The Pine of Formentor (Catalan: Lo Pi de Formentor, Spanish: El pino de Formentor) is one of the most well-known and celebrated poems by Miquel Costa i Llobera. Technically, it is considered as the culmination of the Romantic poetry in the Catalan language.[1]
Miquel Costa i Llobera wrote the poem in Catalan language in 1875, during his first period of production.[2]
To compose it, he took inspiration from the majestic landscapes and visions of the pine trees rooted in the cliffs of the Formentor peninsula on Mallorca island. Costa i Llobera frequented those sites from an early age. The landscape of Formentor portrayed by the poet is real, whilst also evolving into a literary category, becoming a symbol of the Mediterranean.[3]
Years later, the poet published a version of the poem in Spanish.
The poem is written entirely in alexandrine verses (6+6 syllables), with caesurae in the middle. It is composed of quintain stanzas, with an ABAAB rhyme. The last line of each quintain contains only 6 syllables.[4]
Its beginning is often quoted in Catalan:
Mon cor estima un arbre! Més vell que l'olivera,
més poderós que el roure, més verd que el taronger,
conserva de ses fulles l'eterna primavera,
i lluita amb les ventades que assalten la ribera,
com un gegant guerrer.
Whilst Costa i Llobera himself would publish a translation years later, in Spanish. The same first stanza reads:
Hay en mi tierra un árbol que el corazón venera:
de cedro es su ramaje, de césped su verdor;
anida entre sus hojas perenne primavera,
y arrostra los turbiones que azotan la ribera,
añoso luchador.
The poem has been sung, among others, by Spanish singer Maria del Mar Bonet.
Artists such as Joan Miró[5] and Hermen Anglada Camarasa[6] used it as inspiration for their paintings.