Victorian poetry and religious diversityThe fourth stanza moves from a more generic relationship to a natural
landscape of birth to explore a patriotic connection to Spain. If love of the
land that nurtures one's family proves necessary to the "spirit," then
recognition of national and political identity for Aguilar is equally, if not
more, necessary:
Oh, cold is the spirit: and yet colder still,
The heart that for Spain does not gratefully thrill,
The land, which the foot of the weary has pressed,
Where the exile and wand'rer found blessing and rest.
Here the collective voice imagines the deep national pride in Spain that
characterized Jews before their era of expulsion, forced conversions, and
martyrdom. In other words, the speakers address the very fears about the
capacity for national pride that agitated English attitudes toward Jewish
citizenship rights. Later, in one unified voice, the Spanish Jews argue that
because "Spain has the exile and homeless received /... we feel not of
country so darkly bereaved." The poem, therefore, emphasizes the Jewish
capacity to pledge national affiliation with a government that protects and
nurtures the Jewish community.
Yet the historical gap that Aguilar opens by setting this poem in the
mouths of pre-Inquisition Jewry makes it impossible to read "Song of the
Spanish Jews" without the awareness of the subsequent persecution of Jews
in that same land, and it is this historical knowledge that renders their
poetic utterance tragic and poignant, rather than the simple statement of
national faith it appears to be. It suggests that the poem not only embraces
the experience of the Sephardic community persecuted by the Inquisition
but also contemplates fears for the Jews living in Victorian England. The
fifth and sixth stanzas reinforce the irony of the Spanish Jews' sense of
national identity that was ultimately not honored by their homeland:
On the face of the earth our doom was to roam,
To meet not a brother, to find not a home;
But Spain has the exile and homeless received
And we feel not of country so darkly bereaved
Home of the exiles! Oh ne'er will we leave thee;
As mother to orphan, fair land we now greet thee.
Sweet peace and rejoicing may dwell in thy bowers,
For even as Judah, fair land! thou art ours.
These lines remind both Christian and Jewish readers that while Jews are
fully capable of forging deep national ties, the nations of the world have
not always honored such Jewish national allegiance. When read from a
Jewish perspective, the poem urges Jewish readers to consider the wisdom
169