Renaissance Literature: A Cultural Movement in 16th-Century Europe
The Renaissance
Renaissance of Beauty
The Renaissance, a broad cultural movement in 16th-century Europe, was characterized by the revival of classical culture. Following the classical model, Renaissance beauty valued balance, serenity, harmony, and natural elegance. Art became the aesthetic ideal of Aristotle (stylizing or embellishing the truth) and Plato (the contemplation of beauty improving human beings because it elevates them closer to divinity).
Language
Vernacular languages gained prestige alongside classical languages. Romance languages followed the pattern of Latin, emphasizing elegance and naturalness. Writers modeled their work after classic authors.
16th-Century Literature
The love of nature and mythology created themes such as carpe diem or beatus ille.
- Love was modeled on Petrarch’s concept of platonic love, which ennobles through love because the lady represents perfection. However, it also produces dissatisfaction and melancholy because it is unrequited.
- Nature became a symbol of perfection and the simple, bucolic life. It reflected the moods of the poet, causing great interest in the Eclogues, poems in which shepherds speak of their love in an idealized natural environment.
- Mythological themes reflected the admiration of Greco-Roman culture. Educated people of the time were familiar with the characters, stories, and symbols of mythology.
Genres of the Renaissance Lyric
Humanistic lyrics and prose developed significantly, covering various themes (social, political, moral, or philosophical) in the form of dialogue. Ancient genres like the epic, eclogue, and satire were imitated.
Renaissance Poetry
- Lyric poetry was modeled on Petrarch’s songbook. Petrarch became the model of formal perfection, and his songs share many features with Provençal poetry. Metrics were influenced by a specific poem structure: sonnets and songs included hendecasyllables, used elegant lexicon, and employed literary devices such as metaphors that express the contradictory feelings of love. Petrarch’s main themes of revival were love, nature, and mythology.
Authors: Garcilaso de la Vega, Fray Luis de León. - Epic poetry emerged as a cultured imitation of the classics of Homer and Virgil. It dealt with fantastic literary and historical topics.
Authors: Alonso de Ercilla with La Araucana.
16th-Century Prose
Idealistic and humanistic novels appeared, creating a new genre, the essay. The essay required literary quality and had a didactic purpose, imitating classical styles. There was a taste for dialogue and pleasant expression.
16th-Century Novel
Idealistic novels of the Middle Ages (sentimental and chivalric) continued with great success. Other genres emerged in the 16th century, such as pastoral novels and Byzantine (Greek) novels.
- Some novels did not follow established models, such as the picaresque novel (a Spanish satire, e.g., Lazarillo de Tormes) and utopian novels.
- In Spain, Renaissance prose reached its peak with Cervantes.
16th-Century Narrative
Idealistic, sentimental, and chivalric novels, as well as Byzantine and pastoral novels, triumphed. Other types of stories appeared: Moorish romances (dealing with Moorish themes) and the picaresque novel (very realistic). Narrative culminated in the 16th century, encompassing all genres of the time and reaching its peak in the early 17th century.
Idealistic Novel
- Books of chivalry were the preferred reading of the court. They were presented as true stories written in a foreign language, with the author acting as a mere translator. The gentleman was the model for the novel’s hero, an exemplary warrior, a true lover, and a somewhat idealistic adventurer. They reflected medieval aesthetics, archaic language, and were written in Gothic letters. The humanist Erasmus criticized their implausibility and sensuality. Amadis of Gaul, a work reworked by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, was a popular example.
- The pastoral novel incorporated the bucolic setting of the Eclogues and was inspired by Virgil. It told love stories between shepherds. The Seven Books of Diana by Jorge de Montemayor is a notable example.
- The Byzantine novel, inspired by Greek novels, told the adventures of a pair of lovers, always of high lineage. It combined the love story with kidnappings, trips, shipwrecks, and separations. It was appreciated by the Erasmians.
- The Moorish novel, such as The Story of the Abencerraje, featured exoticism, colorful refinement, and an idealized Muslim world.
Didactic Prose of the 16th Century
Literary and didactic prose followed the style of classical and Italian humanists. The most representative work is Dialogue on Language by Juan de Valdés, which reflects the Renaissance and humanist perspective of Erasmus.
- Historical Prose: The conquest of the Americas stimulated the description of this new world and the narrative of its colonization.
- Religious Prose: In the second half of the 16th century, prose with a moral and religious focus appeared.
- Fray Luis de Granada: His writing followed a more intimate line of religiosity.
- Santa Teresa de Jesús: Along with Fray Luis de León and San Juan de la Cruz, she represented ascetic and mystical prose.
The Lyric in the Second Half of the 16th Century
With the Counter-Reformation and isolation, the lyrical enthusiasm and universality of pagan Renaissance ideals were lost. However, these ideals were not entirely abandoned; they were fused and assimilated into Catholicism (second Renaissance or Christian rebirth). Fray Luis de León, St. John of the Cross, and Fernando de Herrera continued the love lyric and started an epic with a learned style close to the Baroque. Two schools emerged:
- Salamanca School: Represented by Fray Luis de León, it featured elegant and natural language, focusing on moral and philosophical issues.
- Seville School: Represented by Fernando de Herrera, it was more cultivated, seeking beauty in form and sound, and explored brilliant secular subjects.
Religious poetry also appeared, including ascetic poetry, which focused on achieving moral perfection, and mystical poetry, which explored the union of the soul with the divine. San Juan de la Cruz is the best representative of this type of poetry.