Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Latin

Spanish Romantic Poetry: Themes and Characteristics

Romantic poetry is the genre that best expresses the Romantic spirit. Its poetic themes include freedom, the ideal woman, disappointment in love, melancholy, weariness of life, the satanic, the supernatural, death, and the exotic and legendary. These feelings are often reflected in the landscape (night, moon, cemetery, rough sea). Formally, Romantic poetry shows a clear intention of renewal. It introduces new rhythms and accents, imbuing poems with a great musical sense, and often alternates verses of different meters and measures. The language is cultured and rhetorical.

Two types of poetry emerged: epic or narrative poetry, which drew themes from tradition, history, or legend, and rehabilitated... Continue reading "Spanish Romantic Poetry: Themes, Style, and Major Poets" »

Part of Don Quixote

DQ First Departure: Chapters 1-6

Alonso Quijano, believing himself a knight, seeks an appropriate name, chooses a lady, and names his horse. The adventures of the knight always go wrong. After being beaten, a neighbor recognizes him, and he returns to the village.

Second Exit: Chapters 7-52

They seek a servant. Sancho and DQ come to Sierra Morena.

Second Part of Don Quixote

Third Exit: 74 Chapters

DQ and Sancho leave their village and travel towards Barcelona in Aragon. After arriving in Barcelona, DQ duels with the Knight of the White Moon on the beach, loses, and is obliged to return to his village for a year. Shortly after arriving, DQ falls ill, recovers his sanity, and dies.

Intent of Don Quixote

Cervantes wrote Don Quixote... Continue reading "Don Quixote and the Baroque: A Literary Journey" »

Jorge Manrique's Coplas: Themes and Legacy

Jorge Manrique's Coplas por la muerte de su padre (Stanzas on the Death of His Father) is a profound work that reflects on the equality of all before death, the transience of earthly life, the vanity of worldly possessions, and contempt for the material world.

Key Themes in the Coplas

• The Three Lives Concept: Manrique distinguishes between:
  • Earthly Life: Fleeting and subject to decay.
  • Life of Fame (Fama): A medieval topic, where the poet uses examples of famous people and historical events to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of earthly glory and reputation.
  • Eternal Life: This ultimately transcends both earthly life and fame, offering true permanence.
• Acceptance of Death: The work concludes with Don Rodrigo'

Heroic Poetry in Old English

Widsith (7th-8th Century)

Widsith recounts his travels throughout the Germanic world, mentioning the many rulers he visited. While primitive in style, this very quality makes Widsith particularly interesting.

Beowulf (8th Century)

As the only complete epic of its kind in an ancient Germanic language, Beowulf vividly illustrates the combination of heroic idealism and the darker, more violent aspects typical of the Germanic temperament.

Deor's Lament (8th Century)

It recounts the lament of a minstrel who, after many years of service to his lord, has been replaced by a rival named Heorenda.

The Finnesburg Fragment

This fragment depicts the joy found in physical combat under a heroic code. There is also an effective use of... Continue reading "Old English Poetry: Heroic Epics, Religious Verse, and Lyrical Elegies" »

Early Spanish Renaissance Theater

Early Spanish Theater featured two main currents:

• Religious Drama: Focused on cultivating the life of Jesus.
• Profane Theater: Included burlesque elements, themes of love, and pastoral settings.

Significant authors of this period include Lucas Fernández and Juan del Encina.

La Celestina: Editions and Authorship

The work, originally titled Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, saw several key early editions:

• 1499: First edition published in Burgos, consisting of 16 acts.
• 1500: New editions published in Toledo and Salamanca.
• 1501: This edition included a foreword where the author explains finding some papers in Salamanca that reasoned about the evils of love, prompting him to continue the work. It also included two poems:
  1. Acrostic

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936)

The lyrics of Federico Garcia Lorca possess great musicality, both when the poet uses traditional metrics—the octosyllabic in gypsy romances—and in avant-garde compositions like Poet in New York, in predominantly free verse. Another stylistic feature is the plasticity of his images, which have a clear relationship with the surrealist movement. Federico Garcia Lorca's poems depict human tragedy, where higher forces, represented by social conventions, political trends, and, above all, death, prevent happiness. Other notable works of this poet's lyrics, who is probably the best known of his generation, include the Poem of Flamenco Singing and the elegy mourning the death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías.

Vicente

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and His Rhymes

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, born in 1836 and who died in 1870, belonged to the Romantic movement of the first half of the nineteenth century in Spain. This period was historically marked by three events that determined the literary tradition and the orientation of the authors: the War of Independence, the reign of Fernando VII, and the reign of Elizabeth II. The latter's start was stormy due to power struggles that generated political instability. Romanticism is characterized by the rejection of reality and escape into an imaginary world, the analysis of privacy, defense of the author's freedom, and the importance of landscape and environment.

Bécquer's Rhymes were written between 1857 and 1868 but were not... Continue reading "Spanish Literature: Bécquer's Rhymes and Clarín's La Regenta" »

The Pantheon in Rome

The building holds significant interest, particularly its internal aspect.

Time Period

Art of the High Roman Empire (118-128 AD)

The Pantheon is a religious building dedicated to honoring all the gods, intended for the glorification of the gens Julia and to project the prestige of imperial power.

As indicated by the inscription on the frieze of the portico, the building is attributed to Marcus Agrippa, a friend and general of Emperor Augustus. However, it is now known that Agrippa's original temple was rebuilt under Emperor Hadrian.

The first temple was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa and built between 27-25 BC. Its construction was entrusted to Lucius Cocceius Auctus. It was built between the Basilica of Neptune and the Saepta... Continue reading "The Pantheon Rome: History and Architecture" »

A Collection of Disparate Observations

The aesthetics of body modification, including tattoos and piercings, have become increasingly common. When summer arrives, these drawings and etchings appear on the body.

The Aesthetics of Tattoos and Piercings

There is a huge variety of shapes and colors, and the chosen areas of skin vary widely—from the ankle to the back or the navel. The placement of these designs across the body can be truly striking. Who can forget the famous bolero titled Tatuaje, which tells the story of a woman's love for a sailor, as beautiful as a blonde beer?

The Secret and the Surreal Tree

I have held many secrets in this life. But the biggest one—perhaps the one most in conflict with the official truth—is what I must now... Continue reading "Unconventional Narratives: Tattoos, Secrets, and Civic Interventions" »

Regenerationism and Europeanization in Spain

Regenerationism, an ideology born in the 1860s, sought to modernize Spain. Joaquín Costa, a prominent figure, wrote extensively on politics, agriculture, history, and economics. Costa's efforts to modernize and Europeanize Spain involved importing social ideas, inventions, and improvements from Germany, France, and England. His most important book, Oligarchy and Despotism, critiques the political system:

• Oligarchy: Rule by a few who control the entire country.
• State Despotism: A corrupt electoral system where local bosses control the votes of their region.

Regenerationism sacrifices aesthetic beauty for practical purposes. Its aim is to revive Spanish society through the creation of new infrastructure... Continue reading "Spanish Literary Modernization: Regenerationism and the 1902 Novels" »