Petrarch, Italian Renaissance Poet & Spanish Literature
Petrarch and the Renaissance
The Italian Poet of the 14th Century
Petrarch, the Italian poet of the 14th century, embodied the ideals of Humanism. He wrote several works of humanistic inspiration in Latin, but his historical importance is due to his compositions in the vernacular Romance language. His most famous work, the Canzoniere (or Songbook), was written in the Tuscan dialect of Northern Italy. He also wrote the Triumphs in the vernacular.
Triumphs
Triumphs is an allegorical poem in tercets composed of six chapters of very unequal length. These chapters deal with the triumphs of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity.
Canzoniere
Petrarch’s verse influenced Spanish poetry throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the poetry of several other European countries. It consists of a collection of more than 350 love poems that the poet selected, polished, and corrected throughout his life. The first part deals with the anguish of love for a living woman, while in the second part, after the woman’s death, the poetry becomes more sublime. The Canzoniere had a huge significance and decisively influenced the Petrarchan style of poetry.
Poetry in 16th Century Spain
There are two main trends in 16th-century Spanish poetry: traditional Spanish poetry and Italianate poetry.
Spanish Poetry
The renovation of Renaissance lyric did not forget medieval Castilian poetry. Already in the 15th century, there was a classical and popular poetry. The first is well represented by the courtly poetry and the Cancionero. Folk poetry appears in the ballads. In the 16th century, both types continued, and even courtly poetry expanded thanks to the Cancionero General (Hernando del Castillo), in which compositions abound with courtly love and troubadour tradition. Popular poetry continued its journey throughout the century, with ballads achieving great fortune in the second half.
Italianate Poetry
Italianate poetry was the most innovative and educated poetry, which came to dominate in the 16th century and marked the resurgence of poetry in Spanish literature. It was written by the leading poets of the century.
Characteristics
- The influence of Italian poetry is a complete and thorough renovation of Spanish poetry and metrics.
- Italian influence affects not only the metrical aspects but also the themes and poetic attitudes.
- Idealization of the beloved and expression of love.
- Intense development of bucolic and pastoral themes.
- Projection of the poet’s “lyrical I” and creativity.
In the first half of the century, the old and new poetry coexisted and often intersected. The octosyllabic compositions with traditional tunes hosted Italianate Renaissance ideas. Poets like Garcilaso de la Vega, Hurtado de Mendoza, and Gutierre de Cetina did not renounce Castilian metrics, as there are features of the old poetry.
Theater
In the first half of the 16th century, popular theater and Italian-inspired theater were performed in palaces. Theater gradually acquired Renaissance features. The following authors stand out: Juan del Encina (eclogues) from Salamanca, Torres Navarro (comedies) from Extremadura, Gil Vicente (drama) from Portugal, and Lope de Rueda (whose steps were performed between comedies) from Seville.
Novel
The novel reached great development in the 16th century, culminating in the appearance of the works of Cervantes. In the first half of the 16th century, two types of narrative flourished:
- The sentimental novel: initiated by Diego de San Pedro, it sought an accurate description of the feelings of commonality.
- The idealistic novel: chivalrous and loving in nature, it describes a fictional world both in characters and landscape, feelings, and so on.
Byzantine Novel
Byzantine novels include travel adventures that revolve around a pair of lovers of noble lineage and conclude with marriage.
Picaresque Novel
In 1599, Mateo Alemán published the first part of Guzmán de Alfarache, which both influenced and was influenced by Cervantes half a century later.
Pastoral Novel
The action develops the love or dislike of refined shepherds in a mythical world of idealized nature.
Moorish Novel
It takes chivalrous and gallant forms in which the Arab world is idealized, as well as the relationship between Arabs and Christians.
Ascetic and Mystical Literature
Fray Luis de León
The poems of Fray Luis de León are heirs of the Renaissance in form and content. In form, he uses Italianate verses, stanzas, and especially the lira and the hendecasyllable. In content, classical themes are combined with Friar Luis’s care for style. His poetry is scarce, reduced to 30 compositions in which longing for peace is expressed. In his prose, translations of the Bible and two original works stand out.