Jacint Verdaguer and the Catalan Renaissance
Romanticism
Romantic artists, influenced by the Enlightenment’s emphasis on individual rights and free expression, reacted against the established rules of Classical and Renaissance art embraced by Neoclassicism. Romanticism aimed to reveal the subjective and irrational aspects of humanity, previously concealed by rigid social and aesthetic norms.
The Origins of Romanticism
In the latter half of the 18th century, pre-Romantic movements emerged, challenging Classical aesthetics and Enlightenment rationalism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a key pre-Romantic figure, celebrated nature and natural education in his philosophical novel Émile, giving rise to the “noble savage” myth. Contrasting with Enlightenment optimism, Rousseau’s Discourse on the Arts and Sciences argued that arts and sciences corrupted rather than improved society. In Germany, pre-Romantic poets championed the artist’s original genius and exalted the man of action.
Characteristics of Romantic Aesthetics
Romanticism views nature as a mysterious and powerful force, the engine of life and a soul capable of generating emotions and reflecting moods—a mirror of the spiritual world. It affirms life’s irrational forces (poetic imagination, intuition, and dreams) through non-rational means like metaphor, symbol, and myth. The Romantic poet, possessing the quality of genius, uncovers nature’s hidden mysteries, acting as an inspired prophet. Genius is the force enabling free, spontaneous, and original artistic creation, reflecting the artist’s personality and mood. Artistic creation is a product of divine irrationality (Dionysus). Romanticism values passions, feelings, ugliness, grotesque aspects, rugged situations, and primitivism. The Romantic artist often seeks escape through dreams, exoticism, or the mysterious past.
Romanticism in Catalonia
Between 1823 and 1824, the cosmopolitan journal The European, aimed at disseminating the Romantic spirit, arrived in Barcelona. Its founders included two Catalans (one being Bonaventura Carles Aribau), two Italians, and an Englishman. The movement solidified in the 1830s, coinciding with Catalonia’s Industrial Revolution. Influential magazines like Vapor and El Propagador de la Llibertat appeared. Aribau’s La Pàtria, published in Vapor, was the first Romantic poem in Catalan, linking nation and language and marking the start of the Catalan Renaissance. This poem had a profound impact:
- La Pàtria demonstrated the potential for high-quality literature in Catalan.
- It established themes of Catalan Romantic poetry: longing for the homeland (symbolized by mountains) and justification for using the Catalan language (based on past glory, childhood language, dreams, and sincerity).
- It provided a literary language model that lasted until the end of the century, drawing from rich medieval Catalan.
The Catalan Renaissance
The Catalan Renaissance describes the literary and linguistic revival starting in the early 19th century (1833 – publication of La Pàtria, to 1877 – awards for Verdaguer and Guimerà). This period ended a decline and established modern Catalan literature. The Renaissance is linked to Catalan national sentiment, rooted in a growing awareness of a distinct culture among intellectuals and driven by the Industrial Revolution’s transformations.
Objectives
- Revive the use of Catalan in literature.
- Promote literature independent from Spanish models, aligning with vital European cultural currents.
- Foster historical awareness by reconstructing the medieval past and reclaiming Catalan cultural traditions.
- Establish institutions to spread the movement and Catalanist organizations supporting cultural and political recovery.
Floral Games
In 1859, the prestigious Floral Games literary contest was established to promote the Catalan language and literature, encourage new writers (like Verdaguer, Oller, and Guimerà), revive an institution established by ancient kings, and provide a platform to disseminate the Renaissance spirit.
Jacint Verdaguer
Jacint Verdaguer is considered the creator of modern Catalan language and literature, the greatest 19th-century Catalan poet, and the first since the 15th century to place Catalan literature on par with major European literature. He consolidated the Renaissance through his literary excellence and his work’s impact across social classes. A Romantic artist, Verdaguer possessed an idealistic, passionate, and rebellious temperament.
The Poet’s Formation
Born in Folgueroles in 1845, Verdaguer entered the seminary of Vic at age ten, receiving a strong rhetorical education and studying classical authors. For eight years, he worked as a tutor to fund his studies, immersing himself in nature and popular culture. His pastoral poems, sung in the fields, depict youthful life, aspirations, and love.
The Golden Age
Verdaguer completed L’Atlàntida while working on a ship of the Transatlantic Company of Antonio López, winning the 1877 Floral Games. He traveled through Europe and North Africa, writing Canigó after touring the Pyrenees for inspiration.
Personal Crisis
In 1885, a trip to Palestine and Egypt led to a spiritual upheaval. Verdaguer engaged in excessive religious devotion, practiced exorcisms, gave away money, incurred debts, and neglected his writing. These changes led to imprisonment, from which he escaped in 1895, eventually returning to Barcelona. The court of Vic revoked his priesthood, his only income source, leading to a collapse. He wrote passionate defenses (En defensa pròpia, 1895–97) against his accusers. From this experience emerged Flors del Calvari.
Later Years
In 1898, Verdaguer recanted and reconciled with the bishop of Vic. Prematurely aged by his ordeal, he intensified his literary activity, publishing Aires del Montseny and El Cel de la Patria. In 1902, he succumbed to tuberculosis, his funeral in Barcelona drawing a massive crowd.
Verdaguer’s Regionalist Poetry
Verdaguer’s regionalist poetry represents the culmination of the Renaissance’s poetic achievements, embodying key Romantic elements:
- Nature as a living being: Nature plays a prominent role.
- Creation of myths and symbols: Canigó symbolizes the birth of the Catalan nation, Montseny a lost childhood paradise.
- Inclination towards dreams, imagination, and nostalgia: Escapism and longing for past havens.
- Interest in popular culture: Re-elaborating and enriching material drawn from folklore.
Epic Poetry
Verdaguer aimed to fill the gap in Catalan literature by creating epic poems, a genre he considered prestigious. He achieved this with L’Atlàntida and Canigó.
L’Atlàntida: The story centers on a tale told by a hermit to Columbus. Hercules, seeking the golden apples of the Hesperides, travels to Atlantis and defeats Atlas, opening a passage between Europe and Africa (the Strait of Gibraltar). The Mediterranean floods Atlantis, submerging it. Greek islands and Sicily emerge as the waters recede. Verdaguer labored extensively on L’Atlàntida, winning the 1877 Floral Games. This epic poem culminates the Romantic literary revival. Written in Alexandrine and decasyllabic verse, it employs a frame narrative. The story of the discovery of America (introduction and epilogue) frames the sinking of Atlantis (ten central cantos). L’Atlàntida blends pagan, biblical, and Renaissance elements, emphasizing catastrophic natural forces. It features panoramic descriptions, exuberant imagination, and lyrical landscapes (e.g., “Balada de Mallorca”).
Canigó: Set in the 11th-century Pyrenees, the knight Gentil falls in love with the shepherdess Griselda. While guarding against Moors, Gentil hears of fairies on Canigó and pledges allegiance to the fairy Flordeneu, disguised as Griselda. Gentil’s desertion leads to a Christian defeat. Count Wilfred (Gentil’s uncle) kills Gentil on Canigó. Tallaferro later defeats the Moors, and Wilfred, repenting, becomes a monk and founds the monastery of Sant Martí del Canigó. Canigó, Verdaguer’s most ambitious and personal work, is considered the founding epic of the Catalan nation, completing the path to national revival. Composed of twelve cantos and an epilogue, it draws inspiration from Verdaguer’s 1880 visit to the monasteries of Sant Miquel de Cuixà and Sant Martí del Canigó and his 1882–83 Pyrenean excursions. The work intertwines three themes: Catalonia, religion, and nature. Three narrative threads—Gentil’s love for Griselda, the Catalan counts’ wars against the Moors, and the religious actions of the monasteries—interweave. The plot mythicizes nature (the Pyrenees) and Catalonia’s origins. Gentil, representing the Romantic artist, embodies the central tension, leading to lyrical scenes within the epic narrative.
Lyric Poetry
Verdaguer’s extensive lyrical poetry includes patriotic, religious, and a touch of love poetry (abandoned due to his religious vocation). His patriotic poetry glorifies Catalonia through its history, legends, and landscapes, often collected in Pàtria (1888), expressing nostalgic longing for landscape and childhood, sometimes with a vigorous and exultant tone. Verdaguer’s religious poetry expresses his personal faith and contributes to religious revival, promoting virtues and popular devotion. Idil·lis i cants místics (1879) exemplifies this. His religious poetry took an autobiographical turn with works like Sant Francesc (1895) and Flors del Calvari (1898).
Language and Style
Verdaguer created a coherent and balanced literary language, rich and grounded in real speech, incorporating knowledge from European writers, achieving a classic yet modern style. This elevated Catalan literature, making it suitable for contemporary creation. His poetry is marked by emotion and versatility of tone, ranging from rhetorical and bombastic odes to simple and rhythmic popular forms, and evocative expressions of life and childhood (emotional, sensitive, and humble). He mastered meter, combining diverse lines and stanzas, adapting popular and cultivated forms to suit his themes, style, and genre (narrative or lyrical).