«Dios tinieblas»: paradoja central en el discurso agónico de Unamuno

Abstract

This essay is essentially a stylistic and ideological analysis of the seventh poem of the first part of Unamuno’s The Christ of Velázquez. The contrast between light and darkness is highlighted, both in Velázquez’ painting as well as in Unamuno’s poem. The central paradox is that, while God is light and creator of light, He is presented as surrounded with darkeness. This «negative theology» is expressed with brilliant brushstrokes within the hendecasyllabic line, «the art in form» of Velázquez’ vision. The poet emphasizes the Exodus text where it says that he who sees God dies. In Christ’s body humans can see God without having to die. Or we die in order to live, that profound unamunian paradox. Unamuno’s poem is also a good example of how the poet-philosopher foresees universal concepts that later are proven by science. Such was the case of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, where physics and metaphysics join to get us closer to a unified theory of the universe. As math is the poetry of science, so poetry is the science of the Humanities.