Renaissance and Baroque Spain: Cultural Shifts and Literary Themes

Written on January 23, 2026 in English with a size of 4.55 KB

Renaissance vs Baroque in Spain

Renaissance	Baroque
The Spanish Empire dominated the world.	Spain loses control of the sea. Military and political decline.
Writers exalt the monarch. Optimism.	Criticism of the last monarchs of the House of Austria. Disappointment.
Spain is open to Europe and America.	Spain is enclosed.
Balance, serenity, and naturalness.	Exaggeration, contrast, chiaroscuro.
Life as an end.	Life is dominated by pessimism.
Literature: entertainment and leisure.	Literature: advice and moral instruction.

Middle Ages	Renaissance
Theocentrism: God-centered world. Theology and the approach to the knowledge of God become the principal form of knowledge. The preferred reading was religious: the Bible and the lives of saints. Life is seen as a way to heaven; prayer and spiritual meditation accompany human existence. Man feels integrated in a community: the Church and the unity of Christian society. Creative writing was often anonymous and collective: epics; the work of collegiate churches and cathedrals.	Anthropocentrism: man as the center of the world. The universe and nature become the object of observation and knowledge. The myths of the Greco-Roman tradition are incorporated into literature and romances. The enjoyment of earthly pleasures and material means is accepted, even permitted by God. It celebrates freedom and the personal responsibility of the individual. The artist or creator claimed authorship and signed his works to gain recognition.

Middle Ages

Renaissance

Theocentrism: God-centered world.

Theology and the approach to the knowledge of God become the principal form of knowledge.

The preferred reading was religious: the Bible and the lives of saints.

Life is seen as a way to heaven; prayer and spiritual meditation accompany human existence.

Man feels integrated in a community: the Church and the unity of Christian society.

Creative writing was often anonymous and collective: epics; the work of collegiate churches and cathedrals.

Anthropocentrism: man as the center of the world.

The universe and nature become the object of observation and knowledge.

The myths of the Greco-Roman tradition are incorporated into literature and romances.

The enjoyment of earthly pleasures and material means is accepted, even permitted by God.

It celebrates freedom and the personal responsibility of the individual.

The artist or creator claimed authorship and signed his works to gain recognition.

Love, conceived as continuous devotion to the beloved, forever unattainable, and thus full of melancholy and pain.
The description of the beauty of women.
Discovery of nature, presented as an ideal space that serves as the background for a poet's reflections. Recovers the classical topical locus amoenus ("pleasant place") from the Latin poet Virgil, to represent a landscape with elements like springs and a gentle river.
Related to the locus amoenus is the figure of opposition rural / urban or country / village, already present in the Beatus ille (Ode of Horace), translated by Fray Luis de León. Themes include ambition and envy.
The topic of carpe diem includes reflections on time and, consequently, the need for young people to enjoy love and pleasure.
The stories of Greek and Roman mythology provide motifs that ennoble the author's feelings.

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