Spanish Golden Age Literature: Poetry and Prose
The Spanish Golden Age spanned approximately from the end of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella to the death of Charles II in 1700 (15th-17th centuries). Key historical events include the discovery of America in 1492, the Habsburg intermarriage, and the brief annexation of Portugal, which added to the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon an immense empire that progressively disintegrated from the last quarter of the 16th century. During this period, Spain engaged in continuous wars. The 16th and 17th centuries represent the most important historical period of Spain.
Religious Problems
The rejection of Catholicism led to two significant decrees in 1492: the establishment of the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews, resulting in substantial economic and cultural damage. Jews who converted to Catholicism were called conversos, and their descendants were known as New Christians.
Literary Movements
Mannerism
Mannerism was a reaction against classicism, characterized by the rejection of rigid rules and the free use of forms.
Baroque
The essential feature of Baroque literature is the distrust in oneself, exploring themes like disappointment or life as a dream. Another key theme is the concept of honor.
Literary Sources and Forms
Renaissance poetry drew from Petrarchism (model structure) and the classical tradition (love-ode and authors like Virgil, Ovid, and Horace).
- Sonnet: Two quartets and two triplets (Petrarchan ABBAABBACDCDCD).
- Canción: Several stanzas, heptasyllabic verse.
- Terza Rima: Heroic verse and chained rhyme (ABABCBCDC), used in elegies, epistles, and satires.
- Octava Real: Eight-line stanza (ABABABCC), used in epic poems.
- Lira: Combination of hendecasyllables and heptasyllabic verse (aBabB), used in Horatian odes.
Key Authors and Works
Fernando de Herrera
Herrera’s works consist of sonnets, songs, elegies, and pastorals, imbued with Petrarchan and classical tradition.
St. John of the Cross
A Carmelite reformer, St. John of the Cross wrote mystical poetry.
Culteranismo
This style, identified with Góngora, uses metaphors, hyperbaton, cultisms, and mythological allusions.
Conceptismo
This literary trend, associated with Gracián, shows a predilection for puns, paronomasia, and double meanings. Quevedo is a prominent figure in this style.
Garcilaso de la Vega
Vega’s compositions fall into two categories: classical and Italianate. He wrote 38 sonnets, 8 songs, 5 canzoni, 2 elegies, 1 epistle, and 3 eclogues.
Fray Luis de León
León’s works include Beatus ille, odes (Ode to Francisco de Salinas, Ode to Loarte), and prose works like The Names of Christ and The Perfect Wife.
Luis de Góngora
Góngora wrote popular poetry (romances, letrillas) and cultured poems (songs, sonnets, and three major poems).
Francisco de Quevedo
Quevedo’s poetic work includes metaphysical poetry (sonnets on the brevity of life and transience), moral sonnets (reflecting on vices), religious poems, circumstantial poems (eulogies and funeral poems), love poems, and satirical poems.
His prose works include El Buscón (The Swindler) and various satires, often employing personification, exaggeration, and manipulation of clichés.