Master of the Spanish Renaissance: Garcilaso de la Vega

Garcilaso de la Vega: The Renaissance Innovator

Garcilaso de la Vega is the Spanish poet who best represents the spirit of the Renaissance. He was the great innovator of the 16th-century Castilian lyric and a reference for the poets of all periods. The importance of the work of Garcilaso de la Vega contrasts with its brevity. It consists of:

• 38 sonnets
• 3 eclogues
• 5 songs
• An ode in lira
• 2 elegies
• An epistle to Juan Boscán
• Castilian eight-syllable verses

The Two Stages of Garcilaso's Poetry

In Garcilaso's poetic trajectory, two stages are observed:

1. Traditional Poetry: The poet's early compositions are inspired by the Castilian traditional metric of eight-syllable verses.
2. Italianate Poetry: His stay at the court of Naples and reading authors such as Petrarch, or classics like Ovid and Virgil, greatly influenced his poetic conception. Garcilaso evolved from traditional forms of poetry to the Italianate court of heroic verse and seven-syllable verses.

The Renaissance Ideal in Style

In the style of Garcilaso de la Vega, the Renaissance ideal is reflected better than in any other Spanish poet of that time. His writing is a formal search for simplicity, elegance, and beauty.

Lyrical Renaissance in the Late 16th Century

The second half of the 16th century represents a radical change of attitude compared to the first half. Dreading the Protestant threat to the Catholic Church, the Council of Trent laid the groundwork in literature. While the work under Charles V received European influences, humanism, and the Renaissance, the second half—during the reign of Philip II—closed its doors to Europe.

Culture and literature were restricted through strict prohibitions on studying at European universities and the prohibition of importing books without a royal license for foreigners. The Inquisition published the expurgatory indices, limiting and prohibiting a large number of works.

The Schools of Seville and Salamanca

Both schools are based on the legacy of Garcilaso but take different paths.

The School of Seville

The School of Seville is characterized by formal exuberance and decorative luxury. It features a poetic language full of resonant music and color effects, along with syntactic complication. Fernando de Herrera is the greatest representative of this school. He enriched and created a poetic language with mythology, Andalusian metaphors, and neologisms.

The School of Salamanca

The themes of the Salamancan school prefer the world of ideas, moral issues, and philosophical questions. It established the classical principle of harmony between expression and content, favoring natural writing and conciseness. Short verses are preferred over long stanzas, and the lira is the most used form.