Renaissance Era: Defining Characteristics and Poetic Forms

The Renaissance: A Transformative Cultural Movement

The Renaissance was a profound cultural movement encompassing all aspects of human activity. It marked a fundamental shift in mentality, a reassessment of the world, the individual, and existence itself. At its essence, it represented a revival of classical ideals. Chronologically, it began in the mid-fourteenth century in northern Italy and spread across Europe by the sixteenth century. This era saw the imitation of classical models and the application of humanist principles.

Key Characteristics of the Renaissance

• Social Transformation: The birth of modern states.
• Economic Shifts: Changes in the craft production system, indicating early signs of pre-capitalism.
• Global Expansion: Discovery and conquest of new worlds, expanding the known universe and human knowledge.
• Technological Progress: Emergence of great inventions and constant technical advancements.
• Classical Admiration: A deep admiration for classical antiquity.
• Linguistic Evolution: Growing interest in national languages, while Latin also became the language of culture.

Principles of Humanism

Humanism, central to the Renaissance, was characterized by:

• Deep knowledge of Greco-Roman society.
• A longing for the restoration of classical ideals.
• Defense of study, reading, and the use of classical languages.
• An enthusiastic appreciation of the world and the dignity of human beings.

Precursors of the Renaissance

• Dante Alighieri: Considered the first modern European writer and humanist.
• Francesco Petrarch: The first humanist, known for his sonnets and songs dedicated to his beloved Laura.
• Giovanni Boccaccio: A successor to Dante, contributing significantly to early Renaissance literature.

The Renaissance in Spain

The Spanish Renaissance is characterized by the coexistence of traditional religious values with a new valuation of the world, and the integration of national identity with new European currents.

Royal Reigns and Their Impact

• Charles I (First Half of the 16th Century): His reign symbolized glory, political and economic prosperity, fostering an openness to European mainstream ideas. This period was a time of receiving European guidelines. Its most representative figure was Garcilaso de la Vega.
• Philip II (Second Half of the 16th Century): His reign followed the Counter-Reformation spirit, preventing the spread of Protestant ideas through strict censorship exercised by the Inquisition. This era emphasized religious and national themes. Its best representative was Fray Luis de León.

Renaissance Poetry

Renaissance poetry represents the simultaneity of two streams: the traditional and the Italian-influenced. Thanks to the advent of printing, oral texts were collected in anthologies, often referred to as songbooks.

Key Metric Contribution

The essential metric contribution from Italian influence is the hendecasyllable (11 syllables), which was highly appropriate for expressing lyrical themes. Based on the hendecasyllable, new stanzas were created:

• Terceto: A three-line heroic verse stanza with an ABA rhyme scheme. It often appears in alternating series of chained triplets (ABA BCB CDC).
• Quatrain: A four-line heroic verse stanza with a consonant rhyme scheme (ABBA).
• Lira: A five-line stanza, combining two seven-syllable lines and three hendecasyllables, with the rhyme scheme: aBabB. It uses consonant rhyme.
• Estancia: A stanza combining a variable number of hendecasyllables and seven-syllable verses, with variable rhyme and distribution. It is typically divided into a 'fronte' (forehead) formed by two 'piede' (feet), followed by a 'sirima' (tail) or 'coda' whose rhyme scheme may vary.
• Ottava Rima: An eight-line heroic verse stanza with the rhyme scheme: ABABABCC.

Characteristic Compositions

Two characteristic compositions of the Renaissance are also prominent:

• The Sonnet: A poem combining two quatrains and two tercets. The rhyme of the quatrains is always ABBA ABBA, while that of the tercets has variants.
• The Petrarchan Song (Canzone): Consists of a variable number of stanzas, where the rhyme scheme of the first stanza is repeated in all subsequent ones.