Understanding Romanticism: Key Features, Stages & Major Authors

Romanticism: A Cultural and Artistic Movement

Romanticism was a significant cultural and artistic movement that emerged in Europe between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It represents the onset of modernity.

Key Features of Romanticism

• Freedom of the Individual: Social, moral, political, and artistic freedom were central tenets.
• Subjectivism: Authors expressed their inner selves, passions, and feelings through literature. There was often a clash between aspirations for happiness and the emerging reality, leading to an interest in marginalized figures like the hacker, the executioner, and the pauper.
• Irrationalism, Idealism, Nationalism, and Youthful Rebellious Spirit: These elements frequently appeared in Romantic works.

Stages of Romanticism in Spain

Romantic Prose

Two main literary genres of prose emerged during this period:

• Historical Novel: These novels were set in the past, particularly the Middle Ages, reflecting the Romantic view that modern society was vulgar and uninteresting. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, which recounts the struggle between Saxons and Normans in 12th-century England, is a prime example. In Spain, The Lord of Bembibre by Enrique Gil y Carrasco is notable. It tells a love story set amidst the conflicts leading to the dissolution of the Order of the Templars in the 14th century.
• Costumbrismo: This genre focused on contemporary society, describing folk customs, characters, and crafts typical of the country. Writers often criticized modern trends and longed for older traditions, given the rapid changes in society. Larra's work supported the modernization of society.

Romantic Poetry

Narrative poetry often featured mysterious and supernatural elements, ghostly images, and gloomy settings steeped in historical tradition. Some well-known poetic works include The Student of Salamanca by Espronceda and the legends of Zorrilla.

Lyric Poetry: In the first half of the century, Espronceda emphasized rhetoric and patriotic and social issues in his poetry. In the second half, Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro showcased intimate literature with a pessimistic view of existence and a conception of love as a source of pain and disappointment. The grim setting was replaced by melancholy, and patriotic themes gave way to interiority.

José de Espronceda

Lyric Poetry

• Themes: Defense of the marginalized (Canción del Pirata, The Beggar), political ideals (The Two of May), lamentation for lost youth (To a Star, To a Jarifa in an Orgy).
• Poetic Style: Reflected his passionate temperament. Rhythmic and loud verse, violent contrasts, and startling innovations. Fine musicianship made his poems very popular.

Narrative Poem

• The Student of Salamanca: Set in the 17th century, featuring Félix de Montemar, a Don Juan character reflecting the vitality and exalted rebel of Romanticism. Elvira, a young woman seduced and abandoned by Félix, dies of grief and becomes a specter in a white dress, dragging him to hell. The poem is divided into four parts of unequal length, using various metrical forms. Effective and bombastic style, with energetic and contrasting imagery.
• The Dumb Devil: Mixed narrative genres with an oscillation of tone between the sublime and philosophical, and the grotesque and vulgar. The poem's ideological intention is to show that man is good by nature and that society makes him selfish and evil. The protagonist, Adam, is a wise man who becomes like a young child, without malice, soon discovering anger and evil through an old offender. The second part of the poem, The Singing, is an emotional elegy in which Espronceda recalls his passionate relationship with his beloved Teresa.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

Bécquer is a precursor of several contemporary lyrical trends.

Rhymes

His rhymes are composed of a series of short poems divided into four thematic sections:

• Poetry and poetic inspiration
• Love and excitement
• The failure of love
• Loneliness and death

It is a work that expresses the subjective experiences of the poet. The style is simple, with assonance rhyme, and the poem's content is expressed with great intensity. His poetry combines the intimacy of German Romantic lyricism with the simplicity of Andalusian poetry.

Prose Works

His legends are fantastic stories set in the Middle Ages. They express his most intimate obsessions: disappointment, the search for the ideal woman. Notable legends include: Mount of the Souls, Green Eyes, Master Pérez the Organist, Moonlight, The White Doe, and The Kiss.