Spanish Baroque Literature: Don Quixote & Major Poets
UNIT 15: Don Quijote de la Mancha
Edition of the Book
The Don Quijote de la Mancha first appeared in two parts:
- Part One (1605): Consists of a prologue, opening and closing burlesque poems, and fifty-two chapters grouped into four parts.
- Part Two (1615): Consists of a prologue and seventy-four chapters, without division into parts.
In 1614, a false second volume appeared, signed by Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda. Cervantes addressed this in the preface to his own second part, including numerous references to the falsity of Avellaneda’s novel.
Narrative Sources
Don Quijote draws on previous models, including pastoral, Byzantine, chivalric, sentimental, Moorish, and picaresque novels. It tells the story of farmer Alonso Quijano, who goes mad from reading romances of chivalry and embarks on an adventure to emulate his heroes.
Preface
Cervantes states that the primary purpose of the work is a critique of the romances of chivalry. He felt that these novels were poorly written, implausible, and often obscene.
Structure of the Play
The mad hidalgo Alonso Quijano, after reading books of chivalry, decides to “resurrect the order of knight-errantry.” He becomes Don Quixote and chooses Dulcinea del Toboso as his lady love.
Leaving the Village
Don Quixote leaves home three times. The first time he is alone; in the other two, he is accompanied by his faithful squire Sancho Panza. In the preliminaries of the third exit, the bachelor Samson Carrasco appears, who goes in search of Don Quixote and causes his ultimate defeat.
Adventure Series
The adventures of Don Quixote follow a similar pattern: he confronts reality with a distorted perception (e.g., windmills as giants) and fails, often receiving beatings. The third outing introduces a change: others distort reality for their own amusement at Don Quixote’s expense, such as when Sancho tries to convince his master that an ugly peasant woman is Dulcinea.
Return to the Village
Each of the three departures ends with Don Quixote’s return to his village: the first two in harsh conditions, the last to die. The road plays a vital role, as it favors encounters with characters of all types and social statuses. These encounters originate episodes outside the central action.
Time and Space
The narrative is chronological and linear. Temporal references are scarce, inconsistent, and nonsensical. In the first part, the characters travel through La Mancha to the Sierra Morena. In the second part, they move through Aragon and Catalonia, and the key space becomes the palace of the Dukes.
Characters
Don Quixote
Described as tall and slender, quick-tempered, cultured, and a great reader, Don Quixote is single, lonely, brave, and impulsive. The theme of madness is central to the work. He wants and believes to be a knight errant, but he also knows he is pretending. This contradiction is bound to all others: wise and foolish, ridiculous and admirable, fake and authentic. He is the “wise madman” who succeeds despite his failures.
Sancho Panza
Sancho is short and paunchy, prudent, illiterate, married, practical, and peaceful. Initially a simple parody of the chivalrous squire, he becomes a complex being, independent, doubtful, lying, and deceiving. He laughs and cries, shows discretion and foolishness, but is always good and compassionate.
Storytelling and Storytellers
Main Narrator
The main narrator is omniscient. In the first eight chapters, he refers to various sources of information. In Chapter IX, he is introduced as a character.
Fictional Author
The most important fictional author is the Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli. The original text is supposedly translated by a Moor who is also cited.
Narrator-Character
Characters tell stories of different types with different functions. Some are simple witnesses, others are involved in the storytelling, and some are the protagonists of their own stories.
UNIT 16: The Baroque
Historical Context
The Baroque period in Spain (roughly 1580-1700) is characterized by a transition and renewal in the arts. The early seventeenth century saw the creation of great Baroque works, while the second half of the century marked the beginning of its decline.
Political, Social, and Economic Context
The seventeenth century in Spain was a period of decline. The country lost territory and hegemony in Europe due to several factors, including:
- Transfer of power to royal favorites (validos)
- Economic crisis
- Depopulation
- Unproductive economy
- Corruption
Religion
This century was characterized by a strong reinforcement of religious traditionalism.
The Ideology of the Baroque
Baroque art is the expression of a worldview shaped by a socio-historical context of crisis, conflict, and contradictions. This period created a sense of insecurity and anxiety, leading to pessimism and disappointment. Reality was conceived as a struggle of opposites (e.g., light and darkness).
Collective Beliefs
Irrationalism, a magical vision of reality, and a belief in the supernatural intensified. There was also an obsession with pure blood, honor, and misogyny (contempt for women).
Currents of Thought
People sought pleasure and beauty as escapes from anxiety. Other responses included realistic acceptance or the comfort of ascetic spirituality.
Culture of the Seventeenth Century
The Baroque period coincided with a period of great cultural splendor in Spain, known as the Golden Age. Cultural manifestations were influenced by Catholic principles and the Counter-Reformation.
Patronage and Official Culture
Most of the population was illiterate, so information was transmitted orally and visually. Religious teaching was done through sermons, pictures, and festivals.
The Baroque Festival
The Baroque period had a strong tendency towards spectacle, evident in festivals, public life, court rituals, religious ceremonies, and processions. Theater became the grand spectacle of the time.
Thematic Aspects of Baroque Poetry
Baroque poetry used themes from Renaissance poetry but intensified expressive resources and introduced innovations. It began to express the idea of disappointment and a sense of crisis.
Love Poetry
The Renaissance idea of love was expressed through pained language and Petrarchan imagery. A burlesque approach to love also emerged.
Philosophical and Moral Poetry
This type of poetry was marked by pessimism, disappointment, the contrast between reality and appearance, the transience of life, and awareness of death. Stoic ideas were recovered, along with the need for a virtuous life.
Religious Poetry
Celebratory poetry, spiritual reflection, and repentance were predominant themes.
Burlesque Poetry
This type of poetry abounded in humor, parody, mockery, and personal attacks.
Formal Aspects of Baroque Poetry
Baroque poetry was characterized by remarkable formal variety, including generic and stylistic variations, diverse language registers, and the use of expressive resources.
Metrics
There was a revaluation of octosyllabic verse, seguidillas, villancicos, letrillas, and romances. These forms were grouped in quartets, and choruses were introduced.
The Concept and Expressive Resources of Wit
The exhibition of wit and extreme preparation in poetic verses manifested in the phenomenon of conceptismo. Its basic medium was “the concept,” expressed through rhetorical devices such as metaphor, comparison, and circumlocution. The tendency towards contrasts and contradictions was evident in the use of antithesis, oxymorons, and paradoxes. Dilogía (double meaning) appeared in puns and hyperbole. Notable features included hyperbaton, parallelism, anaphora, and the use of cultisms (learned words) and colloquial or vulgar language.
The Baroque Artistic Ideal
Imitation and emulation were replaced by invention. The goal was to astonish and move the reader through textual difficulty. This required a cultured audience. Texts on poetic language also became abundant.
New Romances
Narrative and lyrical developments from Petrarchism were incorporated into romances. The main types of new romances were Moorish and pastoral. The humorous approach to Renaissance themes was also noteworthy.
Luis de Góngora (1561-1627)
Born in Cordoba into a noble family, Góngora studied at Salamanca and suffered financial problems. He was ordained a priest in Madrid and had troubled relationships with other poets of the time.
Poetry
- Minor Art: Cultivated Moorish, pastoral, historical, and humorous ballads, as well as letrillas.
- Sonnets: Focused on love and the carpe diem theme, modifying the Petrarchan sonnet.
- Major Poems: Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea and Solitudes.
Style
Góngora’s style is characterized by its difficulty, due to mythological allusions, the use of a learned lexicon, and the accumulation of rhetorical devices.
- Phonic Level: Use of alliteration and paronomasia.
- Syntactic Forms: Long and complex sentences, allusive periphrasis, syntactic cultisms, extreme hyperbaton, bimembres lines, correlates, and repetition of structure.
- Lexicon: Predominance of cultisms, associative fields, and metaphors related to color and music.
Lope de Vega (1562-1635)
Born in Madrid, Lope de Vega studied there and was a man of great creative ability. He had many love relationships that are reflected in his works. He was ordained a priest.
Poetic Works
His work is extensive and varied, including both minor art compositions and Italianate poetry.
- Romances: Cultivated Moorish, pastoral, and love romances, and is known for his religious and moral romances.
- Petrarchan Poetry: His sonnets are particularly noteworthy.
- Epic Poetry: Wrote La Dragontea and The Beauty of Angelica.
- Religious Poetry: Rimas Sacras collects sonnets and other devotional poems.
Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645)
Born in Madrid into a noble family, Quevedo served the Duke of Osuna. With the Duke’s fall, he was imprisoned. Philip IV allowed him to return to court.
Themes
Quevedo wrote both minor and major art poetry, including love poetry, metaphysical and moral poetry, satirical and burlesque poetry, and religious poetry.
His main resources were metaphor, antithesis, oxymoron, hyperbole, pun, dilogía, and lexical creations.
Style
In his satirical and burlesque poetry, Quevedo used resources designed to create caricature and provoke laughter. In his more serious style, he used a learned lexicon, hyperbaton, and a cautionary tone. Quevedo was a master at creating and modifying lexical phrases and sayings.