Spanish Literature of the Renaissance
Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536)
Born in Toledo, Garcilaso de la Vega was a man of arms and letters. His love for Isabel Freyre inspired much of his work. His poetic works include 38 sonnets, five songs, three eclogues, two elegies, one letter, and verses in eight-syllable lines. His poetry reflects Renaissance themes in an intimate and personal way. His style is characterized by his selection of vocabulary and imagery, and he uses soft melancholy to express his feelings.
Fray Luis de León (1527-1591)
Born in Belmonte (Cuenca) to a Jewish family, Fray Luis de León became an Augustinian monk and professor at the University of Salamanca. He was imprisoned for two years for translating the Song of Songs into Castilian and commenting on the original Hebrew text of the Bible. His prose works include The Name of Christ and The Perfect Wife.
Religious Literature
During the Renaissance, a movement emerged in the religious sphere that sought to return to the Gospel sources and renew and purify Christian practice. The Pope condemned the theses of Martin Luther, leading to the Protestant Reformation and the division of the Church. In response, the papacy organized the Council of Trent, which established the principles of the Counter-Reformation.
In Spain, a movement arose that aimed to achieve spiritual perfection through meditation and sacrifice. This process had two stages: ascetic and mystic.
Santa Teresa de Jesús (1515-1582)
Born in Ávila, Santa Teresa de Jesús reformed the Carmelite Order and traveled extensively, founding convents. Her main work is The Interior Castle or The Mansions. Another important work is The Way of Perfection, which has a didactic purpose, aiming to make complex spiritual issues understandable to all readers.
San Juan de la Cruz (1542-1592)
Born in Fontiveros (Ávila), San Juan de la Cruz entered the Carmelite Order at 19. He met Santa Teresa de Jesús in 1567 and was imprisoned for participating in the Carmelite reform. His brief but profound poetry has earned him a prominent place in Castilian lyric poetry. His mystical poetry, including Spiritual Canticle, Dark Night of the Soul, and Living Flame of Love, uses allegory to express the soul’s union with God.
The Picaresque
The picaresque is a genuinely Spanish narrative genre. The name comes from pícaro, meaning a rogue or poorly dressed young man without a fixed occupation. Picaresque novels are autobiographical narratives written in the first person, recounting the protagonist’s life from childhood to adulthood, with the intention of explaining their misfortunes.
Other Narrative Genres
- Chivalric: The protagonist is a knight who represents the model of the epic hero (e.g., Amadis of Gaul).
- Pastoral: Shepherds tell stories in a bucolic setting (e.g., The Seven Books of Diana and Galatea).
- Byzantine: Adventures featuring a pair of high-born lovers.
- Moorish: The action takes place in an idealized Muslim world.
The Theater of the Early Sixteenth Century
Origins in Medieval Theater
Spanish theater, like European theater, emerged from religious contexts. The clergy, seeking to explain the mysteries of faith to largely uneducated and illiterate people, created the first theatrical dialogues: tropes, which staged relevant episodes from the Bible. These representations, initially held in churches, became longer and more spectacular, leading to a type of religious drama that was the quintessential medieval theater. Gradually, secular elements and comedians were added, and for reasons of decorum, these performances moved out of the churches and into public spaces: porches, courtyards, plazas, streets, and cemeteries.
Grammar
Adjective Clauses
Propositions are placed in the adjective clause through links: pronouns, determiners, and relative adverbs. These links also perform other functions in the adjectival proposition. If necessary, they can be introduced by a preposition (e.g., which, who, where, whom, whose).
Direct and Indirect Style
In direct style, the speaker reproduces a message verbatim. In indirect style, the speaker reproduces the message with some changes. When changing from direct to indirect style, changes occur in the tense, the adverbs of time, and the spatial and temporal references.
Adjectives: Explanatory and Specifying
The main function of an adjective is to modify a noun, agreeing with it in gender and number. It can be placed before or after the noun.
- Specifying Adjective: Generally placed after the noun, it defines its meaning.
- Explanatory Adjective: Can be placed before or after the noun and simply highlights a quality of the noun without necessarily relating it to others.
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns refer to a previous antecedent and introduce an adjectival subordinate clause. They typically occupy the specifier position of the sentence, and the relative clause can be seen as a complementizer phrase (e.g., which, that, who).