death_date death_place birth_place birth_date image article_title name occupation
june 9 , 1903 madrid , spain valladolid , spain august 4 , 1834 núñez de arce.jpg gaspar núñez de arce
 gaspar núñez de arce politician , poet , playwright
gaspar núñez de arce

gaspar núñez de arce -lrb- 1834 -- 1903 -rrb- was a spanish poet , dramatist and statesman .
he was born at valladolid , where he was educated for the priesthood .
he had no vocation for the ecclesiastical state , plunged into literature , and produced a play entitled `` amor y orgullo '' which was acted at toledo in 1849 .
to the displeasure of his father , an official in the post office , the youth refused to enter the seminary , and escaped to madrid , where he obtained employment on the staff of `` el observador '' , a liberal newspaper .
he afterwards founded `` el bachiller honduras '' , a journal in which he advocated a policy of liberal concentration , and he attracted sufficient notice to justify his appointment as governor of logroño , and his nomination as deputy for valladolid in 1865 .
he was imprisoned at cáceres for his violent attacks on the reactionary ministry of narváez , acted as secretary to the revolutionary junta of catalonia when isabella ii was dethroned , and wrote the `` manifesto to the nation '' published by the provisional government on 26 october 1868 .
during the next few years he practically withdrew from political life till the restoration , when he attached himself to sagasta 's party .
he served under sagasta as minister for the colonies , the interior , the exchequer and education ; but ill-health compelled him to resign on 27 july 1890 , and henceforth he refused to take office again .
he was elected to the spanish academy on the 8 january 1874 and was appointed a life-senator in 1886 .
he died at madrid in february 1903 .
núñez de arce first came into notice as a dramatist , and he remained faithful to the stage for nearly a quarter of a century .
in addition to three plays written in collaboration with antonio hurtado , he produced '' ¿ quien es el autor ? ''
-lrb- 1859 -rrb- , `` la cuenla del zapatero '' -lrb- 1859 -rrb- , '' ¡ como se empeña un marido ! ''
-lrb- 1860 -rrb- , `` deudas de la honra '' -lrb- 1863 -rrb- , `` ni lanto ni tan poco '' -lrb- 1865 -rrb- , `` quien debe , paga '' -lrb- 1867 -rrb- and `` el haz de una '' -lrb- 1872 -rrb- .
but núñez de arce 's talent was more lyrical than dramatic , and his celebrity dates from the appearance of `` gritos del combate '' -lrb- 1875 -rrb- , a collection of poems exhorting spaniards to lay aside domestic quarrels and to save their country from anarchy , more dangerous than a foreign foe .
he maintained his position -lrb- in popular esteem -rrb- as the only possible rival of campoamor by a series of philosophic , elegiac and symbolic poems : `` raimundo lulio , ultima iamentacion de lord byron '' -lrb- 1879 -rrb- , `` un idilio y una elegia '' -lrb- 1879 -rrb- , `` la selva oscura '' -lrb- 1879 -rrb- and `` la visidn de fray martin '' -lrb- 1880 -rrb- .
the old brilliance sets off the naturalistic observation of `` la pesca '' -lrb- 1884 -rrb- and `` la maruja '' -lrb- 1886 -rrb- .
the list of his works is completed by `` poemas cortos '' -lrb- 1895 -rrb- and `` isursum cordal '' -lrb- 1900 -rrb- ; `` herndn el lobo '' , published in `` el liberal '' -lrb- january 23 , 1881 -rrb- and `` luzbel '' remain unfinished .
his strength lies in the graciousness of his vision , his sincerity and command of his instrument ; his weakness derives from his divided sympathies , his moods of obvious sentiment and his rhetorical facility .
but at his best , as in the `` gritos del combate '' , he is a master of virile music and patriotic doctrine .
