European Romanticism: Literature and Key Figures

Romanticism in Europe: First Half 19th Century

Key Features

• Individualism: Focus on the self.
• Rebellion: Spirit of freedom, breaking rules.
• Idealism: Emphasis on love, honor, friendship.
• Irrationalism: Focus on sentiments and passion.
• Evasion and Exoticism: Interest in distant lands (space) and the Middle Ages (time).
• Exalted Rhetoric: Grandiloquent language.
• Originality.

Romantic Poetry

Expresses love, melancholy, sadness, disappointment, dreams, and the exaltation of solitude.

Features:

• Grandiloquent language.
• Use of classical forms (silva, octave, quatrain) and some new ones.
• Polymetry (use of various meters).
• Common themes: love, freedom, death, nature, the past.

Narrative poetry was cultivated with compositions in verse, often historical, legendary, allegorical, or philosophical (romance being most frequent).

José de Espronceda

Notable works include: Canto a Teresa, Himno al Sol, El dos de Mayo, Canción del pirata, El mendigo, El verdugo, and El reo de muerte. His style is very musical, with frequent changes in stanza.

Romantic Prose

Historical Novel

Key authors and works:

• Walter Scott: Ivanhoe
• Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo
• Enrique Gil y Carrasco: El Señor de Bembibre

Costumbrismo

Depiction of local customs and manners.

• Serafín Estébanez Calderón: Escenas andaluzas
• Ramón de Mesonero Romanos: Escenas matritenses

Mariano José de Larra

Wrote articles on political and social customs (e.g., Vuelva usted mañana, El día de difuntos de 1836, Casarse pronto y mal), a historical novel (El doncel de don Enrique el Doliente), and drama (Macías).

Romantic Drama

Characteristics:

1. Focus on intense conflicts.
2. Grandiloquent language.
3. Mixes prose and verse.
4. Great importance given to scenery.
5. Disregards the three unities (action, time, place).
6. Aims to evoke emotion in the audience.
7. Technical improvements in scenery and stage design.

Duke of Rivas (Ángel de Saavedra)

Wrote narrative poems like El moro expósito and the historical drama Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino.

José Zorrilla

Known for works such as: El puñal del godo, El zapatero y el rey, Traidor, inconfeso y mártir, and his most famous play, Don Juan Tenorio.

Post-Romanticism (c. 1845-1870)

Poetry adopts a more moderate and intimate tone.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

His Rimas explore themes such as:

• Poetry itself (I-IX)
• Love and Delusions (XI-XXIX)
• Heartbreak (XXX-LI)
• Loneliness and Death (LII-LXXXVI)

His poetry is subjective, simple, focused, intense, and often uses assonant rhyme.

His prose works include the Leyendas (e.g., El monte de las Ánimas, Maese Pérez el organista, El rayo de luna, El beso, La corza blanca), Historia de los templos de España, and Cartas desde mi celda (published within Recuerdos y bellezas de España).

Rosalía de Castro

Notable works include the novel El caballero de las botas azules and poetry collections Follas novas (in Galician) and En las orillas del Sar (in Spanish).