Spanish Neoclassicism and Enlightenment Literature

The Eighteenth Century: Neoclassicism

Also called the Age of Enlightenment, comprising the epoch of the Renaissance, the rational spirit generated the desire for progress. This reform movement transformed French society through culture. The propagation of the main theme was "all for the people, but without the people" (Enlightened Despotism). The great social and political transformation that occurred in this century ended with the French Revolution. During the eighteenth century, Spain undertook its first efforts to join modern Europe. The Neoclassical style recovered classical ideals of harmony and naturalness from the Greco-Roman and Renaissance periods. It proposed to be useful, as its didactic purpose was to spread new ideas following Neoclassical simplicity, clarity, and taste.

Didactic Poetry: The Fables

The fables are a clear example of the double intention of Neoclassical literature: utility and delight. They utilized simple metrics with short, assonant verses.

The Enlightened Essay

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was the prototype of the enlightened man who could reform the ideas and practices of the Spanish people. The didactic purpose of his work prevails over the literary intent; he wrote to communicate useful ideas. His main works are essays on political topics.

Neoclassical Theater

Illustrated authors rejected Baroque theater in both form and content. They followed the three units: unity of action, time, and place, providing a critique of customs from a credible perspective. The leading author of Neoclassical theater was the Spaniard Leandro Fernández de Moratín, highlighting his work The New Comedy or The Café.

Moratín intended to correct some of the erratic customs of the time, such as the poor education of women. He created a gentle satire of these situations with the purpose of reforming existing social attitudes and values.

Calderón de la Barca

He was another great figure of Baroque theater, to which he dedicated his life, family, and noble and ecclesiastical training. Always maintaining an attitude of defense for traditional values, Calderón offers a pessimistic vision of the world, which presents itself as an illusion or a deception of appearances. Many of his works are dramas of honor and jealousy, while others are religious morality plays. His best-known work is a philosophical drama, featuring a Baroque style that combines striking conceptista images and difficult culterano wordplay.