Nezahualcóyotl
The songs attributed to him ask whether anything on earth is true and lasting – and find in poetry a way toward truth.
Placement
Acolhua ruler of Texcoco and one of the best-known of the Nahua “wise ones” (tlamatinime): the songs attributed to him ask whether anything is true and lasting on earth – “flower and song” as a way to truth.
Key ideas
- Flower and song (in xochitl in cuicatl)
- Impermanence on earth
- The Giver of Life
Influence
Influenced 1
Enrique Dussel
influenced disputed
Dussel read the Nahua tlamatinime, with songs ascribed to Nezahualcóyotl, as a ‘protophilosophy’ following León-Portilla (1492: El encubrimiento del otro, 1992); the attribution of the songs is disputed. E. Dussel, 1492: El encubrimiento del otro (1992; Eng. The Invention of the Americas, 1995); M. León-Portilla, La filosofía náhuatl (1956); J. Bierhorst (ed.), Cantares Mexicanos (1985)
Evidence: AI draft
Enrique Dussel › 1934–2023
Position
Songs in the Nahuatl collections Cantares Mexicanos and Romances de los señores de la Nueva España are attributed to Nezahualcóyotl, but whether he composed them is debated. They ask whether anything on earth is true and lasting, lament the brevity of life, and address the Giver of Life (Ipalnemohuani). Their answer is “flower and song” (in xochitl in cuicatl) – poetry as a way to say something true. That this amounts to a “Nahua philosophy” of sages (tlamatinime) was argued by Miguel León-Portilla; James Maffie later reconstructed Aztec metaphysics as a philosophy of constant becoming. The image of him as a near-monotheist stems largely from colonial sources.
Life & context
According to colonial chronicles, Nezahualcóyotl was born in 1402 as heir to the throne of Texcoco, the main city of the Acolhua, a Nahua people of the Valley of Mexico. He saw his father killed by the forces of Azcapotzalco and lived for years as a fugitive. Allied with Tenochtitlan he defeated Azcapotzalco in 1428, forming the Triple Alliance, and ruled Texcoco until 1472 as lawgiver, builder and patron of learning. This picture owes much to his idealising descendant Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl.
Main works
- Songs attributed to him in the Cantares Mexicanos (manuscript, late 16th century)
- Songs attributed to him in the Romances de los señores de la Nueva España (compiled c. 1582)
Appears in
- Journey ‘Latin America and the Indigenous Americas’ · Stop 2 of 13
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