Literary Styles of the Spanish Golden Age: Renaissance, Conceptism, and Culteranism

Characteristics of Renaissance Poetry

Renaissance poetry is defined by its adherence to classical forms and themes, largely influenced by Italian models.

Poetic Metrics and Forms

The metric system adopted verses from Italy, including:

• Verses: Pentameter and seven-syllable lines.
• Stanzas/Forms: Lira, Silva, Octava Real (Real Eighth), chained triplets (Tercetos Encadenados), and the Sonnet.

Characteristic Genres

Key genres include:

• Eclogue: Featuring idealized shepherds (pastors) as actors.
• Ode: Used for serious or elevated matters.
• Letter (Epistle): A poem written in the form of a letter.

Language and Style

The language of this era emphasizes naturalness and simplicity, deliberately avoiding mannerisms and overly elaborate sentences. Consequently, the lexicon and syntax remain straightforward.

Favorite Themes and Classical Topoi

The primary subjects of Renaissance poetry are:

• Love: Often conceived from a Platonic standpoint.
• Nature: Portrayed as an idyllic and pleasant setting.
• Mythology: Used either as a central theme or as an ornament for a love affair.
• Feminine Beauty: Following the classical ideal of perfection.

In relation to these issues, several classical topoi (commonplaces) were frequently employed:

• Carpe Diem: Meaning "seize the day" or "trap the day." This advises enjoying life before the arrival of old age.
• Descriptio Puellae: The description of ideal feminine beauty. Renaissance authors sought formal beauty and perfection, portraying the woman as beautiful, perfect, almost angelic—a goddess.
• Beatus Ille: The praise of country life, emphasizing its freedom from material concerns, contrasting it with the dangers and intrigues of city life.
• Locus Amoenus: The description of perfect and idyllic nature.
• Mediocritas Aurea: The appreciation of simple satisfaction and moderation, contrasting with the inordinate desire for wealth.
• Collige, Virgo, Rosas: A call for a woman to enjoy love before time diminishes her beauty.

Conceptism (El Concepto)

Conceptism is a literary style that focuses primarily on the plane of thought and intellectual wit. Its theoretical founder and definer was Baltasar Gracián, who, in his work Art of Wit and Ingenuity, defined the concept as "the act of understanding, which expresses the correlation between objects."

Rhetorical Devices in Conceptism

To achieve this intellectual correlation, Conceptist authors frequently utilized complex rhetorical devices:

• Paradox
• Antithesis
• Paronomasia
• Metaphor
• Ellipsis

Authors also frequently used Dilogía (a resource that uses a single signifier to convey two possible meanings) and Polisemia (multiple meanings). The main representative of Conceptism was Francisco de Quevedo.

Culteranism (Gongorism)

Culteranism, whose main exponent was Luis de Góngora, is concerned above all with expression and the pursuit of formal brilliance. Its characteristics include the intensive use of metaphors, imagery, and the "Romanization" of the language.

Techniques for Formal Brilliance

The Romanization of the language is achieved mainly through:

• Intensive Hyperbaton (disruption of normal word order).
• A preference for long, complex sentences.
• The inclusion of Cultisms and Neologisms, such as brilliance, candor, harmony, and palestra.

The metaphor is the basis of Cultist poetry. The chaining of metaphors or image series aims to escape from everyday reality and settle in an artificial, idealized universe of poetry. Culteranism is also characterized by using a dark and difficult style, governed by an accumulation and intensification of resources. Allusions to mythology are also frequent.