18th and 19th Century Literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Enlightenment

Posted on Sep 24, 2024 in Music

19th Century Literature: Romanticism and Realism

1. Romanticism: Poetry and Prose

The emergence of Romanticism wasn’t simultaneous in all nations. In Spain, it entered late, and its decline began around 1850.

1.1 General Characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism is the product of a deep crisis manifested in ideological and aesthetic trends. It protests against the values imposed by the bourgeois world and rebels against corporations. Romanticism defends the creative power of the spirit, the right to imagine, and romantic feelings. Some key features include:

  • The rejection of reality and escape through imagination. Exotic countries become the refuge of Romantic writers.
  • The analysis of inner life. The expression of feelings like despair, melancholy, loneliness, or sadness becomes a central concern.
  • The importance of landscape and environment. The description of nature serves as a way of expressing the artist’s inner world.
  • The embrace of popular and national elements. Romanticism explores traditions.
  • In terms of technique and structure, creative freedom is manifested in the mix of various genres. Literary characters are usually stereotypes, and the dominant style is often rhetorical.

1.2 Romantic Poetry: Features and Authors

Main features:

  • The lexicon reflects the spirit of the times: delusions, melancholy, and ideals. Images are filled with exotic, mysterious landscapes.
  • In terms of meter, Romantic poets used all sorts of verses and poems. The romance becomes a preferred composition.
  • Regarding themes, love is the principal one. Religious concerns and the fear of death are also present. Social and political themes are highlighted as well.

Major Romantic Poets:

  • Espronceda: Two long poems stand out: Students of Salamanca and The Devil World. Love is the thematic inspiration.
  • Rosalía de Castro: A bilingual writer (Castilian and Galician). In 1885, she published her most famous work, On the Banks of the Sar. This work, along with Bécquer’s rhymes, represents a link between the end of Romanticism and the beginning of modern lyric poetry.
  • Bécquer: Bécquer died unknown and poor but has become the most influential Romantic poet. Modern poetry stems from his work. His most important work, Rhymes, is composed of several groups:
    • The first group (Rhymes I-XI) deals with poetry and poetic creation. Themes such as the exaltation of the self and the conception of women and love as ideal and unreachable appear.
    • The second group (XII-XXIX) is about love lived to the fullest: the beloved is beautiful and possesses high spiritual virtues.
    • The third group (XXX-LI) focuses on the failure of love.
    • The fourth group (LII-LXXIX) shows loneliness and anguish. The world appears hostile, and the poet is isolated and locked within himself.

The most important technical features of the rhymes are their brevity and condensation. The strophic form of the poems is free, with a predominance of heptasyllabic and hendecasyllabic verses, assonance, and rhyme.

18th Century: Thought and Society

Thought and Society in the 18th Century

The decline of the 13th century could only be overcome with a fresh impetus to transform all areas of society. This transformation culminated in the French Revolution and paved the way for the contemporary age.

The policy of isolation from Europe ended with the death of the last Austrian king without issue. Felipe V became the new king, and Spain, under the Bourbon dynasty, rejoined the European political and cultural landscape. The state adopted French cultural models, embracing the spirit of the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment

During the 18th century, a new ideological movement took hold in Europe, especially in France: the Enlightenment. Its core principle was the defense of reason as the source of knowledge, leading to this period being known as the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment replaced concepts of hierarchy, discipline, and authority with equality, intellectual independence, and freedom. Its main features are:

  • Rationalism: Reason is the primary basis of knowledge.
  • Reformism: The development of society involves laws and proposals to reform the economy, education, and culture.
  • Idealism: Economic progress leads to an improvement in the quality of life.
  • Didacticism: Knowledge of reality must be accompanied by dissemination to be useful to society as a whole.

Artistic and Literary Trends of the 18th Century

Several literary phenomena occurred during this century:

  • Post-Baroque: Retained Baroque features but became an extravagant art form lacking substance.
  • Neoclassicism: Focused on classical Greek and Latin models, emphasizing naturalness, simplicity, and reason.
  • Pre-Romanticism: In the second half of the century, without abandoning the spirit of reform, there were movements rejecting the neoclassical literary standard, exalting feelings over reason.

The Essay

A wide range of factors led to the development of the essay, encompassing criticism, teaching, and informative perspectives. All subjects and issues were explored in this genre, utilizing a modern language structure. The essay became the preferred genre for disseminating the principles of the Enlightenment.

Jovellanos

Jovellanos expressed deep concern about the main problems of his society: agriculture, the Asturian problem, industry, etc. He advocated for training in science and humanities to foster intellectual development. He wrote various works, among the most important being: Report on the Agrarian Law and Reports on Public Performances and Entertainment.