Galician-Portuguese Literature: From Medieval Lyric to 19th Century
Minor Genres of Secular Lyric
Besides the three main genres, there are smaller genres:
- Mourning Poem: In praise of a dead character, usually of great social importance.
- Tenzons: Composition in dialogue in which two authors argue about their versifying skills.
- Pastorela: Of Provençal origin. The Provençal pastorela presents this argumentative scheme:
- Meeting of a knight and a shepherdess.
- Description of the locus amoenus; it is in full nature.
- Description of the shepherdess.
- Dialogue between the two characters: tender, loving words from the knight.
- Defense of the shepherdess, accepting or rejecting this proposal.
The Cantigas de Santa Maria
Alfonso X the Wise wrote a number of secular songs of derision and was also the author of religious songs. The Cantigas de Santa Maria are a total of 487 compositions in honor of the Virgin:
- Narrative Songs: Stories about miracles performed by the Virgin. They begin with a refrain.
- Lyrical Songs: Songs in the form of prayer, praise, and songs in honor of Mary. They are a kind of love song in the divine way, in which the Virgin is the woman whose love and praise the King troubadour expresses.
The Dark Ages
The situation of splendor of the living Galician-Portuguese language and literature changed radically from the fifteenth century. During this long period, only a few literary examples were saved:
- Oral, Anonymous and Traditional Poetry: Music, novels, short stories, poetry, sayings.
- Academic: Renaissance and Baroque compositions by Martin Torrado, Tonel Gomez, Isabel de Castro (Countess of Altamira), etc.
- Panxoliñas: These had a great development due to the galeguización of the Christmas theme, because of the identification between Galilee and Galicia.
- Theater: The first saved and famous number is the interlude on fishing in the river Minho, by Gabriel Feixóo de Araújo (1671).
The 18th Century and the Enlightenment
With the arrival of the Enlightenment, the situation began to change. Some enlightened figures appear who seek the dignity of our language. The leading figures of the time are the priest Feijóo and the priest Sarmiento.
- Father Feijóo: Advocates for the dignity of the Galician language.
- Father Sarmiento: Carried out major studies on the Galician-Portuguese language, collected abundant lexicon, researched its etymology, and defended the use of Galician in education, church, and administration.
Other enlightened figures of this time are the priest Sobreira, Fray Martín Sarmiento, and Joseph Cornide y Saavedra.
New Leaves (Follas Novas)
This book was published in 1880. In the prologue, entitled “Two Words”, the author presents the themes:
- Subjective Theme: It is present in the texts in which she sets her own tone of sorrow. It is a bitter pessimism that pierces all these poems.
- Objective Theme: To deepen the analysis of the injustices suffered by our country and its inhabitants.
Merits: Original use of innovative metric combinations. New Leaves is a great book of Galician poetry, and Rosalía de Castro is a great poet of our literature.