Garcilaso de la Vega and Fray Luis de León: Spanish Renaissance Poetry
Garcilaso de la Vega: Life and Work
Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 1501-1536) was one of the greatest Spanish poets, known for his formal perfection and significant influence on subsequent centuries of Spanish verse. His works remained unpublished during his lifetime and were first published in 1543. This cultivated poet from Toledo composed in both of the major poetic styles of his time:
- Traditional Castilian Poetry (primarily eight-syllable couplets)
- Italianate Poetry, to which he owes his fame and importance.
His Italianate works include:
- 5 canciones (songs)
- 40 sonetos (sonnets)
- 3 églogas (eclogues)
- 2 elegías (elegies)
- 1 epístola (epistle)
Key Features of Garcilaso’s Poetry
- Influence: Strong influence of Latin and Renaissance themes and forms.
- Poetic Language: His ideal was to achieve transparency and clarity.
- Themes: Frequently employs topoi (common themes and places), especially in his bucolic eclogues.
The Eclogues
Garcilaso’s eclogues are bucolic poems. Eclogue II, despite some beautiful passages, is considered less perfect than the other two. Eclogue I features the shepherds Salicio and Nemoroso, who lament Galatea’s infidelity and the death of Elisa, respectively. The fusion of feeling, nature, and the pastoral environment makes this one of his most famous and accomplished works. Eclogue III depicts four nymphs embroidering tapestries on the banks of the Tagus River, evoking tragedies of love. The poem concludes with a contrast between two shepherds and the nymphs immersed in the river’s waters. Better than any other poem, Garcilaso’s verses in Eclogue III beautifully recreate the pastoral ideal, the locus amoenus (pleasant place), and the harmony between the elements of a landscape, inviting solitude and rest.
Garcilaso’s Sonnets
Garcilaso was the first great master of the Spanish sonnet. He masterfully organized content into related blocks within the sonnet’s structure. He often aligned sentences with lines and blocks of thought with the sonnet’s verses, demonstrating his classicism and his pursuit of harmony between form and thought. The general theme of his sonnets is love, often focusing on lost love, jealousy, and mourning the death of the beloved.
The Canciones (Songs)
Garcilaso wrote songs during his banishment to an island in the Danube. His Song V, addressed to a lady from Naples, attempts to convince her to accept the love of a friend of the poet. This is his first foray into the locus amoenus.
Petrarchan Influence
- Subject: Love, with classic and medieval influences.
- Literary Devices: Incorporates many motifs, similes, comparisons, allegorical expressions, and allusions to classical myths from Latin poets to express the joys and sorrows of an unrealizable love.
- Expression: Like Petrarch, Garcilaso gives life to a wide range of sentiments.
- Language: The poet’s intelligence, inspiration, and ingenuity are evident in lines constructed with clear, polished, transparent language, full of poetic imagery.
- Figures of Speech: Antithesis, correlations, and paradoxes are prevalent, along with metaphors, similes, and alliterations.
- New Metric Forms: Uses the hendecasyllable (eleven-syllable line). The most usual composition is the sonnet, but he also uses the silva and estancia (stanza forms), as well as songs, eclogues, odes, etc.
Traditional Spanish Poetry and Renaissance Renewal
The renewal of Renaissance lyric poetry did not mean a complete abandonment of medieval Castilian poetry. Already in the 15th century, there existed both learned and folk poetry. A good example of the former is the courtly cancionero poetry, which often uses the octosílabo (eight-syllable line). Popular poetry is evident in the romances. Italianate learned poetry became dominant by the end of the 16th century, marking a resurgence of poetry in Spanish literature.
Characteristics of the Renewal
- A complete overhaul of meter. The biggest innovation was the eleven-syllable line, combined with the seven-syllable line.
- New stanza forms, including sonnets, tercetos (tercets), silvas, and liras.
- Changes in themes and poetic attitudes, such as the idealization of the beloved and the development of bucolic and pastoral themes.
Fray Luis de León
Fray Luis de León’s (1527-1591) poems are heirs to the Renaissance in both form and content. He used Italianate stanzas and verses, such as the lira. His thematic content combines classical themes with religious ones. He carefully cultivated his language and style, giving his words a sense of naturalness and harmony. His original poetry is scarce, consisting of around thirty compositions that extol peace, tranquility, and spiritual repose. Religious themes are prominent. He also produced translations of biblical books. His distinguished prose includes some translations of the Bible and two original works: De los nombres de Cristo (The Names of Christ) and La perfecta casada (The Perfect Wife).