Humanism, Petrarch, and Lyric Poetry in 15th Century Europe
Humanism and its Influence
Humanism: a cultural, intellectual, and political movement that attaches great importance to ancient Greco-Roman texts. It is essential to the study of humanities, with extreme interest in culture and classical languages. This movement was widespread in Europe during the 15th century and was crucial in the Renaissance aesthetic. The interest in the human becomes a key factor. Key humanists include Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarch.
Petrarch and Petrarchist Lyric
Petrarch was one of the earliest and most influential humanists. He valued human life, culture-centered man, and the wisdom and knowledge of man and life. Petrarch incorporates the lyrical tradition of courtly love, inspired by the ideal of chivalry. His aesthetic is based on the poet expressing his feelings. The lyrical subject is not about true sense, but the archetypal reflection of poetic truth. Petrarch creates a new rhetoric, a new language for the lyrical, elegant, and exquisite. His self-analysis of amorous passion, reaches into the songbook of Petrarch. His style traits, developed and artificial, became a model for 16th-century poets.
Courtly Lyric Poetry
Courtly lyric poetry follows the patterns of medieval Provencal lyric and courtly love, but updated in the Petrarchan aesthetic. Troubadours and knights competed in talent and linguistic devices, showing the importance of the art of versification at that time. Short lyric poems were collected in songbooks.
Key Songbooks and Figures
- Cancionero de Baena: Includes 576 compositions, collected by Juan Alfonso de Baena. It contains distinct influences: the troubadour inclination written in Castilian and Galician, and the allegorical tradition of Dante, the Italian influence.
- Stúñiga Songbook: More lyrical than the Baena songbook, featuring the work of Castilian, Aragonese, Catalan, and Italian poets, as of 1433.
The Marquis of Santillana
His most important works are of Italian influence, among them are the Comedieta of Ponza, the Hell of the 42 Love Sonnets, and Deeds the Italian Manner. His compositions that have given him more fame, by his grace and spontaneity, are the popular motifs inspired by old proverbs, sayings, and serranillas. Serranillas are ten cuts of inspiration, developed by short, traditional folk troubadour and the influence of cult character.
Juan de Mena
His most important work is The Labyrinth of Fortune or The 300, composed of 300 verses of high art, octaves dodecasyllabic, and written in a syntax and vocabulary heavily Latinized. It is an allegorical poem. Juan de Mena is considered the first Spanish humanist.
Jorge Manrique
The most significant poet of the 15th century in the history of Spanish literature. He wrote love poetry along the lines of the tradition of courtly love and troubadour. He reached a place of honor in literature with a very short but very lyrical and human work (Verses on the Death of His Father).