Evolution of Media and Spanish Renaissance Literature

Media: Transmitting Information

The media are systems through which information is transmitted to a wider audience, also called mass media. (Press, radio, and television).

Press: The Oldest Medium

In Spain, the first newspapers date from the eighteenth century.

Language of the Press

• Written word: Texts must be clear and easy to understand.
• Still image: Information complemented with images.
• Design elements: Major elements such as font and color.

Radio: Sound Medium

Verbal language, music, sound effects (recording or effects), silence.

Television: Moving Images

Its beginning dates back to 1929. Social influence. Aspects of the moving image. Uses music and sound effects. Dominates the spoken language.

Internet: Vast Hypertext

Multimedia language is used.

The Press: Report and Comment

Publication Types

The daily newspaper is the most common. Journals are published periodically.

Organization and Design

Organized into sections grouped by content themes and approaches.

• Home: Main news/most relevant content: On odd-numbered pages and the top of the page.
• Number of columns is in direct relation to their importance.
• Images.
• Other items.

Journalistic Genres

• Informational genres: News and reports (reports on current events objectively).
• Mixed genres: Chronicle and criticism (information on the facts with opinions).
• Opinion genres: Editorial and article (discuss certain topics).

Structure of the News

Organize the contents according to an anticlimactic structure, providing information in order of decreasing importance.

Journalistic Language

Clarity (simplicity), concision (brevity), and dynamic (direct).

Sixteenth Century Spain

Spain became a great empire. The reigns of Charles I and Philip II were marked by continual wars. During the Renaissance, an attitude that invites the enjoyment of life was established. The power of reason and the desire for knowledge made this a time of great geographic and scientific discoveries. Reform of spirituality.

Renaissance Literature

• Influence of Italian and Greco-Roman literature.
• Style based on simplicity.
• Forms characteristic of Spanish literature (hendecasyllable verse).
• Classic themes of love, nature, and myths.
• Idealization of reality and critical realism.

Italianate Lyric Themes

• Love, nature, mythology, classic reasons.
• Beatus ille (happy), locus amoenus (idyllic), carpe diem (seize the moment).
• Metric (sonnet, octave real, lira).
• Genre: Ode (reflection), epistle (domestic), eclogue (feelings of pastors).

Examples

Garcilaso de la Vega, Fray Luis de León, St. John of the Cross.