Baroque, Neoclassicism, and Key Literary Figures
Baroque Period: 17th Century
Baroque: 17th century (current political, economic, and social context). Features: A disillusioned, skeptical, and pessimistic vision of reality. The style is based on dynamism, contrast, and artificiality.
Crisis: Economic recession due to trade development and the advancement of the bourgeoisie, leading to stagnation and cities quickly becoming occupied by beggars.
Baroque Literature
- Themes: Moral standards and the transience of life.
- Contrasts: Exploring the ambiguous nature of reality and seeking to create amazing effects and originality.
- Culteranismo: The search for formal beauty through the use of cultism and the creation of an artificial language (Luis de Góngora).
- Conceptismo: Based on ingenuity, frequently employing irony, paradox, caricature, and double meaning (Francisco de Quevedo).
Baroque Lyric Poetry
Metric genera from Italy invigorate traditional poetry: octosyllabic verse, ballads, and letrillas.
- Topics: Concerns of the time, the impermanence of reality, and disappointment.
- Style: Accommodates conceptista and cultista innovations. Góngora, Lope de Vega, and Quevedo are key figures.
Luis de Góngora
- Folk Poetry: Minor art, language without artifice, romances, and letrillas.
- Poems of Worship: Major art, such as the fable of Polyphemus and Galatea.
Baroque Prose
- Prose of Thought: Uses satire and caricature to criticize society (Quevedo and Baltasar Gracián).
- Prose Fiction: Novels, including Don Quixote.
Baroque Theater
National comedy mixes tragic and comic elements and adapts to situations, breaking the unities of place, time, and expressive decorum.
The Enlightenment: 18th Century
(Started in France and England in the late 17th century)
Characteristics: Defense of reason against faith and trust in science and education to promote the progress of the population, eradicating superstition and ignorance.
18th Century: Nobility and clergy maintain privileges until the bourgeoisie gains power. The Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment (cultural movement) occur. Despotism (political model which aims to improve the living conditions of the people but without their input in decision-making) and trust in reason and science are prevalent.
Neoclassicism
Classical art with the principles of harmony and balance, a model of the enlightened. Neoclassicism is the aesthetic movement of the Enlightenment.
Neoclassical Characteristics
- Governed by reason.
- Didactic literature.
- Adherence to classical intentions.
- Clarity of perceptual author and appropriateness.
- Rejection of the excesses seen in Baroque literature.
- Writers rebel against the rules (Pre-Romanticism).
Prose
Didactic, lyrical spirit, giving relevance to the essay. Essayists include Benito Jerónimo Feijoo and Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. José Cadalso develops social criticism in prose fiction.
Poetry
Principles of didacticism and neoclassical utility. Two types of poetry are imposed: philosophical poetry and social and classicist poetry.
Leandro Fernández de Moratín
The New Comedy or Coffee Shop: The author uses satire to criticize theatrical works. The Maidens’ Consent: A criticism of arranged marriages.
Key Literary Figures
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
Creator of the modern novel. Fought in Madrid at Lepanto and was captured for five years. Exemplary Novels: Twelve short stories that serve as examples or learning for readers.
Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605 and 1615)
Confrontation between fiction and reality. Styles: various literary forms and linguistic registers.
Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645)
Gained fame as a representative of conceptismo. One of the greatest authors and representatives of Spanish literature.
- Style: Master of language dominance.
- Works in Verse: Amorous, moral, philosophical, satirical, and burlesque poems.
- Prose Works: Dreams (a set of short pieces) and El Buscón (a picaresque novel).
Lope de Vega (1562-1635)
Lived an agitated life, became a priest in 1614.
- Poet: Devotional, love, religious, popular, and learned lyric poetry.
- Dramatist: Four hundred works are conserved, but he wrote more than a thousand, including Fuenteovejuna and El perro del hortelano.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)
Dedicated his life to the theater and wrote a theater of ideas.
- Auto Sacramental: Theological dilemmas.
- Dramas: Exploring time, the misleading nature of reality, honor, and life, including El alcalde de Zalamea and La vida es sueño.
Coordinated conjunctions: YE-NI
Adversative conjunctions: MAS-BUT-BUT-BUT
Disjunctive conjunctions: OU