Catalan Literature: Decadence, Popular Poetry and the Renaissance Revival
Poetry of the 16th–18th Centuries
Poetry (16th–18th centuries): Known as the period of decadence, the sixteenth century marked the golden age of Catalan literature, but its decline was caused by intellectuals who, in the nineteenth century, began the cultural and sociolinguistic recovery of the Catalan language. The Renaissance and decadence: concepts that are complementary and follow one another. In the 18th century, with a new decree, King Felipe V imposed absolutism and prohibited the Catalan language.
Popular Literature
Popular literature: Literature created and conceived by the people, responding to their needs and interests. It is linked to the immediate beliefs, customs, and activities of the working people and the recreational pursuits proper to the common people.
Characteristics of Popular and Traditional Literature
Characteristics of popular and traditional literature: Anonymous, created by an individual author, orally transmitted, accompanied by a melody, and sung for years before being fixed by writing, and eventually collected in songbooks.
Poetry of the Period
Poetry: The poetry of the period, covering the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, was collected in writing (most of its compositions were written), for example: songs and romances.
Songs: The Joys
Songs (the joys): Compositions of a religious nature with a melody and a refrain, in which praise of Mary and the saints is sung.
Carols
Carols: Compositions of their own, themed on Christmas, a popular genre.
Ballads, Corrandes, and Pandero Songs. The Romancero
Ballads, corrandes, and pandero songs; the Romancero: The former romances derive from the songs of deeds (cantares de gesta). Manuel Milà i Fontanals collected them, taking into account their origin: Provençal, French, Spanish, and native.
The Renaissance
Renaissance: A historical period that began to take shape in the fifteenth century and fully developed in the second half of that century. It emerged in Italy and spread across Europe, returning to the ideals of classical antiquity. Historical changes followed soon after. Vernacular languages were held in a state of cultural inferiority with respect to Latin. Humanism replaced the theocentric vision with an anthropocentric one.
Early Literature in Catalonia
Early literature in Catalonia: Three basic lines, one of them medievalizing, influenced by Ausiàs March, Italian influence, and popular literature.
Pre-Baroque and the Baroque (17th Century)
Pre-Baroque in the 17th century, the Baroque: A movement that developed in Europe from the late sixteenth century through the seventeenth century. It is characterized as a counter-reaction to the previous era, the Renaissance. Themes include the transience of life, the passing of time, and the morbid, along with extreme attitudes.
Two currents: conceptismo, with a witty and satirical line, and culteranismo, the expression of beauty.
The Renaixença
The Renaixença: The nineteenth century brought social changes and the rise of new ideas. From 1833 to 1877 it established a literary culture in the Catalan language. It was a movement that arose to rival the end of the eighteenth century in Spain and Europe.
Features
Features: Lack of originality, and creative imagination that lacks direction. The artist's consideration is seen as a higher vision, dynamic and rooted in myth and symbol, mixing themes, dissatisfaction with reality, and the preparation of a road and shelter from devastation, folk, fear, chaos, and turmoil.
Objectives of the Renaixença
Objectives of the Renaixença: To restore the Catalan language, to raise awareness among the population, to identify language with nation, to foster the creation of new writers, and to boost the role of institutions.