Spanish Renaissance: Cultural Shifts and Literary Renewal

Siglo XV: Profound Changes

The 15th century saw the crumbling of medieval pillars: Christianity and feudalism faced deep changes. The Burguesia emerged as a new stream, bringing vitalism, anthropocentrism, interior spirituality, and humanism. This spread through:

• New universities
• Patronage
• Castilian influence
• The printing press

Courtly Songbooks

Court poets and troubadours imitated established poetry, focusing on courtly love. Themes included complaints and canciones (short rhythm, 8 syllables).

• Marqués de Santillana: Wrote the Serranilla.
• Jorge Manrique: Soldier-poet. His Coplas to Death of His Father (1476) attempted to make sense of life and death.

The Rebirth (Renacimiento)

This era moved past the perceived 'dark age' of the Middle Ages, looking back to the Greco-Roman civilization. It was a rebirth of Latin culture. No longer focused solely on sorrow ('Valley of Tears'), it exalted the senses, human capacity for love, reason, and experimentation. Great enjoyment was sought. Knowledge advanced through discoveries, including new continents, often involving conflict, without relying solely on the compass. It shifted from theocentric to anthropocentrism, placing man at the center of nature.

Influences

Humanism

Valued the individual, fame, and physical/mental development. It emphasized reading for glory, education based on Greco-Latin imitation, love of books, and a more intimate form of religion. The literary style followed the old established course.

Neoplatonism

Focused on divine beauty. Petrarchismo reflected nature as a light, leading to the idealization of love as something impossible. It involved the psychological cult of physical love, introspection, and the feeling of pleasure and pain produced by love.

Spanish Renaissance: Literary Renewal

A new mentality took hold. This was not a sudden break from the 15th century but an ideological evolution into the 16th century. It did not limit itself to idealizing reality but sought to renew the world.

Lyric Renovation

Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega revolutionized poetry, following the Italian fashion.

Themes

• Platonic love
• Idealized nature
• Classical myths
• Traditional topics (Topoi)

Versification became softer, using longer verses, rhymes, and new stanza forms and poems: égloga, ode, elegy, song, and epistle.

Garcilaso de la Vega

He represented the Renaissance man, skilled with both the sword and the pen. He revitalized the Renaissance style, keeping it simple.

Fray Luis de León

He was passionate about classical Greco-Latin culture integrated with Christian philosophy. Intellectual ideas merged with Greek thought and Christian spirituality. He sought perfection through study and austerity, aiming for inner peace and retirement. His aspirations are reflected in his poems:

• Life in Retreat
• Beatus Ille
• Oda a Salinas
• Noche Serena

In prose, he wrote De los Nombres de Cristo, describing the perfect wife.