Spanish Golden Age Religious Poetry and Culteranismo

Spanish Religious Lyric of the Golden Age

The second half of the 16th century presents the rise of the religious lyric. Religious feelings, prompted by the Counter-Reformation and supported by the Church and the Spanish Crown, acquired great importance. Religious literature was expressed in prose dealing with spiritual matters, but also in poems of deep spirituality written by Fray Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, and Santa Teresa de Jesús.

The relationship with God can be established in two ways:

• Asceticism: The poet strives to improve their soul, attain salvation, and encounter God, rejecting everything worldly and superficial.
• Mysticism: The soul chosen by God enters into direct communication with Him. All mystics must have first been ascetics, but not all ascetics achieve mystical experiences.

San Juan de la Cruz (1542–1591)

In his writings, the converging trends of the Spanish Renaissance of the second half of the 16th century are incorporated, combining a deep religious background with the formal language of Petrarchan poetry. San Juan lives and communicates his mystical experiences and his encounter with God. To achieve this, the soul must pass through three stages:

• The Purgative Way: The soul distances itself from earthly things to get closer to God.
• The Illuminative Way: The soul receives knowledge from God that illuminates it.
• The Unitive Way: The soul is united with God to the point where both merge in mystical ecstasy.

The principal works of St. John of the Cross consist of three major poems:

• Spiritual Canticle (Cántico Espiritual): St. John presents the encounter and dialogue between God and the soul, symbolized as husband and wife.
• Dark Night of the Soul (Noche Oscura): The night symbolizes the terrible trials that God sends to human beings to purify them.
• Living Flame of Love (Llama de Amor Viva): He resorts to paradox, as it is difficult to express the mixture of pain and pleasure that comes with encountering God.

Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561–1627)

The Cordovan poet studied canon law at Salamanca and linked his life to the Church from an early age. He was a royal chaplain to Philip III and lived in Madrid until he returned to Córdoba, where he died. He was the leading representative of Culteranismo (Gongorism).

His literary career is divided into two main periods:

• First Stage (prior to 1610): His compositions are easy to understand and more popular than academic (culto). Notable works include letrillas and romances (ballads).
• Second Stage: Marked by his three most ambitious works: the Panegyric to the Duke of Lerma, the Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea, and the Solitudes (Soledades). This poetry is more complex, reflecting the distinct characteristics of Culterano poetry:
  • Use of lexical, syntactic, and semantic neologisms (cultismos).
  • Periphrasis (circumlocution).
  • Mythological allusions.
  • Renaissance figures of speech.
  • Paradox, paronomasia, and double entendre (dilogía).