Baroque Poetry, Prose, and Theater: Concepts and Key Figures
Baroque Literature: Poetry, Prose, and Theater
Poetry: Concept and Style
The Baroque poetry concept reflects the Baroque aesthetic, centered on intellect and the play of ideas. Expressive language is used to convey the meaning of the work, as seen in the works of Quevedo.
Culteranismo
Culteranismo, exemplified by Góngora’s style, presents an embellished reality. It employs a cultivated lexicon, Latin syntax, and mythological themes.
Luis de Góngora
Góngora’s cultured poetry introduces culteranismo, intensifying syntactic structures, using learned words, and building metaphors with abundant mythological themes. An example is the Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea, which tells of the Cyclops’ fury when the nymph Galatea has an affair, leading to the death of her boyfriend. Góngora’s work refers to the Carpe Diem theme, encouraging the exploitation and enjoyment of the present, though with a pessimistic twist.
Francisco de Quevedo
Quevedo’s conceptista style combines refined and popular elements, blending severity with burlesque. It reflects the Baroque’s grave tone, emphasizing love and the fleeting nature of life. Burlesque poetry addresses issues with wit. Quevedo’s style includes:
- Serious or Reflective Poetry: Expresses feelings in a poignant tone, addressing the meaning of life and death, with reflection and pessimism dominating.
- Poetry as a Game of Wits: Satires that play with linguistics, often directed at Góngora.
Prose
Novels of chivalry disappear, and the picaresque novel and allegorical novella become prominent.
Quevedo’s Prose
Quevedo wrote extensively in prose, emphasizing political and moral issues. His work is divided into:
- Moral and allegorical satires
- Political works (criticizing the politics of his time)
- Philosophical works (pessimism about existence)
- Works of literary criticism (against culteranismo)
- Burlesques (addressing neglected human beings and festive themes)
- Picaresque novel (realism with an autobiographical account of a protagonist’s misadventures)
The Buscón
The Buscón is a picaresque novel reflecting moral decay and stylistic concepts. It tells the story of Paul, son of a witch and a barber-robber. Peers mock him while he serves a student. His father dies, his mother is imprisoned, and Paul receives an inheritance, becoming a gentleman in court. His former master orders him to be marked on the face. Pablos goes to India to straighten out his life, but to no avail. The Buscón exemplifies Baroque pessimism: Paul is always unhappy and unlucky. The work addresses the social problems of the time.
Theater
Baroque theater includes:
- Religious plays (abstract characters, conflict between good and evil)
- Court plays (performed in halls and gardens, featuring fantastic mythological comedies)
- Plays in open courtyards (called tragi-comedies or dramas, comic)
Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega wrote lyric and epic poetry, a novel dialogue, and pastoral works. His theater is characterized by:
- Baroque comedy creation
- Strict writing guidelines
- Several chronological times
- Non-uniform metric
- Natural defense and adaptation to public tastes
- Incorporation of poetry into the theater
New Comedy
The New Comedy, a dramatic form created by Lope de Vega, breaks with classical rules:
- Rejection of the “three unities” (incorporating several spaces and more time)
- Plays in three acts (instead of five)
- Blending of tragic and comic elements
- Figure of the funny character
- Lyrical elements
Theater Themes in Lope de Vega’s Works
- Religious themes
- Spanish comedy legends (romances, chronicles)
- Contemporary comedies and love tangles
- Exaltation of the monarchy (monarch as restorer of order and justice)
- Honesty (fidelity in marriage and virginity, social and individual honors)