Spanish Romanticism: Literature, Drama, and Key Authors

The Romantic Movement in 19th-Century Spain

Romanticism was a profound cultural and social movement that swept across Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. It championed feeling, romance, and passion, standing in stark contrast to the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason.

The defense of freedom inherent in Romanticism brought with it the exaltation of nationalism and a "song of freedom," particularly linked to liberal thinkers. Romanticism triumphed in Spain after the death of Ferdinand VII (1833), following the return of Liberals who had been exiled in England or France. They brought back the romantic thought and literature they encountered in those countries.

Social Context and Early Ideas

From a social point of view, coinciding with significant migration, this period saw the appearance of the first socialist ideas and the establishment of the first workers' organizations.

Characteristics of Romantic Literature

The core characteristics of Romanticism are clearly manifested in the emergence of new literary forms and themes:

New Literary Topics

• Extreme situations and profound pessimism.
• Love defined as an absolute, overwhelming passion.
• The idealization of the past (especially the Middle Ages).
• A strong interest in the exotic and the picturesque.

Innovative Literary Forms

• Mixing prose and verse.
• Mixing traditional literary genres.
• Theater works that deliberately broke the established rules of Neoclassicism.
• Historicist prose, comprising several historical novels.
• Artículos de costumbres (Sketches of manners).

Key Spanish Romantic Authors

Mariano José de Larra (1809–1837)

Larra was born in Madrid but lived in France with his family during his youth. He committed suicide when he was still very young. His tragic death, caused partly by a failure in love, cemented his image as a prototypical romantic character.

He was primarily a journalist focusing on customs (costumbrista). His articles sharply criticized certain aspects of the Spanish reality of his time. For example, his famous article "Vuelva usted mañana" (You Come Back Tomorrow) is a powerful complaint about administrative inefficiency and procrastination.

José de Espronceda (1808–1842)

Espronceda's conviction that poetry was a political weapon makes him a prime example of the liberal romantic figure.

His major works include two long poems:

• El estudiante de Salamanca (The Student of Salamanca)
• El diablo mundo (The Devil World, unfinished)

Other poems demonstrate the social dimension of his poetry, such as the famous "Canción del pirata" (The Pirate Song).

Romantic Theater and Drama

Romanticism made a significant impact on Spanish theater with the premiere of Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino (Don Álvaro, or the Force of Destiny) in 1835. This seminal work combines prose and verse, mixing scenes of everyday manners with violent and passionate elements.

Features of Romantic Drama

• Mixing the tragic and the comic (breaking Neoclassical rules).
• Preference for evocative settings such as night scenes, ruins, and cemeteries.
• A taste for legendary themes or subjects drawn from national history.
• The presence of characters marked by a strange and singular fate.

José Zorrilla (1817–1893)

Zorrilla first gained recognition as a poet with verses he composed upon the death of Larra. He also worked as a journalist. His best-known work is the iconic play Don Juan Tenorio. Zorrilla represents the more conservative strain of Spanish Romanticism.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870)

Bécquer was born in 1836 and died of tuberculosis. Although he worked as a journalist and wrote his major works during the height of Realism, he is considered a late Romantic.

In addition to his famous Legends, Bécquer excelled in his poetry, collected in the Rimas (Rhymes). These are eighty-four short compositions, typically characterized by their use of assonance rhyme. Bécquer's importance would prove decisive in shaping Spanish poetry in the twentieth century.