Fray Luis de León & San Juan de la Cruz: Spanish Mystical Literature

Fray Luis de León: Life and Works

Fray Luis de León wrote coinciding with the rise of spiritual literature in the second half of the sixteenth century.

Original Poetic Works

His collection includes 23 original poems, most in lira form, published in 1631 by Quevedo. These are primarily moral poems, with the exception of some religious pieces. His sources include the poetry of Horace and Virgil, and biblical texts. He shows the influence of Neoplatonic and Stoic philosophy, which proposed overcoming passions to achieve peace and serenity.

Through self-knowledge, peace can be achieved, embracing the vivire secum (living with oneself) theme and leading a secluded existence. These themes are expressed in his poetry through the beatus ille and locus amoenus topoi, characteristic of his work.

Style

His style emphasizes the use of metaphors from associative fields related to nature, repetition of words, anaphora, Latin cultisms, hyperbaton, polysyndeton, and asyndeton.

Prose Works

His prose style blends clarity and beauty with colloquial elements, influenced by humanistic ideas and Augustinian values.

• Exposition of the Song of Songs, Exposition of the Book of Job, and The Perfect Wife. These are commentaries on biblical texts. In The Perfect Wife, he describes what he considers an exemplary wife.
• Of the Names of Christ. This is his most important prose work. Written in dialogue, it explores the meanings of various names by which the Bible refers to Christ.

San Juan de la Cruz: Mystical Poetry and Prose

Poetic Works

His work is a milestone of Western lyricism due to its intense loving themes and literary excellence. San Juan's need to express union with the divine through language led him to incorporate elements from several poetic traditions: traditional lyric, classical, Italianate, and the Bible.

Major Poems

In Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love, the poet uses symbolic language based on human love. These works are central to his mystical expression.

• Living Flame of Love. This short poem is a pure celebration of mystical union.
• Dark Night of the Soul. It describes a soul's departure in search of the Beloved, a joyful meeting, and loving union with God.
• Spiritual Canticle. It depicts a loving soul searching for its beloved within a beautiful, vibrant locus amoenus landscape, which is identified with the Bridegroom, reflecting the soul's beauty. It culminates in spiritual marriage.

Prose Works

His prose works consist of four mystical treatises that gloss over his poems: Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night (which incompletely discuss Dark Night of the Soul), and commentaries on Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame of Love (referring to the homonymous poems).