sonnets in particular, "Némée" and "Le Bain," one is able to derive from Les Trophées (1893) Heredia's conception of the Hero. This Hero is distinguished by several recurring images and themes: a backdrop of the sky, fusion with some powerful animal, an ability to dominate others, freedom, "fullness," and the act of embracing some" other." Once the reader is aware of the images associated with the Hero, he finds in the collection's opening sonnet, "L'Oubli, " a presentation of Heredia's ideas on the function of the poet in the modern world. In an age that has lost the force of Antiquity, when the Heroes that Heredia describes flourished, it is now up to the poet, after having studied Antiquity, to convey through his verse the vitality that made the Classical Age so "Heroic." In so doing, the poet himself becomes something of a Hero. (RMB)