San Juan de la Cruz: Mystical Poetry and the Spanish Renaissance

San Juan de la Cruz and Mystical Poetry

San Juan de la Cruz was a Carmelite friar who pushed for the reform of his order. He promoted a new way of understanding faith, based on a life of solitude, austerity and contemplation, which led to his imprisonment. In his work, poetry shows the influence of medieval religious literature and the Renaissance, especially the Song of Songs.

Themes

The main theme is the communication of mystical experience, the enamoration of the soul, and the approach and union with God. Within this, there is a love that takes the lover out of himself, supported by a long tradition of symbolism.

Style

The lyric, the poetry of love that allows the poet to communicate his spiritual experience, is the most important form. Its expression is loaded with symbols (deer, fountain, hunting) that are metaphors of an experience that transcends human love. Comparisons and metaphors abound, which give his texts a global figurative sense that turns them into allegories.

The language used is influenced by the love poetry of his era, and is defined by its simplicity and musicality.

Works

Cántico espiritual

A poem of 40 liras (stanzas), written close to the biblical Song of Songs. The enamored soul goes out after the Beloved, establishes a dialogue with him, and in her search asks questions to shepherds and elements of nature.

Noche oscura del alma

Eight liras in which the beloved goes out hidden from her house in order to unite with the Beloved, to whom she surrenders herself.

Llama de amor viva

Composed of four stanzas in which the beloved reveals her feelings in the union with God. At times San Juan accompanies the poem with a doctrinal commentary, especially in those cases where he uses sensual language to express mystical experience.

The Poetry of the Renaissance

A fruitful cultural movement in which there was a renewal of literature, both in themes and in form. It owes much to the expansion of humanism (the human being at the centre of the universe) and to classical Greco-Latin sources, both ancient and modern. Hispanic poetry underwent a renewal from the 16th century, largely influenced by Italy, especially Petrarch.

Periods

First Renaissance: Reign of Charles V (1515-1556)

Different poetic currents coexisted:

• Romancero: survived from earlier stages and was transmitted orally. A new romancero appeared, a collection of romances written by cultured poets of the 16th and 17th centuries.
• Courtly lyric in Castilian verse: continued the medieval cancionero tradition, which proliferated in court circles at the end of the 15th century and was compiled in the 16th century. Its greatest representative was Cristóbal de Castillejo.
• Courtly lyric of Italian roots: in the first third of the century. Poets who, with great skill, adapted Italian forms, techniques and themes of poetry to our language. Other notable figures include Juan Boscán.

Second Renaissance

Reign of Philip II (1556-1598). Two schools emerged:

• Andalusian: love themes inspired by Petrarch, represented by Fernando de Herrera.
• Castilian: moral and religious subjects, represented by Fray Luis de León.

In addition, religious poetry experienced great development, notably mystical poetry, a current that deals with lyrically communicating the experience of the union of the soul with God. The most outstanding figure is San Juan de la Cruz.