Spanish Literature: Baroque Poetry and Medieval Epic
Culteranismo and Formal Complication in Baroque Poetry
Culteranismo and formal complication emerged from the poetry of Góngora and Garcilaso. There was no break between the Renaissance and the Baroque lyric. From the second half of the 16th century, tendencies developed which led to demonstrations. Culteranismo and Conceptismo are not opposites but form part of the aesthetic sensibility that seeks originality, individual genius, and a break from classical equilibrium. Conceptistas squeezed the meanings of words, and Culteranismo emphasized formal beauty. It is a literature based on imagination and the senses.
Baroque Themes in Poetry
The themes of Baroque poetry are varied. Culteranismo shows the reasons for the classical root (mythology) linking text. Following the Renaissance tradition, poetry was a fundamental activity. In Baroque poetry, it was popular.
Trends and Schools
- Madrid School: Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Calderón de la Barca. Caro and Rodrigo also emerged from this school.
- Seville School: Francisco Medrano.
- Antequera-Granada School: Góngora and others left this school and went to the Aragon school of the Argensola brothers.
Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega is an excellent poet with a great variety of poetry that contained dramatic comedies and epic texts inspired by the Italian, such as The Beauty of Angelica (1602). He shows various facets of lyricism: lively, Petrarchan, impersonator, everyday experiences, using old ballads and sonnets.
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora is exclusively a lyrical poet. He only wrote two plays. His lyrical work was published after his death. Much of his poems were a gift from Antonio Chacón to the Duke of Olivares. His intention was to create a poetic language.
El Cid: A Medieval Epic
El Cantar de mio Cid (The Song of my Cid) has been preserved in a manuscript from the National Library since the 14th century. It consists of more than 3,730 verses, and the beginning is unknown because the earliest manuscripts are missing. Some believe that it dates back to 1140 and is the work of minstrels, while others think it is from the end of the 12th or early 13th century. The lines are grouped in runs and assonant monorhymes. The lines are irregular and are divided into two hemistiches of 7, 8, and 6 syllables. The language of the poem is clear, focused, and sober.
The poem is divided into three parts:
- The Song of Exile (double process of loss)
- The Song of the Wedding (retrieval of the Cid’s honor)
- The Song of the Affront of Corpes (new loss and new recovery of honor)
There are three content levels:
- Political Level: Castile versus León; the Cid is facing the Lion King.
- Socio-economic Level: Expressed ideals of legal equality and social mobility.
- Individual Level: The Cid is exiled by the king, and he must recover his honor and earn his bread.
The Book of Good Love
The Book of Good Love has been preserved in three manuscript copies and several fragments. The author is Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita. There are two dates of composition: 1330 and 1343. It is a long poem written in more than 1,700 verses in the cuaderna vía style, but short meters and other verses also abound. The language and style are abundant in rhetorical resources of both cultismo and the popular tradition (proverbs, etc.).
It is composed of:
- A prologue in prose which clarifies the intention of the work.
- A series of love affairs.
- A collection of 32 fables and stories with didactic aims.
- A set of moral and satirical asides, satires, and parodies.
- Allegorical passages.
- A group of lyrical and minstrel compositions.