Rayos y truenos: sobre una metáfora predilecta de Calderón y su peculiar forma de aplicarla

Abstract

This study draws attention to the peculiar use of the metaphors «ray» (rayo) and «thunder» (trueno) in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s comedias. Numerous examples are given which show that thunder is presented as being prior to lightning, or as announcing the latter, thus inverting the order of events perceivable in the natural world. This peculiarity is explained not by attributing it to a mere mistake by the author, but by relating it a general tendency in Baroque literature, which consists in disconnecting metaphors from the natural world to which they seem to refer, and deriving them from abstract concepts rather then from sensually perceived similarities.