Literary Movements and Masters of the Spanish Baroque

Lyrical Poetry: Culteranismo vs. Conceptismo

Culteranismo (Góngora)

A movement focused on formal complexity and aesthetic beauty.

• Style: Highly formal, emphasizing the beauty of language.
• Techniques: Extensive use of hyperbaton, Latinisms, and complex metaphors.
• Key Author: Luis de Góngora.

Conceptismo (Quevedo, Gracián)

A style emphasizing intellectual depth and verbal wit.

• Style: Focuses on games of verbal wit and intellectual association.
• Techniques: Frequent use of semantic figures such as irony, paradox, and antithesis.
• Key Authors: Francisco de Quevedo, Baltasar Gracián.

Narrative of the Golden Age

The Picaresque Novel (Novela Picaresca)

A genre appropriate for transmitting a pessimistic and critical vision of the era, reflecting social disappointment and moral decline.

• Guzmán de Alfarache (Mateo Alemán).
• El Buscón (Francisco de Quevedo).

The Philosophical Novel

Baltasar Gracián’s El Criticón combines the allegorical novel with the structural scheme of the Byzantine novel.

Spanish Theater: Lope de Vega and Calderón

Lope de Vega: The Phoenix of Wits

Lope de Vega cultivated diverse literary forms:

• Poetry: Traditional poetry, love sonnets, religious, epic, and burlesque poetry, often reflecting Renaissance tastes.
• Narrative: Cultivated the short novel (Cervantine style), the Byzantine novel, the pastoral novel, and the novel in dialogue form.

The New Comedy (Comedia Nueva)

Lope de Vega initiated a more accessible form of theater, breaking the classical rules of the three unities (time, place, and action). Key characteristics include:

• Mixing tragic and comic elements.
• Featuring both noble and common (plebeian) characters.
• Use of polymetry (varied meter).
• Inclusion of popular songs.

Themes of the New Comedy

• Religious dramas.
• Comedies based on legends, history, and chronicles.
• Contemporary comedies focused on love and intrigue.

Calderón de la Barca

Calderón employed a more refined and cultured style, focusing on highly elaborated characters and introducing numerous innovations in spectacular stage scenery.

Key Themes and Works

• Themes: Religious, mythological, and philosophical dramas.
• Works: El Alcalde de Zalamea, La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream).

Profiles of Key Authors

Luis de Góngora y Argote

The foremost creator of high Culteranismo, known for his obscure and difficult language. Góngora invented a complex metaphorical system and wrote poems in both traditional and cultured forms, including those with a burlesque tone.

Poetic Style and Works

His poetry transforms reality through intricate metaphors.

• Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea).

Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas

Quevedo’s poetry combines popular and cultured elements, often employing serious (grave) and burlesque tones, all within a strong Conceptista style.

Poetic Works

• Romances and letrillas.
• Sonnets.

Prose of Quevedo

Quevedo wrote rich prose covering political and moral topics. His varied works include:

• Moral and allegorical satires.
• Political and philosophical works.
• Literary criticism.
• Festive or burlesque writings.
• The Picaresque Novel.

The Buscón

El Buscón (The Swindler) is one of the great picaresque novels. It reflects the moral decline of the era and its style, detailing the autobiographical account of a humble protagonist’s misfortunes while serving many masters.