Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Post-Romanticism

Neoclassicism (18th Century)

  • Imitation of the Classics: The belief that Classical art had reached maximum perfection, making innovation futile; imitation was valued.
  • Art as Beauty: Art was synonymous with beauty, good taste, perfection, harmony, and balance.
  • Objective Viewpoint: Emphasis on reason and rationality.
  • Idealized Nature: A peaceful and balanced representation of nature.
  • Universal Values: Exaltation of universal human values.

Romanticism (19th Century)

  • Creative Freedom: Embraced modern liberty, rejecting strict rules; mixed literary genres and verse forms (polymetry).
  • Liberty in Art: Art was synonymous with liberty, including the grotesque, deformed, and exaggerated (hyperbole and sensationalism).
  • Subjective Expression: Focused on expressing intense emotions, fantasies, and even delirium.
  • Untamed Nature: Preference for wild, untamed landscapes.
  • Particularism: Rise of nationalism, with an emphasis on local landscapes, the picturesque, and regional elements.

First Half of the 19th Century: Espronceda’s Romanticism

  • Social Themes: Denounced social issues, exalted liberty, and criticized bourgeois hypocrisy.
  • Narrative Position:
    • *El estudiante de Salamanca*
    • *El diablo mundo*
    • Songs: *Canción del pirata*, *El mendigo*, *El reo*, *El verdugo* — featuring marginalized characters.
  • Key Themes: Impossible love, rebellion, liberty, anxiety, existential distress, the sepulchral, and national exaltation.
  • Style: Extensive and dynamic rhythm, brilliant and sonorous rhyme, expressive intonation, abundant interrogatives and exclamations, disordered syntax (hyperbaton) to express sensationalism.
  • Lexicon: Archaic vocabulary related to night and sepulchral themes.
  • Metrics: Polymetric with very sonorous rhyme.

Second Half of the 19th Century: Bécquer’s Post-Romanticism

  • Intimate Themes: Focused on existential frustrations.
  • Lyrical Position: More intimate.
  • Expression: Primarily expressed feelings of love, frustration, the unattainable world, and loneliness.
  • Style: Short poems, melodic rhyme, assonant rhyme, soft rhythm, and frequent use of parallelism and anaphora.

The Historical Novel

What is it? A narrative based on characters and events of the past (Middle Ages).

Why did it arise? As an idealized way of life in distant times where heroism triumphed; featuring rebellious and lonely heroes experiencing turbulent and passionate love affairs that end tragically.

Authors:

  • José Larra: *El doncel de don Enrique el Doliente*
  • Sancho Saldaña: Espronceda
  • Walter Scott: *Ivanhoe*
  • Victor Hugo: *Our Lady of Paris*
  • Alexandre Dumas: *The Three Musketeers*

Folkloric Prose: José Larra

Realistic and brief descriptions of customs, types, professions, or scenes in a friendly manner, reflecting the quaint aspects of Spanish regions.

Articles of Manners:

  • *Vuelva usted mañana* (Slowness of state administration)
  • *El castellano viejo* (Poor education and feigned affability)
  • *Casarse pronto y mal* (The pitfalls of untimely marriages)

Romantic Drama

  • Favorite Genre: Drama mixed with comic and tragic elements.
  • Rejection of Rules: Abandonment of the three unities (action, place, and time).
  • Popular Characters and Themes: Revived characters and themes from the Spanish Golden Age theater.
  • Central Theme: Tragic and impossible love.
  • Characters: Passionate heroes or heroines who confront societal norms and die.
  • Metrical Variety: Blends verse with prose; typically consists of five acts.
  • Emotional Impact: Aims to move the audience emotionally.

Authors:

  • Adolfo Bécquer: *Rimas y Leyendas*
  • José de Espronceda: *El estudiante de Salamanca*. Elvira is a tragic symbol; Félix de Montemar symbolizes Romantic rebellion against morality, society, and religion.