Golden Age of Spanish Literature: A Deep Dive into Four Literary Giants
Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536)
Overview
Garcilaso de la Vega revolutionized Spanish lyric poetry in 1543 with his Petrarchan-influenced works. His collection, comprising sonnets, eclogues, songs, elegies, an epistle, and traditional poems, set a new standard for Spanish poetry.
Themes and Poetic Evolution
Love, melancholy, and the pain of absence are central themes in Garcilaso’s poetry. Nature, often depicted as a locus amoenus, reflects his inner world and provides solace. Other recurring themes include friendship, fate, and the control of passions. Early poems show influences from traditional Spanish verse and the poet Ausias March. From 1532, his work adopted classical genres like odes, elegies, epistles, and eclogues, reflecting a growing Petrarchan influence.
Eclogues
Garcilaso’s three eclogues explore love and loss through idealized pastoral settings:
- Eclogue I: Two shepherds, Salicio and Nemoroso, lament the pain of rejection and the death of a loved one, respectively, in Petrarchan style.
- Eclogue II: This eclogue features a mix of meters and themes. Albanio’s unrequited love for Camila and his attempted suicide are contrasted with praise for the House of Alba. It utilizes tercets, internal rhymes, and heroic verse.
- Eclogue III: Four nymphs weave mythological and personal tales, including the death of Elisa, Nemoroso’s beloved. Shepherds Tyrrhenian and Alcina sing of love. This eclogue is written in octaves.
Style
Garcilaso’s poetic language strives for natural expressiveness through epithets, metaphors, personifications, and hyperbole.
Fray Luis de León (1527-1591)
Overview
Fray Luis de León’s poetry coincided with the rise of spiritual literature in the latter half of the 16th century. His work includes original poems, imitations and translations of classical and Petrarchan poetry, and prose.
Original Poetic Work
His 23 original poems, mostly in lira form, are primarily moral, with some religious themes. Influences include Horace, Virgil, biblical texts, Neoplatonism, and Stoicism. These philosophies emphasize overcoming passions to achieve serenity through self-knowledge (secum tag) and a secluded life. The locus amoenus symbolizes peace and poetic inspiration.
Style
Fray Luis de León’s style features nature-related metaphors, word repetition, anaphora, Latinate phrasing, polysyndeton, and asyndeton.
Prose Works
His prose, known as Luisina style, blends clarity, beauty, and colloquialisms, reflecting humanistic and Augustinian values. Key works include expositions on biblical texts like the Song of Songs, Book of Job, and The Perfect Wife. The Name of Christ explores the meanings of God’s various names in the Bible.
Odes
Fray Luis de León’s odes express a longing for solitude, inner peace, harmony with God, and the pursuit of virtue. Notable examples include “Ode to the Retired Life,” “The Air is Calm,” and “In the Ascension.”
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Overview
St. John of the Cross’s poetry is a cornerstone of Western lyricism, blending intense love with literary excellence. To express mystical union with the divine, he drew on various poetic traditions: traditional lyric, classical, Italianate, and biblical, particularly the Song of Songs.
Major Poems
To convey the ineffable mystical experience, St. John of the Cross uses symbolic language based on human love. The soul (beloved/wife) seeks God (husband) and achieves mystical union:
- Living Flame of Love: Celebrates the mystical union.
- Dark Night of the Soul: Depicts the soul’s journey to find God, culminating in joyful union.
- Spiritual Canticle: A dramatic poem where the female speaker seeks love in a locus amoenus. Nature, reflecting the husband’s beauty, leads to spiritual marriage.
Prose Work
His prose consists of four treatises glossing his mystical poems: Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night (both incomplete) discuss the dark night of the soul.
Style
St. John of the Cross’s mystical poetry features comparisons, antitheses, oxymorons, paradoxes, exclamations, questions, and hyperbatons.
Lazarillo de Tormes (Anonymous, 1554)
Overview
Lazarillo de Tormes pioneered the picaresque novel, featuring a pseudo-autobiographical narrative of a protagonist from humble origins who serves various masters. The mischievous protagonist strives to improve his social standing, and the story explains his shameful past.
Date and Authorship
The first editions appeared in 1554. The authorship remains unknown, with several proposed candidates, including Fray Juan de Ortega, Alfonso de Valdés, and Cervantes de Salazar.
Story
Lazarillo, forced to leave his family, serves several masters and learns various trades. The story is divided into three modules: childhood, adolescence, and youth.
- Childhood: Lazarillo serves a blind man, a cleric, and a squire, experiencing hunger and constant mobility.
- Adolescence: He serves a monk, a friar, a pardoner, a chaplain, and a painter, learning deception and enduring further hardship.
- Youth: Lazarillo finds stability as a water carrier, a sheriff’s assistant, and finally a town crier. He achieves professional success and marries.
Unlike other novel protagonists, Lazarillo develops through his experiences. Women are largely absent from his life, and the urban setting facilitates his illicit activities.
Narrative Structure
The novel is structured as a letter written by Lazarillo to “Your Worship,” explaining his past to justify his present situation. This monologue contrasts with the dialogue-driven pastoral novel. The letter is an act of obedience, recounting select events relevant to his “case.” Time gaps exist between narrated events.
Types of Speech
The novel employs referential, descriptive, dramatic, and evaluative discourse. The narrator assesses characters and situations, often generalizing from specific incidents.
Expressive Resources
Humor, puns, nicknames, and antithesis create ironic effects. Irony is directed at Lazarillo, his masters, and society.
Themes
Honor: Honor depends on social perception. Religion: Five masters are clergymen, highlighting the exploitation of the poor by a corrupt clergy.