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Antonio Machado

Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas

Antonio Machado's lyrical production, the most important poet of the Generation of '98, includes Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas. Published in 1903 under the name Soledades, it was revised, rewritten, and reissued in 1907. In it, Machado aligns traditional Castilian poetry with Romantic poets and Modernism (both in its lexicon and by the artificial pose of sighing in the gardens, made fashionable by Verlaine), going beyond the Modernist aesthetic.

Themes

The work raises two somewhat contradictory imperatives: essentiality and temporality. We see a subjectivity that seeks to identify with readers, universalized, and meditate on the passage of time and the trail it leaves in your life. The focus... Continue reading "Antonio Machado: Life and Literary Works" »

The Evolution of Languages in Spain

Articulation:

• Bilabial: p, b, m
• Labiodental: f
• Interdental: z
• Dental: t, d
• Alveolar: s, l, r, n
• Palatal: c
• Velar: k, g, j

Articulatory Section Modification:

• Occlusive: p, b, t, d, k, g
• Fricatives: f, z, s, y, j
• Affricates: c
• Lateral: L
• Vibrant: r
• Nasal: n, m

Vowel Sounds:

• Central, Open: a
• Anterior, Middle: e
• Above, Closed: i
• Later, Media: o
• Back, Close: o

Sonority:

• Sonorous: b, d, g, m, n, l, r
• Deaf: k, c, d, f, j, p, s, t, z

1. Pre-Roman Languages

Before the advent of different languages, Latin was spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. With the invasions came different languages. With Romanization, these languages, except Euskera (Basque), were disappearing.

2. Romanization Process

A process of Romanization arose. When the Romans arrived,... Continue reading "Evolution of Languages in Spain: A Historical Perspective" »

Baroque Comedy: Key Features

The Golden Age of Spanish Theater

The Golden Age of Spanish literature is synonymous with "play." Lope de Vega, a central figure of this era, championed the principle of artistic freedom. He refused to submit to the rigid rules of classical theater and rejected the three dramatic unities (time, place, and action).

• Events could unfold in different times and places.
• Plays were divided into three acts, with time jumps between acts.

Diverse Themes and Conflicts

Baroque comedies drew inspiration from various sources, including literary tradition, Spanish or universal history, the lives of saints, and social customs. Most conflicts revolved around two central themes:

• Love: The primary catalyst for dramatic tension.
• Honor: Individuals

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 Poetry: Late 1970s Trends and Style

On the multiplicity of the final years of the 70s, continuing trends among critics highlight:

• The avant-garde and surrealism trends;
• The trend towards neo-modernism;
• Culturalism;
• Classicism;
• Another trend is the baroque, exemplified by Antonio Carvajal.

With these new trends in poetry, there is a shift towards a poetry that gives entry to privacy and maintains the theme of emotion. Urban and everyday life themes are maintained, becoming a source of autobiographical content. The tone of the poems uses colloquial language, is loaded with a lexicon of modern life, and allows for an ironic distancing from reality. Free verse is still used, as is a return to classical metrical forms.

The Eighties and Nineties:

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: