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16th-Century Spanish Literature: Key Trends

Two main narrative trends emerged in 16th-century Castilian literature: idealistic and realistic novels. Idealistic narratives, such as sentimental novels and books of chivalry, initially triumphed. However, other forms appeared, including Moorish romances and the picaresque novel, known for its intense realism.

The Idealistic Novel

Several types of idealistic novels gained popularity:

• Novel of Chivalry: Set in the Middle Ages, featuring a knight as the protagonist (an epic hero).
• Pastoral Novel: Love stories between shepherds in a bucolic setting.
• Byzantine Novel: Adventures of a pair of high-born lovers.
• Moorish Novel: Action set in the Muslim world.

Lazarillo de Tormes: A Picaresque Masterpiece

The picaresque... Continue reading "16th-Century Spanish Literature: Trends & Context" »

Petrarchism and its Influence

Petrarch's songs had a huge significance and a decisive influence on later lyrics, both for their subjects and their forms, to the point of constituting an entire style or way of making poetry that is called Petrarchism.

Spanish Poetry in the 15th and 16th Centuries

In the 15th century, there was both learned poetry and folk poetry. A good example of the first is court poetry and songs, which mainly used octosyllables. In the 16th century, both types of poetry continued. Learned poetry was influenced by the popular song.

Features of Italian Poetry in Spanish Literature

• Complete and thorough metric renovation in Spanish poetry.
• Major innovation: the hendecasyllable.
• Idealization of the beloved and intense expression of

The House of Bernarda Alba: Poetic Symbolism and Social Commentary

Symbolic Level

This book demonstrates the author's ability to combine traditional and avant-garde aesthetics through a very personal take on theater. The House of Bernarda Alba is full of symbolic elements:

• Proper names have symbolic meaning. For example, "Magdalena" suggests a tendency to mourn and suffer martyrdom; "Angustias" evokes anguish, hatred, and envy; "Adela" represents a noble character eager for liberty. Several characters have no proper name and are referred to by their social role or personal characteristics, such as "Mendiga" (beggar woman) and "Muchacha" (girl).
• Characters are accompanied by objects that represent their aspirations or function. For instance, Bernarda'

Contemporary Poetry: 1975 to the Present

The 1980s and 1990s

Since the early 1980s, the prevailing aesthetics of the 1970s continued. The work of promoting poets from the 1960s continued, experiencing a stage of artistic fulfillment in book publishing. Different trends developed, among them, realistic poetry. The 1980s saw a recovery of the importance of poetic commitment and humor. Irrelevant matters of everyday life, contemporary, and urban realities appeared. The poetry of experience was the mainstream trend until the mid-1990s. There is great diversity of traits among the poets included in this trend, but we may cite the following general characteristics:

• Emphasis on the fictitious nature of the poem and the individual's experiences and visions

General Characteristics of Literary Modernism

Modernism in literature emerged in the late nineteenth century, roughly between 1880 and 1914.

It is a pivotal literary movement, often associated with the work of Rubén Darío, particularly his seminal text, Azul..., published in 1888 in Chile.

Modernism stands in opposition to Realism, drawing its linguistic and aesthetic foundation from two major lyrical movements of the second half of the nineteenth century:

• Parnassianism: It is a literary school that adheres strictly to the principle of "art for art's sake," featuring poetry based on exotic themes and elaborated in meticulous detail.
• Symbolism: This aesthetic movement encouraged writers to express their ideas, feelings, and values implicitly through

Characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism is a cultural movement that opposes the principles of the Enlightenment.

• Rejection of reason in favor of imagination.
• An idealistic vision of humanity, driving the quest for freedom.
• A search for the exotic and distant as a form of escapism from reality.
• Interest in tradition and the recovery of legends.
• A turn towards the irrational and mysterious.

In Literature

• Rejection of neoclassical precepts.
• Defense of metric freedom and the mixing of characters and literary genres.

Literary Themes

• Desperate and impossible love.
• Ruins as a symbol of the passage of time.
• Anxiety and the desire for freedom from rules.
• Nature as a reflection of the poet's feelings.
• Death as an end to anguish.
• Disillusionment with ideals.
• Destiny

Lyrical Learned Catalan

Provence emerged in troubadour poetry, where a lyrical character was created by known authors. Their compositions for song were released by the minstrels. The troubadours created a fine art that was difficult: "The verse was based on the number of syllables and ought to be strictly consonant rhyme."

Genres of Provençal Poetry

• Cansó: Composition of loving nature, always from male to female, reflecting feudal ideology. Love relationships are treated as feudal relations between lord and vassal.
• Sirventes: Was employed as an expression of anger, personal attack...

The Concept of Courtly Love

Like the troubadours, who were intimately linked with the courts, they had a decisive influence on their work. Courtesy, in opposition... Continue reading "Troubadour Poetry: Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Arabic & Hebrew Lyrics" »

Literary Genres

The different types of works are different literary genres.

Lyric

Lindas are roses, and flowers are prettier, my loves.

Epic or Narrative

Long ago, in a land far away, lived a giraffe of average height but so sloppy that once it came out of the jungle and got lost.

Drama or Theatre

Maria, do you go home? Henry: My house is in the neighborhood longer.

Lyrical Genre

The lyric generally groups the texts composed in verse in which the author transmits firsthand their feelings and emotions.

Example: Who do I tell my complaints to, my beautiful love? Whom will I confide my complaints to if it is not you?

The Epic or Narrative Genre

The epic or narrative works together where there is a narrator who recounts some fictional facts featuring characters.... Continue reading "Understanding Literary and Grammatical Genres" »

Miguel Hernández (1910-1942)

Four stages are established in his poetry:

• a) A stage characterized by Baroque-tone poetry.
• b) In 1936, he published "El rayo que no cesa" ("The Unending Lightning").
• c) During the war, a battle poetry that seeks to serve the Republican cause and published "Viento del pueblo" ("Wind of the People"). These are poems that mourn the death of Lorca. Miguel Hernández: "Man is a hunter."
• d) Naked and deep poetry.

1940s: Poetry and Literary Magazines

Poetry developed around three magazines: "Escorial," "Garcilaso," and "Espadaña."

• "Escorial": Poets of the Generation of '36 met, opting for intimate poetry with traditional lyrical themes: love, death, land, and landscape.
• "Garcilaso": Officially supported the Franco regime, consolidating

The end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 left a bleak cultural outlook: death, exile, humiliation, or muted expression. This year marked, in practice, a "year zero" for poetry in Spain. Federico García Lorca and Antonio Machado were dead, and much of the Generation of '27 was in exile. The Silver Age of Spanish literature had reached its tragic end.

Between 1939 and 1975, Spain lived under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The post-war period was marked by international isolation and severe political repression. Poets remaining in Spain either aligned with the ideology and aesthetics of the victors (known as Poesía Arraigada or "Rooted Poetry") or maintained an internal exile (Poesía Desarraigada or "Uprooted Poetry").

The 1950s saw an... Continue reading "Spanish Poetry After the Civil War: Franco Era to Transition" »