15th Century Spanish Literature: Key Authors & Genres
The Fifteenth Century: A Period of Transition
The fifteenth century was a period of transition, corresponding to the pre-Renaissance. As a result of the struggles and clashing trends, universally valid literary works such as La Celestina were written.
Historical Context
From a historical point of view, the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon in the mid-15th century stands out.
Courtly Lyric Poetry
Courtly lyric poetry emerged in the 15th century, developing around the refined courtly world. These poems are preserved through cancioneros, large books where compilers copied the compositions. Three principal cancioneros are: the Cancionero de Baena, the Cancionero de Stúñiga, and the Cancionero General.
Courtly lyric poetry is demonstrated in two forms of poetry:
- Royal Art (Arte Real): Uses expressive devices, fundamentally in octosyllabic verse.
- Major Art (Arte Mayor): Longer verses, usually expressed in dodecasyllables.
Regarding content, two fundamental influences can be observed:
- Initially, trovadoresque lyric poetry: short poems about love, and satirical poetry.
- Later, Italianate allegorical-Dantean lyric poetry: manifested in longer poems of a symbolic character, with didactic and doctrinal elements.
Key Authors
The Marqués de Santillana was a man of vast culture. He combined his political and military life with literature. He used Castilian, but also approached Provençal and Italian poetry.
- In royal art, his canciones should be considered.
- Notable among his major art poems is the Comedieta de Ponza.
Juan de Mena was one of the greatest Latinists of his time. He composed numerous poems in octosyllabic verse, but his masterpiece is Laberinto de Fortuna. It is an extensive poem in dodecasyllabic couplets of major art.
Jorge Manrique was probably the most important of the 15th-century courtly poets. His work is quite reduced, around 50 compositions, mostly in octosyllabic royal art. He is famous for the Coplas a la muerte de su padre (Stanzas on the Death of His Father). Composed of 40 pie quebrado stanzas, it is one of the most emotional elegies in our literature.
Prose
Narrative Prose
Castilian literary narrative prose achieved great development during the fifteenth century, with the production of works of historical and didactic character, and others that fall within novelistic molds. It was in the fifteenth century when the genre of the chivalric novel began to be cultivated in Spain. Another narrative genre that also began to be cultivated in the fifteenth century was the sentimental novel.
Sentimental Novel
The sentimental novel is a novelistic subgenre that has courtly and noble protagonists in a chivalric environment, and their love passions are unleashed. Novels are of a more intimate character; often, the players recreate their expression through the feelings of love.
Verbal Periphrases, Conjunctions, and Conjunctive Phrases
Modal Periphrases
Built with the infinitive, they can express:
- Obligation: The speaker insists on mandatory action:
- Haber + de + infinitive
- Hay + que + infinitive
- Tener + que + infinitive
- Deber + infinitive
- Likelihood: The speaker is not sure:
- Deber + de + infinitive
- Possibility:
- Poder + infinitive
- Frequentative:
- Soler + infinitive
Aspectual Periphrases
Indicate the development of the action:
- Inchoative: Signals the moment the action begins:
- Echarse + a + infinitive
- Empezar + a + infinitive
- Ponerse + a + infinitive
- Romper + a + infinitive
- Comenzar + a + infinitive
- Soltarse + a + infinitive
- Ingressive: The action is about to begin:
- Ir + a + infinitive
- Durative: The action is ongoing:
- Estar + gerund
- Seguir + gerund
- Llevar + gerund
- Andar + gerund
- Continuar + gerund
- Ir + gerund
- Venir + gerund
- Resultative: The action is finished:
- Estar + participle
- Dejar + participle
- Llevar + participle
- Tener + participle
- Reiterative:
- Volver + a + infinitive
- Terminative:
- Dejar + de + infinitive
- Acabar + de + infinitive
- Terminar + de + infinitive
- Cesar + de + infinitive
- Llegar + a + infinitive
Conjunctions and Conjunctive Phrases
- Copulative: y, e, ni
- Disjunctive: o, u, bien
- Distributive: ya…ya, bien…bien, ora…ora
- Adversative: pero, mas, sin embargo, excepto
- Explanatory: esto es, es decir, o sea
- Completive: que, si
- Consecutive: conque, luego, por consiguiente, así que/así…que
- Causal: porque, como, pues, puesto que, ya que
- Final: para que, a fin de que
- Conditional: si, siempre que, a fin de que, como