Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Latin for Secondary education

Literary Genres

• Narrative: The narrator tells a story, written in prose.
• Lyric: Expresses feelings or emotions, written in verse.
• Dramatic: Texts intended to be performed, relying on dialogue.

The Narrative

A text that recounts facts. There are two types:

• Literary Narrative: Includes fantastic events.
• Non-Literary Narration: Accounts of factual events.

Description

A text that portrays something, which can be technical or literary.

• Technical: Intended to convey information, providing an objective view of reality using specific terminology.
• Literary: Possesses artistic intentions, a subjective vision, and includes adjectives, similes, and metaphors.

Types of Descriptions

• Topography: The description of a place.
• Prosopography: Focuses on physical appearance.

Spanish Realism and Naturalism Novelists (1850 onwards)

The Novel in the Nineteenth Century: Realism and Naturalism (Post-1850)

Imagination and feeling were essential characteristics of Romanticism. The new artistic trend is based on the observation and description of the world around the writer. In this change affected some changes occurring in society by the mid-nineteenth century.

The bourgeoisie has established itself as the dominant social class. The rise of the bourgeoisie is coupled with large industrial and commercial development.

Contemporary Novel (1890–1914)

• Great technical and scientific advancement.
• Fast industrial growth and urbanization.
• Crisis of positivism and rationalism.

Key Spanish Authors

Benito Pérez Galdós

Galdós studied law...

Modernist Poetry

Regenerationist Poetry

This trend advocated for spontaneous, pure, and sincere poetry, emphasizing the expression of the artist's emotivity. Formal concerns were secondary, aligning with a vitalist perspective where themes felt like a second nature.

Aestheticist Poetry

This movement connected poets with Europe's most innovative poetic trends. It championed cultured, processed, and contrived poetry, both in form and content.

Joan Maragall (1860-1911)

Considered Barcelona's most important poet, Joan Maragall represented the regenerationist edge of Modernism. His poetic theory was based on the "living word" (paraula viva). For Maragall, the word was sacred because it revealed the most intimate vibration of the poet.

In his poetry, the...

The Diary: Definition and Features

The diary is an autobiographical account that collects daily events from a specific period of life. This type of text is addressed to the author and is inherently subjective. Key features include:

• Management by date
• First-person narrative
• Verb forms in present and past perfect simple
• Colloquial variety
• Chronological and geographical data

The Renaissance: Origins and Humanism

Born in northern Italy in the fourteenth century, the Renaissance spread throughout Europe and reached Spain in the sixteenth century. This revival resulted from the spread of Humanism, which established a new conception of man and the world. Humanist thinking is based on the knowledge of classical antiquity and an anthropocentric approach. This...

The Siege of Breda and the Tercio of Cartagena

The protagonist of our story is Iñigo Balboa, the companion of Captain Alatriste. The travels of the latter shall recount the adventures that occurred ten years earlier in Breda, which serve as inspiration to both artists. The telling of the adventures starts with Iñigo walking towards a meeting with his master, carrying the memory of some of his experiences and excerpts of the upcoming adventures of the Captain.

After the road, Iñigo finds Diego Alatriste with the rest of the squadron of Flanders. The next day, the entire Tercio of Cartagena (a word used repeatedly in reference to the troops, the battalion, and the squadron), where Captain Alatriste was stationed, prepared for the arrival in...

Postwar Theater

Postwar theater was characterized by an escapist approach, aiming to entertain audiences while conveying ideology through the denial of prewar contributions. Works often extolled the values of the victors, alongside the programming of classical authors. The state and the church maintained a tight grip on new works and repertoire, leading to widespread self-censorship.

Bourgeois Comedy

The bourgeois comedy is defined by perfect structural construction, though often lacking in depth, featuring doses of humor, tenderness, and kindness. Notable works include:

• Benavente: The Husband of Bronze
• Rubio: The Blindfold

Theater of Humor

This style distanced itself from immediate reality:

• Jardiel Poncela: Incorporates the improbable, madness, and

Experimental Poetry and Renewal: 1950-1960

Topics: Everything deeply human: man, time, childhood, friendship, love, and everyday life.

Style: Greater variety than in the previous decade and more rigorous in their work with words.

Group or Generation of '50: Claudio Rodríguez, Ángel González, José Ángel Valente, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Gamoneda, José Agustín Goytisolo, Caballero Bonald.

• Claudio Rodríguez: His early career began with Don de la ebriedad. Later books include Conjuros and El vuelo de la celebración.
• Ángel González: Considered the most social of the poets of the Group of '50. His work shows a journey through different stages. His most important works are Tratado de urbanismo and Canciones para una breve biografía.
• Jaime Gil de

Narrative Elements and the Art of the Story

The Story: Narrative short prose based on imaginary facts.

A simple plot with few characters, primarily written with the fundamental aim to entertain.

Narrative Structure

• Initial situation: The setup of the story.
• Development of the action: The progression of events.
• Ending: The final resolution.

Literary Resources

• Storyteller: The voice relaying the events.
• Description: Detailing characters and settings.
• Dialogue: Can be direct or indirect.

Types of Narrators

Pio Baroja

Biography: He studied medicine but practiced only briefly. He dedicated himself to literature and became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Work: He wrote three trilogies, including The Struggle for Life and The Basque Country. Thought: His writing often reflects a disenchanted acceptance of life. Style: His storytelling was fluid, characterized by graphic descriptions and self-critical dialogue.

Valle-Inclán

Biography: He studied law but left before graduating to travel to Mexico. He led a bohemian lifestyle and was famous for his eccentric personality. Work: Sonatas, Bohemian Lights. Style: In his first period, he used beautiful, rhythmic prose with sensory effects, later transitioning to the grotesque and blatant, raw language....

Astronomy Definitions

• Astronomy: The science that deals with the stars and the laws governing their movements.
• Comet: A celestial body comprised of a less dense core and a bright atmosphere that precedes or surrounds it, depending on its position relative to the Sun, moving in highly eccentric orbits.
• Planet: A solid celestial body that orbits a star and is visible by the light it reflects, specifically those rotating around the Sun.
• Satellite: An opaque companion body that shines only by reflecting sunlight and rotates around a primary planet.
• Galactic: Relating to the Milky Way or any other galaxy.

Etymological Notes

Neat pulchrum (Beautiful); Grammaticam Studeren (Study of Grammar); Scholam Litteram (Literal School); Necessarium (Necessary); Convincere...