Golden Age Spanish Literature: Authors & Works
Golden Age Spanish Literature
Poetry
Garcilaso de la Vega (1st half of 16th Century)
Work: Sonnets, Eclogues (poetic compositions featuring shepherds)
Topics:
- Love: Indifference of the lady and the lover’s pain.
- Nature: Stylized environment where characters express their love sorrows.
Style: Clear, simple, and elegant with a focus on harmony. Predominantly hendecasyllabic verse. Alliteration and musicality through hyperbaton.
Fray Luis de León (1st half of 16th Century)
Work:
- Prose:
- Translations: Song of Songs
- Original Works: The Names of Christ
- Poetry:
- Translations: Bible: Passages from the Book of Job
- Original Works: Fewer than 40 poems. Mostly “liras”: compositions with an undefined number of verses, short stanzas, and varied themes.
Topics: Nature, longing for country life, and the music of the night, all rooted in the Beatus Ille theme.
Style:
- Verse: Lira
- Literary Devices: Hyperbole, alliteration, hyperbaton, metaphors, personification
- Distinctive Feature: Use of the 2nd person
Juan de la Cruz (2nd half of 16th Century)
Work: Spiritual Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul
Topics: Love: Transcending the erotic to express spiritual content.
Style: Influenced by Italian learned poetry, popular Castilian verse, and the Song of Songs. Predominance of nouns over verbs and adjectives.
Prose
Didactic Prose
The primary model is dialogue, where two or more characters discuss a topic, presenting different viewpoints. Numerous books on mystical and ascetic themes were written in this style.
Narrative Prose: Pastoral Romance
These works focus on love stories between shepherds. The “Moorish theme” often features a Moorish character.
Miguel de Cervantes
- Poet: Journey to Parnassus
- Dramatist: The Siege of Numantia
- Novelist: Don Quixote (a parody of chivalric romances)
Picaresque Novel
- Mateo Alemán: Guzmán de Alfarache
- Francisco de Quevedo: The Swindler
- Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo: The Daughter of the Celestina
- Vicente Espinel: Marcos de Obregón
- Anonymous: Lazarillo de Tormes
Courtesan Novel
- Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses: The Delight
- Tirso de Molina: The Pious Marta
- María de Zayas y Sotomayor: Novelas amorosas y ejemplares (Exemplary Love Stories)
Didactic Prose (Continued)
- Sebastián de Covarrubias: Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana (Treasure of the Castilian Language)
- Gonzalo Correas: Ortografía Kastellana (Castilian Spelling)
- Baltasar Gracián: The Art of Worldly Wisdom, The Oracle Manual and Art of Prudence, Agudeza y arte de ingenio (Wit and Art of Ingenuity), El Criticón (The Faultfinder)
Francisco de Quevedo
- Didactic Prose:
- Political: God, the Rule of Christ, and the Tyranny of Satan; Life of Marcus Brutus
- Festive: A Compass for Navigating in the Festivities of the Church
- Ascetic: The Cradle and the Grave
- Satirical: Dreams
- Narrative Prose:
- Picaresque Novel: The Life of the Swindler Called Don Pablos
Poetry Schools
- Madrid: Lope de Vega and Quevedo
- Seville: Juan de Arguijo, Fernando de Herrera, Andrés Fernández de Andrada
- Antequera-Granada: Luis de Góngora
- Aragonese: Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola and Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola
Luis de Góngora
- Cultured Lyric: Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea (major art), Solitudes (major art), Fable of Pyramus and Thisbe (minor art)
- Popular Lyric: Romances and letrillas (minor art)
Theater
Early 17th Century
- Guillén de Castro: The Youthful Adventures of the Cid
- Lope de Vega: The Unhappy Wife
- Juan Ruiz de Alarcón: The Truth Suspected, Walls Have Ears
- Luis Vélez de Guevara: Reigning After Death, Serrano in the Mountains
- Rojas Zorrilla (follower of Calderón): No One Below the King, Each Fool Walks in His Own Way
- Agustín Moreto (supporter of Calderón): Disdain for Disdain, The Prodigious Gentleman Don Diego
- Tirso de Molina: The Pious Marta, The Prudent Lady, Don Gil of the Green Breeches, Shame in the Palace
Lope de Vega
- Poetry:
- Epic Poetry: The Beauty of Angelica, The Jerusalem Conquered, The Dragontea
- Lyric Poetry: Rimas, Rimas Sacras, Rimas Humanas y Divinas
- Prose:
- Narrative Prose: La Arcadia (pastoral), The Pilgrim in His Own Country (adventure), The Novel of Marcia Leonarda (courtesan)
- Dialogue Prose: La Dorotea
- Theater: New Art of Writing Plays in This Time
- Comedies of Manners and Intrigue: The Foolish Lady, The Dog in the Manger
- Rural Honor Plays: Fuenteovejuna, Peribáñez and the Commander of Ocaña, The Best Mayor, the King, The Rogue in His Corner
- Tragicomedies: The Knight of Olmedo, Punishment Without Revenge
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
- Comedies:
- Cape and Sword Comedies (performed in public theaters): The Phantom Lady, House with Two Doors, Bad to Guard
- Comedies of Intrigue (performed at court): Echo and Narcissus, The Statue of Prometheus
- Tragedies:
- Conflict between Freedom and Destiny: The Greatest Monster, the World, Absalom’s Hair
- Conflict of Honor: The Mayor of Zalamea, A Secret Offense, Secret Revenge, The Physician of His Honor
- Philosophical Plays: Life is a Dream
- Religious Plays: Devotion to the Cross, The Constant Prince
- Autos Sacramentales (Allegorical Religious Plays): The Great Theater of the World, Belshazzar’s Feast