Spanish Literature: Golden Age and Medieval Classics

Spanish Literature Overview

Poetry

Garcilaso de la Vega (1st Half of 16th Century)

Works: Sonnets, Eclogues (pastoral poems)
Themes: Love (lady's indifference, lover's pain), Nature (stylized setting for love complaints)
Style: Clear, simple, elegant, harmonious. Predominantly hendecasyllable verse, alliteration, musical hyperbaton.

Fray Luis de León (1st Half of 16th Century)

Prose:
Translations: Song of Songs
Original Works: The Perfect Wife
Poetry:
Translations: Passages from the Book of Job
Original Poems: Less than 40, mostly lyrical compositions with varied themes and structures.
Themes: Nature, longing for country life, night's music (influenced by Beatus Ille)
Style: Lira verse, hyperbole, alliteration, hyperbaton, metaphor, personification. Frequent use of the 2nd person.

Juan de la Cruz (2nd Half of 16th Century)

Works: Spiritual Canticle, Dark Night of the Soul
Themes: Love (transcending the erotic to express spiritual content)
Style: Influenced by Italian learned poetry, popular Castilian verse, and the Song of Songs.

Prose

Didactic Prose

Primarily dialogues featuring two or more characters discussing various subjects from different perspectives. Numerous works by ascetic and mystical writers.

Pastoral Fiction

Focuses on love stories between shepherds, often featuring Moorish characters.

Miguel de Cervantes

Poet: Journey to Parnassus
Playwright: La Numancia (tragedy)
Novelist: Don Quixote (chivalric romance)

Picaresque Novel

Francisco de Quevedo: El Buscón

Medieval Literature

Cantar de Mio Cid (13th Century)

Author: Unknown (attributed to Per Abbat)
Genre: Epic poem, divided into three parts: Exile, Weddings, and the Afrenta de Corpes.
Analysis:
Political: Castile and León against the Cid, who confronts the King of León.
Socioeconomic: Reflects the Cid's warlike lifestyle and disdain for the nobility.
Individual: Glorifies the Cid as a hero who expands Castile.

Libro de Buen Amor (14th Century)

Author: Juan Ruiz (Archpriest of Hita)
Style: Mester de Clerecía
Meter: Quaderna Vía
Structure: Collection of texts united by a first-person narrative.
Themes: Love (carnal and devout), death
Intent: Ambiguous due to its heterogeneity, but centered around love.

La Celestina (16th Century)

Author: Fernando de Rojas (found the first act)
Genre: Tragicomedy, written in dialogue
Characters: Grouped by social class (educated or common)
Intent: Moral critique of bad behavior, social criticism of corruption.

Lazarillo de Tormes (16th Century)

Author: Anonymous
Style: First-person epistolary
Genre: Picaresque novel, divided into seven treatises
Themes: Critique of false honor and hypocrisy, anticlerical message
Character Development: Lázaro evolves throughout the story.