Key Spanish Literary Figures and Masterpieces

Notable Spanish Authors and Their Works

Medieval Period

• Gonzalo de Berceo: Miracles of Our Lady
• Alfonso X (the Wise) (1221-1284): General Chronicle, The Great and General History
• Don Juan Manuel (Count) (1282-1348): A Book of the Knight and the Squire

Pre-Renaissance and Renaissance

• Juan de Mena (1411-1456): The Maze of Fortune
• Jorge Manrique (1440-1479): Verses on the Death of His Father
• Juan del Encina (1469-1529): Christmas Eclogue
• Fernando de Rojas (1475-1541): La Celestina (also known as Callisto and Melibea)
• Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536): Ode to the Flower of Gnidos

Spanish Golden Age

• Fray Luis de León (1527-1591): Various Poetic and Prose Works
• Fernando de Herrera (1534-1597): Sonnets, Songs, Elegies, Pastorals
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616): Don Quixote
• Lope de Vega (1562-1635): Fuenteovejuna
• Luis de Góngora (1561-1627): Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea
• Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645): The Swindler (El Buscón), Poems
• Tirso de Molina (1584-1648): The Trickster of Seville (featuring Don Juan)
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681): The Phantom Lady
• Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658): El Criticón

Enlightenment and Neoclassicism

• Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744-1811): Report on Agrarian Law
• José Cadalso (1741-1782): Moroccan Letters
• Juan Meléndez Valdés (1754-1817): Poetry
• Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760-1828): The Maidens' Consent

Romanticism and Realism

• José de Espronceda (1808-1842): Pirate Song
• Mariano José de Larra (1809-1837): Newspaper Articles
• José Zorrilla (1817-1893): Don Juan Tenorio
• Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870): Rhymes
• Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885): On the Banks of the Sar
• Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920): Doña Perfecta
• Leopoldo Alas 'Clarín' (1852-1901): La Regenta

Modernism and Generation of '98

• Rubén Darío (1867-1916): Songs of Life and Hope
• Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936): Life of Don Quixote and Sancho
• Pío Baroja (1872-1956): The Tree of Knowledge
• José Martínez Ruiz 'Azorín' (1873-1967): The Two Spains
• Antonio Machado (1875-1939): Solitudes
• Ramón María del Valle-Inclán (1899-1936): Bohemian Lights
• Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958): Sad Arias

Generation of '27 and Post-War

• Federico García Lorca (1898-1936): Poet in New York
• Jorge Guillén (1893-1984): Cántico
• Gerardo Diego (1896-1925): Human Verses
• Rafael Alberti (1902-1999): Sailor Ashore
• Luis Cernuda (1902-1963): Reality and Desire
• Miguel Hernández (1910-1942): El Rayo que no Cesa