Spanish Romanticism: Literary Traits and Historical Context

Prose in Romanticism

Pictures of manners: These are small accounts that reflect the lifestyles, habits, and customs of environments and popular types of society according to the author. This was a great success. A prominent author was Ramón de Mesonero Romanos.

Historical Novel: It is inspired by the legends of the past history or, preferably, from the Middle Ages. The writers of this type of story were modeled on the works of French authors like Victor Hugo.

Legend or fantastic story: They tell stories that abound with foreign, mysterious, supernatural, and inexplicable elements in a rational manner. In Spain, the Leyendas of Bécquer are highlights.

Romantic Theater

• Rejection of the three units: It despises the rule of three units (one action, one place, one day).
• Mix of genres: A mixture of the tragic and the comic.
• Structure: Division of the work, usually into five acts.
• Polymetry: Different verses and poems with different measures.
• Atmosphere: Prevalence of scenes full of mystery, exoticism, and dramatic content.
• Protagonist: The strange and mysterious character of the hero.
• Purpose: Its purpose is to move and excite the audience.
• Setting: Gloomy night scenes and landscapes abound.

Core Characteristics of Romantic Literature

• Cult of the "I": Romanticism is an exaltation of the author's personality, free of any rule. The Romantic feels superior to the rest of the world and is isolated, accentuating the feeling of loneliness.
• Subjectivism: The author expresses his inner world, including emotions and personal feelings.
• Escapism: The writer's Romantic discontent leads him to escape the world and create his own distant universe, both in space and time. Sometimes, if he cannot escape, he commits suicide.
• Exaltation of the national: It results in the literature of manners (Costumbrismo).
• Rejection of norms: A total rejection of traditional rules and regulations.
• Importance of the landscape: The writer's soul is identified with the setting. Artists depict a nature that is sad, touching, and wild.

The Development of Romanticism in Spain

The Romantic movement triumphed in Spain. Indeed, our literature has always shown Romantic traits; for example, our medieval literature and our sentimental ballads carry a great emotional burden. Spanish Romanticism emerged from two basic points: Andalusia and Catalonia.

The German consul Juan Nicolás Böhl de Faber, in an article published in a newspaper, defended the Spanish theater of the Golden Age. Romantic ideas began to spread in Catalonia through papers defending European ideals and rejecting Neoclassical norms. Other writers helped the cultural and political recovery of Catalonia, known as the Renaixença. After the death of Ferdinand VII, the final triumph of Romanticism in Spain occurred as the liberals, who had been exiled, returned.