Spanish Romanticism: Key Authors and Literary Features

Characteristics of Romanticism

New Topics and Themes

• Extreme situations: Presentation of intense and dramatic scenarios.
• Pessimism: A recurring outlook on life and society.
• Love as an absolute passion: The central role of intense emotion.
• Nature as a reflection: Human feelings mirrored in the natural world.
• Idealization of the past: A deep interest in history and legends.
• Exoticism: A fascination with the exotic and the picturesque.

Literary Forms and Styles

• A mixture of prose and verse.
• Verses using different numbers of syllables (polymetry).
• The use of language alongside other literary expressions and colloquialisms.
• A mixture of genres, such as lyric poetry and narrative with theatrical elements.
• Plays that break the rules of Neoclassicism.
• Issues raised by national or historical legends.
• Historicist prose, which includes several historical novels.
• Costumbrista articles (sketches of manners) often published in newspapers, reflecting scenes of everyday life.

Mariano José de Larra

Born in Madrid in 1809, Larra resided in France and committed suicide in 1836. He was primarily a journalist. In his articles, signed with the pseudonym Fígaro, he criticized certain aspects of the Spanish reality of his time from a liberal perspective. His notable works include Vuelva usted mañana (Come Back Tomorrow) and En este país (In This Country).

José de Espronceda

Born in Almendralejo in 1808 and living in Madrid until his death in 1842, Espronceda became the most admired poet by his contemporaries. His rebellion against the world and the moral order, his passion, and his conviction that poetry was a political weapon made him a quintessential example of a liberal Romantic. His major works include El estudiante de Salamanca, El diablo mundo, El verdugo (The Executioner), El mendigo (The Beggar), and Canción del pirata (Song of the Pirate).

Romantic Theater

Romantic theater triumphed with the 1835 debut of Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino (Don Álvaro, or the Force of Destiny) by the Duke of Rivas. This work combines prose and verse, mixing costumbrista scenes with violent and passionate ones set in ruins, storms, and death challenges—elements that suited the Romantic taste.

Key Characteristics of the Era's Theater

• Division of the work into three, four, or five acts.
• Written in verses with different numbers of syllables (polymetry).
• Rejection of the strict separation between the tragic and the comic.
• A preference for night scenes.
• A taste for classic themes.
• The presence of characters marked by a strange and unique destiny.