Castro, Rosalía de

Castro, Rosalía de (rōsälē`ä dā käs`trō), 1837–85, Spanish poet and novelist. Castro's book of verse Cantares gallegos (1863) was the first important poetry in Galician since the 13th cent.; it reflected the lyrical appeal of Galician folk songs. The melancholy Follas novas (1880) was followed by the despairing verse, in Castilian, of En las orillas del Sar (1884, tr. Beside the River Sar, 1937), written while Castro was suffering with terminal cancer. Her sensitive and compassionate poetry with its metrical innovations has exerted considerable influence on modern poets.