Spanish Baroque Literature: Poetic Styles and Key Authors

Baroque Metrics and Poetic Style

The predominant verse is the endecasílabo (eleven-syllable line). Both assonance and consonance rhyme are used. Common stanzas include the quartet, the tercet, the quatrain, and the cultured décima.

The primary cultured poetic form is the sonnet, of Italian origin, introduced into Spain by Juan Boscán. Since then, the sonnet has been cultivated by all the great writers of Spanish literature.

The popular metric form is the romance, a strophic poem with octosyllabic verses and assonance rhyme, originating in Spanish literature during the Middle Ages as a development from the chanson de geste (16 syllables = 8+8).

Regarding style, difficulty is perhaps the concept that best defines the aesthetic ideal of Baroque lyric poetry. This difficulty compels the reader to exert greater effort than usual, as Baroque texts present abundant expressive resources. The most relevant artistic-verbal devices include:

• Metaphor
• Antithesis
• Hyperbole
• Exclamation
• Hyperbaton
• Onomatopoeia

Furthermore, the lyrical text often employs Conceptismo style, characterized by expressive brevity and wordplay (juego de ideas). It also utilizes Culteranismo style, featuring selected vocabulary, imitation of Latin syntax with very long sentences, frequent use of hyperbaton, and complex, brilliant, yet often obscure metaphors. The intention is to create a highly educated, almost inaccessible language.

Luis de Góngora y Argote

Creator of Culteranismo, known for his brilliant, ornate, and elitist poetic language. His poetry is often divided into two types:

• Cultured Poetry: Employs Culteranismo resources to create a difficult poetic language requiring interpretive effort from the reader. Major works include: Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea, Soledades, and numerous sonnets.
• Popular Poetry: Consists of ballads (romances) and letrillas. These cover many topics, and the style uses elements of both Conceptismo and Culteranismo.

Francisco de Quevedo

Maximum exponent of Conceptismo. His extensive work is classified into two main groups:

• Serious or Reflective Poetry: The poet expresses feelings and ideas with emotion or concern. Includes passionate love poems and those dealing with the passage of time and the inevitability of death.
• Witty, Satirical, or Burlesque Poetry: Any subject could become the target of Quevedo's sharp mockery.

Verbal Periphrasis Examples

Aspectual Periphrasis:

Inchoative (Beginning):

• ir a + infinitive
• estar para + infinitive
• estar a punto de + infinitive

Durative (Ongoing):

• estar + gerund
• venir + gerund
• andar + gerund

Terminative (Ending):

• acabar de + infinitive
• dejar de + infinitive
• terminar de + infinitive

Modal Periphrasis:

Obligation:

• tener que + infinitive
• deber + infinitive
• haber de + infinitive

Possibility or Probability:

• poder + infinitive
• deber de + infinitive
• venir a + infinitive