18th Century Enlightenment and Romanticism in Spanish Literature
Eighteenth Century
The illustration is representative of the eighteenth-century movement that caused a profound renewal in Europe. It subjected the worldview, philosophy, culture, and religious beliefs accepted so far to rational criticism.
The ideals of the enlightened man were:
- Dominance of reason as the pattern of human behavior
- High concept of utility
- Man’s rational behavior and the ideal of human happiness
Ways of Acting and of Being Characteristic of the Illustrated Man
- Liberal and critical spirit
- Faith in science and solving human problems
- Disagreement with all tradition rooted in routine
- Consciousness of universal brotherhood; citizens of the world feel
- Criticism of the Church as an intermediary between God and the believer
Often seen illustrated in the novel and Torres Villarroel Diego José Francisco de Isla, whose works have literary quality in satirical prose, and in principle, show the sinking of the Spanish novel in the eighteenth century.
Meanwhile, in his writings of some literary character, the Benedictine monk Benito Jerónimo Feijoo stressed the value of reason and experience in the search for truth, opposing superstition, false miracles, and religious beliefs, especially in his work The Universal Critical Theater.
In poetry, Nicolás Fernández de Moratín and, above all, Juan Meléndez Valdés have some interest, with his sense of nature and eroticism and excitement of the new sentimentality. In the theater stands out, above all, Leandro Fernández de Moratín, whose work The Girls Themselves addresses the problem of the education of women and their freedom to choose a husband.
The trial is where the greatest exponents of the Spanish Enlightenment are, first with José Cadalso and his famous Moroccan Letters, the first Spanish manifestation of the brief, ironic, ideological, and personal style. For his part, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos represents a true synthesis of the time to study local problems, road construction, or the operation of the mines, as well as landscape, history, and economic life, highlighting in this latter field, where it appears as the first Spanish economist of his time. The confluence of ideas and literature, didacticism and criticism, neoclassical and encyclopedic mind, gender is evident in a secondary and very characteristic of the era, such as the fable, whose growers include Félix María Samaniego and Tomás Iriarte.
Romanticism in Spain
The Romantic Poetry
José de Espronceda
His most important works are the poem The Student of Salamanca, El Diablo Mundo, a large, unfinished lyric too. And the loose lyric poems, among which are: A Jarifa in an Orgy, The Executioner, Song of the Cossack, The Pirate’s Song, Hymn to the Sun.
Rosalía de Castro
She wrote her songs in Galician, a nostalgic collection of folk songs, and Follas Novas (New Leaves). Her most important work is the collection of poems On the Banks of Sar, written in Castilian.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
In verse, their Rhymes stand out, short poems as irregular syllabic rhyme and assonance between pairs of verses, dealing with poetic creation, and especially about love. Bécquer himself collected all his poems under the title Book of the Sparrows, but this book was only published posthumously as Rimas.
Captions written in prose, 28 stories of Spanish traditions, in which elements predominate, are fantastic and supernatural and are considered true prose poems.
Romantic Theater
Features:
- The main topic is usually love, marked by a tragic destiny. There is also a preference for historical, legendary, and chivalry.
- The characters embody the idea of freedom.
- The romantic hero is a mysterious character who seeks happiness but pursues unhappiness. He is a seducer and a rebel who does not accept rules or demands and has something diabolical.
- The romantic heroine is a beautiful woman capable of giving her life for love, often suffering from it.
The most important playwrights are the Duke of Rivas and José Zorrilla. In literature, Rivas was the protagonist of the romantic Spanish. Don Álvaro, or the Force of Destiny was the first successful romantic Spanish drama. Zorrilla, meanwhile, has his most important work on Don Juan Tenorio, a story that tells the stories of the Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina and El Don Juan, by Molière.