Pre-Renaissance to Romanticism: Spanish Literature Evolution
Pre-Renaissance Literature
Narrative
Romances
Ballads: Anonymous compositions popularly broadcast by minstrels.
Romance: Manifestation of the most important traditional folk poetry.
Old Ballads: Romance set of compounds in the 14th and 15th centuries.
New Romances: Romances written by educated poets in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Source: Considered closely linked to epics.
Metrics: Compositions of varying length formed by eight-syllable verses with the same rhyme and assonance in pairs, odd verses being loose.
Author: Anonymous.
Main Features:
- Mix of narrative and dialogue.
- Narrative Fragmentation: The romance focuses on a particular time of the action, usually the most important, and is often interrupted before the denouement.
- Abundance of repetitions.
- Use of expressive formulas to attract the listener’s attention.
- Use of the historical present.
- Simplicity of expressive resources.
Classifications:
- Epic or Heroic Theme: Inspired by events and characters of heroic epic poetry.
- Historical or News: Deal with historical events near the composition of the romance. Highlights the border.
- Romantic and Lyrical: Focus on sentimental or chivalric love themes.
Books of Chivalry
This fiction has its roots in the late 13th or early 14th century Middle Ages and continued until the early 17th century in Spanish literature.
Amadis of Gaul
The author was Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (or Garci Ordóñez).
Amadis of Gaul tells the fantastic deeds and adventures of Amadis. To deserve the love of his beloved Oriana, he fights knights, giants, and enchanters to defeat the Western Emperor and retire with her to the Firm Island.
Lyrical Poetry
Learned Poetry: Jorge Manrique
Verses on the Death of His Father
This poem uses 40-foot broken couplets. Each stanza consists of two sextuplets following this rhyme scheme: 8a 8b 4c 8a 8b 4c / 8d 8e 4f 8d 8e 4f.
The themes are the transience of worldly things, the instability of fortune, the equalizing power of death, and the importance of fame.
Sections:
- General considerations on the brevity of life and death.
- Fugacity of worldly things over time.
- Evocation of dead celebrities to illustrate the above.
- Remembrance and eulogy of Don Rodrigo Manrique, his father.
- Visit of Death to Don Rodrigo and dialogue between the two.
- Death of Don Rodrigo.
Theater
La Celestina
Editions: 1st Burgos (1499), 2nd & 3rd Toledo (1500) & Seville (1501), 4th Seville, Salamanca & Burgos (1502), 5th Burgos (1507).
Author: Fernando Rojas (name written in acrostic verses).
Argument: Callisto, a smart, upper-class man, falls in love with Melibea. Rejected, he enlists Celestina’s help. Celestina succeeds, but Callisto’s servants, Sempronius and Pármeno, kill her for gold. They are caught and executed. Callisto dies falling from Melibea’s garden wall, and Melibea commits suicide. The play ends with Pleberio’s lament.
Characters:
- Callisto
- Melibea
- Pármeno
- Sempronius
- Celestina
Romantic Literature (1st Half of the 19th Century)
Historical Context
Politics: Romanticism coincided with the crisis of absolute monarchy and the rise of constitutional and parliamentary governments, along with nationalism.
Society: The Industrial Revolution and commerce made the bourgeoisie the ruling class. Liberalism, advocating economic and political freedom, also emerged.
Culture: Idealism, emphasizing the dominance of spirit and ideas, prevailed in philosophy.
Lyrical Poetry
Themes:
- Personal feelings: Dissatisfaction with the world, importance of the non-rational.
- Rebellion and escape: Escape from reality through imagination and exotic worlds.
- Nature and landscape: Landscapes reflect the author’s feelings (e.g., gloomy landscapes for tormented souls).
José de Espronceda
Born in Almendralejo (Badajoz) in 1808. A rebellious, liberal romantic, he founded a secret society against King Fernando VII at fifteen.
Works:
- The Student of Salamanca: Lyrical and narrative poem about Don Felix de Montemar, who witnesses his own funeral.
- The Devil World: Lyric and philosophical poem.
- Other compositions featuring marginalized figures: The Pirate Song, Song of the Cossacks, The Executioner, The Person Sentenced to Death, and The Pauper.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Rhymes
Published posthumously in 1871.
Themes:
- Poetry (I-XI): Linked to sentiment and mystery.
- Hopeful love (XII-XXIX): Tinged with optimism.
- Disappointment in love (XXX-LI): Melancholy, sadness, pain.
- Loneliness and despair (LII-LXXVI): Reflections on life and fear of death.
Prose
Historical Novel
Definition: Set in the past (preferably the Middle Ages), using historical facts as a basis for legendary intrigue, passions, and mystery.
Authors: Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo.