Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Post-Romanticism

Posted on Mar 16, 2025 in English Studies

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.