Abstract
The manuscript collection known as Flores de baria poesía (1577) is, as Arias's title indicates, a principal source for more than a quarter of these sonnets, and the latter half of the sixteenth century is most heavily repre- sented, though the wider sampling encom- passes poets ranging from Garcilaso to Sor Juana. (Readers seeking a thorough, critical edition of Flores de baria poesía would do well to consult Margarita Peña's.) Instead of a reliable, schol- arly presentation of the sonnets, the anthol- ogy's primary contribution is, rather, its experimental classifications. If Arias's anthology offers anything of value beyond a compila- tion for browsing and dipping (with due caution concerning the text's reliability), it is in the fundamental questions it raises about the validity and utility of its classifications.