Catalan Literature: Jocs Florals, Verdaguer's Poetry, and Guimerà's Theater

Catalan Literary Movements: Poetry and Theater

Poetry and the Jocs Florals

Themes in Catalan Poetry

• Historical recreation of a stronger past (the Middle Ages).
• Passionate love and religious concerns (e.g., the full moon, the mystery flower).

The Jocs Florals (Flower Games)

Promoters

Rubió i Ors, Milà i Fontanals.

Topics and Prizes

The three main themes were Homeland, Faith, and Love. The prize for each theme was a jewel-flower.

Purposes

• Normalize acts of literary creation.
• Target young artists as both audience and authors.
• Popularize literature.

Jacint Verdaguer (1845–1902)

In 1877, Verdaguer was awarded the Jocs Florals prize thanks to his work, L'Atlàntida. In 1886, he undertook a trip to the Holy Land, which proved very taxing and favored a change in his attitude toward the Church. He died at 57 years of age from tuberculosis.

L'Atlàntida

A poem consisting of 10 songs, an introduction, and Cantos. It recounts the sinking of the ancient continent of Atlantis, collecting mythological elements. It utilizes epic decasyllables and alexandrines, employing all kinds of rhetorical forms.

Canigó

Topic: The origin and nature of Catalonia.

Protagonists: Figures from the great mythological Middle Ages, including Count Wilfred, the Pyrenean fairies, and Count Tallaferro.

The work is structured in twelve songs and an epilogue.

Catalan Theater

Sainetes

Short works of a comic character.

Topics: Mischievous characters, marginalized children, emotional conflicts, and confrontations between people of the city and the countryside.

Joseph Robrenyo: Used sainetes for propaganda purposes (to encourage the public toward the liberal cause).

Other Theatrical Genres

• Romance: Historical or exotic atmosphere, written in verse, sentimental, featuring high-class characters.
• Realistic Drama: Focuses on everyday environments and likelihood, written in prose, featuring popular characters.

Àngel Guimerà (Key Works)

Maria Rosa (1894)

Guimerà explores the search for a just society and the struggle for the realization of the individual as a human person.

Terra Baixa (The Lowland) (1897)

Through the conflict of a rural world that is apparently happy, Guimerà presents a love-hate relationship among three characters: Sebastià, Marta, and Manelic. The conflict is resolved by the inevitable death of the villain (the "wolf"), allowing the protagonists to access happiness only in the Terra Alta (High Land), a place uncontaminated by corruption.

La Filla del Mar (The Daughter of the Sea) (1900)

In this drama, Guimerà created a character of great intensity. Àgata, the heroine, survives a shipwreck and is picked up by a fishing village. She feels rejected by the people—a community that is not her own—and finally flees to return to the place from whence she came: the sea. The play ends with the death of two of its main characters, Àgata and Pere Màrtir.