The agudeza of Góngora in Stanza XI of the Polifemo

The interpretation of Stanza XI of the Polifemo has perplexed commentators since the seventeenth century. Góngora's contemporaries urged him to revise it, and modern critics have deplored its obscurity. For Dámaso Alonso it was un fracaso. The present article considers the nature of the problem, and the solutions to it that have been proposed, including the hypothesis of Zdislas Milner. It then advances tentatively a reading of the text that complements, rather than replaces, Milner's approach, and examines, in its light, the kind of agudeza involved in Góngora's lines. It concludes that the stanza, read in this way, is a fine and compelling instance of baroque wit.