The Matter of Pirates in Chilean Epic: «Purén indómito» and «La guerra de Chile»

The theme of piracy in the colonial epic poetry represents patterns of military defense against an enemy that sets an internal and external challenge from the sea and land. Sometimes, Pirates were especially considered dangerous if they tried to get alliances with subjected populations of Indians. In this article I begin by exploring the presence of Dutch privateers in a passage of Puren indómito, poem by Diego Arias de Saavedra, and their frustrated attempt to gain allies among Araucanian people. Then, two final Cantos of La guerra de Chile, an anonymous poem, were analyzed in relation with the tragic destiny of other Dutch sailor, Jacob Mahu, and how certain intertextual comparison with the episode of Adamastor in Os Lusiadas is argued from a global political lecture. Both poems show the fragility of the Spanish military force in the region