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Machado and Lorca: A Comparative Analysis

Antonio Machado: Lyricism and Modernist Expression

Machado: We are presented with a lyrical composition expressing the author's subjective world, encompassing feelings, sensations, and personal expressions. This expression is structured in verse, incorporating rhyme and rhythmic features. (Characterization as a literary genre, subgenre, is: verse or prose). The author is Antonio Machado, known for his work....

General Characteristics of Modernism in Machado's Work:

• Beauty as an aesthetic and vital principle: The poet aims to transform life into art.
• Creation of a literature of the senses.
• Revival of forms like the Alexandrian or eneasílabo verse.
• Embrace of the bizarre as beautiful.
• Exploration of melancholy

Spanish Courtly Song Tradition (Cancioneros)

The theme songs, or courtly lyrics, represent diverse compositions by poets associated with the royal court, compiled in comprehensive anthologies known as cancioneros. These works mark a shift where Castilian Spanish replaced Galician-Portuguese as the dominant language for lyric poetry. The most significant collections include:

• Cancionero de Baena
• Cancionero de Estúñiga
• Cancionero de Palacio

Common Themes in Cancionero Poetry

• Courtly Love: Describes the suffering endured by a knight or poet due to separation from his beloved, who is typically a married lady of higher social standing.
• Satire: Includes social commentary (e.g., the allegorical Dance of Death) and political criticism, often targeting members

The Ballad

Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, and it remains relevant today. This is a wide range of compositions called romance epics, with an unspecified number of eight-syllable verses with rhyme and assonance in pairs. Present forms and traditional themes are compiled by the people and passed on orally from father to son.

Origin and Transmission

There are several theories:

• The traditionalist theory states that they come from the songs of minstrels, repeated gestas. The favorite parts, isolated by the public from singing, and the verse romance come from the division of the epic verse into two parts.
• The individualistic theory argues that the ballads were composed by anonymous authors, just like any other poetry. In favor of this thesis

Jorge Manrique's Couplets: An Analysis

Metrics:

The *copla manriqueña*, or Manriquean stanza, uses a twelve-verse structure, divided into two sextuplets. These lines are *pie quebrado*, meaning broken-foot. The verses are octosyllabic, except for the third and sixth, which are tetrasyllabic. The rhyme scheme is *abcabc / defdef*.

Structure:

The poem is divided into three parts:

1. Exposition: A debate on human life and the destructive power of fortune, death, and time.
2. Examples: Citations of past personalities who were victims of the aforementioned agents.
3. Eulogy: A tribute to the deceased and his encounter with death.

Themes:

The poem expresses universally accepted truths in the Middle Ages:

• World: The world is a place of transit. Through good deeds,

Prose Works

While less known, Vicente Aleixandre also has a prose production, as exciting as it is brief. Key works include A Life of the Poet (1950), Some Characters of the New Spanish Poetry (1955), and most notably, Encounters (1958), a collection of reminiscences of Spanish writers, which expanded to fifty-two portraits. A comprehensive collection, Complete Prose, including his correspondence, was published in 2002.

The Generation of '27

The Generation of '27 was a diverse group, often categorized in pairs or trios. Neopopularist poets like Rafael Alberti and Federico García Lorca drew inspiration from Gil Vicente, ballads, and traditional lyric. Gerardo Diego, after his creative phase, explored the poetry of Lope de Vega.

Poetic Works

Aleixandre'... Continue reading "The Poetic Journey of Vicente Aleixandre" »

Spanish Literature in the 1940s

Alarmist Novel

• Representative Novel: The Family of Pascual Duarte
• Narrator: Autobiographical account, 1st person
• Argument: Extreme situations
• Characters: Antiheroes
• Space: Sordid environments
• Ideological Aspects: It is determined by the education received
• Style: Misrepresenting the truth

Existential Novel

• Representative Novel: Nothing, a story of the 1st person, frustrating experiences of Andrea
• Topics: Existential anguish and extreme situations
• Characters: Protagonist individual
• Time: Brief, reduced
• Area: Closed, asphyxiating places

Novels of the 1950s

Precursor Novel

• The Beehive
• Witnessing society
• The cruelty to the weak and lack of ethical values
• Developed language
• Character: Collective
• Narrator: Omniscient observer and subjective
• Time:

NEW:

1. Introduction to Modernism

Arose in Catalonia between 1892 and 1911. Catalonia desired a national and European identity, unlike the Reinaixença. It showed a desire for modernization, renovation efforts, and a cosmopolitan spirit. There were two stages:

- Combative Stage (1892-1898):

Artists criticized society and aimed to impose their vision. They carried out their work in cultural centers in Barcelona (Els Quatre Gats brewery) and Sitges (Cau Ferrat) and with publications such as L'Avenç.

- Established Stage (1898-1911):

The bourgeoisie accepted Modernism. It was the most fruitful period. The Joventut magazine was important. Modernism ended with the death of Joan Maragall. It established a special relationship between artist and society.... Continue reading "Catalan Modernism: Poetry, Prose, and Cultural Renaissance" »

Luis de Góngora

Unlike other authors such as Lope de Vega and Quevedo, Luis de Góngora's writing is almost exclusively poetic. He cultivated poetry both in its traditional forms and in the popular underground cult. In both cases, the tone of his poetry can range from the most serious, beautiful, and noble to the cartoonish, humorous, festive, and burlesque.

Letrillas and Romances

Góngora is an accomplished poet in both types of compositions.

• His letrillas and ballads (Da bienes Fortuna; Lloraba la niña; Hermana Marica, among others) cover a great variety of themes. They maintain the vitality, beauty, grace, and charm typical of this type of verse, but Góngora does not renounce the elaborate language, expressiveness, and artifice of his cultivated

Spanish Theater in the Early 20th Century

The Second Decade: Noucentisme

During the second decade, the theater exhibited Noucentista characteristics: rationalism, anti-romanticism, a preference for classical and intellectualized expression of emotions, a defense of pure art, and works directed towards a knowledgeable, sophisticated audience. There was extreme concern for the design, structure, and language of the work.

Leading Authors of the Second Decade

• Ramon del Valle-Inclán: In his primitive stage, he wrote works like Romance of Wolves and Eagle Crest. Their common features are violence, cruelty, brutality, destruction, passion, myths, and superstitions. There are plenty of marginal and strange beings. During his time of artificial distancing,

Characteristics of Romantic Poetry

In subject matter, love figures prominently, often a passionate love that is usually impossible to achieve. The lexicon is populated by words that reflect the spirit of the times: dissatisfaction, pessimism. Metrics are used in all types of stanzas and verses.

Trends of Romantic Poetry

• Lyric or Sentimental Poetry: Major cultivators of lyric poetry were Espronceda, the Duke of Rivas, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, and Rosalía de Castro.
• Narrative or Historical Poetry:
  • Historical Poem: Medieval themes.
  • Philosophical Poem: Cultivated by Espronceda (e.g., "The Student of Salamanca").
  • Narrative Poem: Romance restored by the Duke of Rivas.
  • Legend: Focuses on folkloric traditions; the main cultivator was José Zorrilla.
• Social