Spanish Golden Age Poetry: Góngora, Lope and Quevedo

Luis de Góngora and His Works

Góngora's works are grouped into two main blocks:

1. Sonnets, ballads, and letrillas: His romances (ballads) cover various topics, some of which are burlesque. Most of the letrillas are aimed at mocking ladies, beggars, and the desire for riches. He also satirizes various writers like Quevedo and Lope (Francisco de Que-bebe and Félix Lope de Vega). He wrote sonnets on all subjects. In his love sonnets, themes of Petrarchism appear but are intensified; these are not poems expressing a life experience, but rather those that worship female beauty.
2. Major works: These poems led the Culterano revolution and caused a tremendous scandal at the time due to the great "darkness" of the verses.

Lope de Vega: The Phoenix of Wits

There are 3,000 sonnets attributed to him, along with 3 novels, 4 short stories, 9 epics, 3 didactic poems, and several hundred comedies (1,800 according to some). His life was as extreme as his work; Lope creates his work through his life experiences. His writing can be divided into five main chapters centered around different women, which created his poetic cycles:

• Elena Osorio ("Filis")
• Isabel Urbina ("Belisa")
• Juana de Guardo (his first wife)
• Micaela de Luján ("Camila Lucinda")
• Marta de Nevares ("Amarilis" or "Marcia Leonarda")

A defining feature of his writing is its freshness and truth; we feel a sense of sincerity in his art, which becomes the substance of his life. However, Petrarchism is still present in his work. Love is his great subject; he is the poet who knew women best. Lope does not invent his feelings; he feels and lives them. Novel aspects appear in his treatment of love: the female body is resplendent in its nakedness. He is a poet in whom sensuality and even sexuality are essential components of love.

Francisco de Quevedo: Serious and Satirical Verse

Serious Poetry

Quevedo's serious poetry raises philosophical and moral concerns, expressing anguish regarding human existence. He focuses on how the passage of time brings us closer to certain death, stating that we are a "present deceased estate."

Regarding love poems, Quevedo is known, alongside Lope, as a great Baroque poet of love. However, one can notice a big difference: Lope poses a more experiential, sensual experience of love, while Quevedo's Platonic sentiment conforms more to a pure and spiritual love.

Satirical and Burlesque Poetry

His compositions in this vein are satirical and burlesque. Quevedo writes about all things divine and human, but there are obsessive themes: the power of money (dinero), owners, and a hobby for infidelity. He is often considered a misogynist and a misanthrope. He also targets mothers, doctors, bald men, and even great historical heroes.