Spanish Literature from Middle Ages to Renaissance
Spanish Literature: Middle Ages and Renaissance
Middle Ages
Mean Age
Gonzalo de Berceo
The first important writer. His most important work is Miracles of Our Lady. These include 25 short stories.
Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita
His major work is The Book of Good Love, situated between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Its purpose is to criticize some social defects in an entertaining and fun way.
The Mester of Clergy
- Clergymen were not only meant to be “religious” but also men of letters.
- The works of the clergy intended to persuade and educate.
- This school emerged in the 12th century.
Themes:
- Songs of different kinds.
- Religious and romantic affairs, inspired by Latin texts and authors.
Starring:
- Historical characters of the court, saints…
Metrics:
- Regular lines.
- Uses the cuaderna vía: stanzas of four 14-syllable lines.
Style:
- Careful language and religious tone.
The Learned Lyric in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, there were two literary currents: popular and cultured.
Characteristics of the Cultured Lyric:
- 15th century, interest in the world of the arts and letters.
- Intended for a cultured and refined public.
Themes:
- Love, death.
- Society, the transience of life, and the arrival of death are other topics covered in the more cultured lyric of the Middle Ages.
Metrics:
- Sonnet.
- Hendecasyllable and seven-syllable stanzas are the most used.
- The copla de pie quebrado and the canción are common compositions.
- The poem usually starts with one or more words that are repeated in two or three verses.
Style:
- More cultured words and literary resources abound.
Jorge Manrique
A thoughtful lover of literature. He wrote love poems and an elegy (a lyrical composition about a sad subject): Verses on the Death of his Father.
- His father was Don Rodrigo.
- He was one of the most significant writers of the time.
Coplas a la Muerte de su Padre:
- Formed by 40 verses, about the transience of life and the arrival of death.
- The stanza used is the copla de pie quebrado, also called sextilla manriqueña.
- Formed by two broken feet.
Scientific Prose and Alfonso X the Wise
Effort to convert Castilian into a language suitable for literary, scientific, legal, or historical use.
Medieval Prose
The birth of Castilian prose. Until the 13th century, prose texts were basically written in Latin.
- The work of the Toledo translators (12th century) was essential in this task.
Narrative Prose and Don Juan Manuel
14th century, prose takes on a didactic intention.
Don Juan Manuel:
- “Count Lucanor” or “Book of Patronio”, a collection of 51 short stories.
Themes:
- A common goal: to teach.
Characters:
- Historical or real people.
- Common people.
Structure:
- Raising the matter and teaching a way of concluding.
Medieval Drama
The first character that appears is religious.
- The only play that is preserved is the Auto de los Reyes Magos.
- It is being replaced by another, profane type.
- It leaves the courts of the church and moves to public places as an element of fun for the public.
La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas
- Born in Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo).
- The title varies: Comedy of Calisto and Melibea (1499), Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (1502).
- Currently considered a dramatic literary genre.
Plot:
- Calisto falls in love with Melibea.
- Sempronio and Pármeno are two servants.
- Calisto dies while trying to climb the wall of Melibea’s garden, then she commits suicide by jumping from a tower.
- Mix of medieval and Renaissance elements.
Renaissance
Renaissance Features
- 16th century, appears in Italy, extends throughout Europe.
- A cultural and philosophical movement, interested in man and the Greco-Latin past.
Period:
- Renaissance, the rebirth of man and classical culture.
- Time marked by great social change.
Social Class:
- The rise of the bourgeoisie.
- A new mentality, leaving behind the darkness, headed towards modernity.
Historical Situation
- The conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.
- 16th century, political unification.
- Discovery of America represents an economic boom.
- Reign of Charles I (1516-1556): Spain is open to European influences.
- Reign of Philip II (1556-1598): period of decline and isolation.
Humanism
- Educational and philosophical current born in Italy.
- Humanists: Petrarch, Dante Alighieri, Erasmus of Rotterdam.
- Appearance of: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo.
Renaissance Society and Culture
- Art becomes more popular, seeking to bring delight and beauty.
- The bourgeoisie: taste for the pleasures of art and life.
Differences Between:
Middle Ages
- God: center of life, theocentrism.
- Life is a vale of tears.
- Society is divided into fixed strata.
- The ideal is the gentleman.
- Economic activity is rural.
- Art and literature serve to teach and transmit values.
and Renaissance
- Human being: center of creation, anthropocentrism.
- Life is a time of enjoyment and pleasure.
- New social class: the bourgeoisie, it diminishes the influence of the nobility.
- The ideal is the courtier.
- Economic activity is urban.
- Art: seeks beauty and balance.
Lyricism in the First Renaissance
Two periods: first and second Renaissance, reigns of Charles I and Philip II.
The Early Renaissance:
- General optimism of society and strong influence of the Italian current.
- Appearance of the Italianate style.
- Renaissance lyric addresses other issues, with new meters and a natural and simple style.
Topics:
- Nature: the poet uses elements of nature.
- The vision of nature in this stage is idealized. This is called locus amoenus, which means “pleasant place”.
- Love: the poets take love as a theme from ancient mythology.
- The beloved is the ideal of perfection, unattainable for the poet (Platonic love).
- The beauty of women is seen as a reflection of God.
Style and Metrics:
- Literature is characterized by the search for naturalness in expression, harmony, and good taste.
- Spanish poets imitate the new Italian metrics.
- Uses hendecasyllable (11 syllables) and seven-syllable (7 syllables) verses.
Compositions are:
- The sonnet: fourteen lines of major art, grouped in two quartets and two tercets.
- The silva: a set of seven-syllable and hendecasyllable lines with consonant rhyme, at the poet’s taste.
- The lira: a stanza of five lines of seven-syllable and hendecasyllable verses, with consonant rhyme.
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