Gongora, Lope de Vega, Quevedo: Culteranismo and Conceptismo
Luis de Góngora and Culteranismo
A champion of comedies of little relevance, Góngora’s work is purely lyrical. He wrote mostly secular and religious poetry, using the verses of the time, long or short verses: romance, ballad, quatrains, sonnets (a large and complicated structure for perfection to create a poetic language itself), triplets, silvas, eighths, etc. His inspiration is oriented towards two opposite poles: humorous or burlesque, on the one hand, and refined idealization, on the other. Both directions are mixed in key works such as the “Fable of Pyramus and Thisbe.” His masterpieces are also the poems “Solitudes” and “Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea,” where our language reaches a peak of formal grandeur.
Lope de Vega: Lyric Poet and Playwright
Although his main commitment was to the theater, Lope de Vega cultivated all genres of his time with the important exception of the picaresque novel. He wrote lyrical, epic, and dramatic plays.
Lope’s lyric poetry is very rich and varied, interspersed in plays or novels, and in books like the Rimas, Rimas Sacras, and Rimas Humanas. His inspiration is, therefore, religious and profane. The topics come from a strong autobiographical motivation (Love and Honor, ideal monarchy, religion, and support of rural society). His verses sometimes concealed his chronic little affairs.
A master of all meters, his sonnets and ballads of popular poemillas are admirable.
Francisco de Quevedo: Poet, Politician, and Moralist
The image usually taken of Quevedo is that of a vulgar and ribald writer. While it is true that he wrote things of this sort, it is an obvious injustice not to recognize that, moreover, he is one of the greatest Spanish writers, such as lyrical, political writer and severe moralist.
Works: Poetica
- Amorosa: He infuses beauty and emotion into any literary topic.
- Metafisica: Themes of anguish, life, resignation, fleeting life, death.
- Moral criticism: He satirizes and castigates human weaknesses.
- Satirical poetry: Criticism of society, historical figures and heroes, myth, writers, money, and eagerness to have it.
As we know, Quevedo is the apex of Baroque conceits. This style comes with a condensation of thought and develops concepts (i.e., correspondences between objects and approaches very different) with a seemingly plain language.
Culteranismo: The Pursuit of Formal Beauty
Culteranismo pursues formal beauty. This movement disrupts the balance in Renaissance works by enhancing the value of the expression. It focuses on the development of significant detail, meticulous attention to language, sometimes imitating Latin. This explains the high use of cultism and hipérbatos (alterations in the usual order of words) or a taste for esdrújula accentuation. Culteranismo also stands for the use of complex metaphors, abrupt enjambments, and so on. The lexicon tends to the detailed expression of the sensual, full of references to the various senses and pays special attention to color and light. The primary concern caused by the language, for example, sometimes dealing with issues that are not serious in a formally ingenious way, gives poetic culteranismo to new realities. The head of this stream is Luis de Góngora, initiator of this movement, which will feature various followers. Therefore, culteranismo is also called Gongorism. The exaggerated tendency toward complication of speech was subjected to considerable criticism at the time, among which are those of Quevedo and Lope.
Conceptismo: Wit and Meaning
Conceptismo is more focused on content and prefers to use resources of wit, puns, associations of ideas, and double meanings. Thus, the harmony breaks classical AI complex through the development of meaning. The poet conceptista often used resources of a semantic nature, such as irony, paradox, antithesis, hyperbole, ambiguity, and even the cartoon. This trend of intellectual expression was observed already in the songs of the fifteenth century but appears more pronounced at this time. The most important representative of poetic conceits is Francisco de Quevedo.
The Interrelation of Culteranismo and Conceptismo
These two trends are closely related, and despite the enmity between Góngora and Quevedo, there are mutual literary influences. It should also be borne in mind that Gongorism and current concepts are not exclusive to the lyric: We find traces of them also in other genres.