Spanish Literature Through the Ages
Average Age
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Understand U.S. abrca between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, when the Turks took Constantinople. In medieval Spain, the slow opening of the Visigoth kingdom.
Average Age Spain
The internal dissension of the Visigoth kingdom precipitated the Islamic invasion in 711. Cordoba became the political center of Muslim Spain, receiving the name Al-Andalus, and becoming the cultural capital of the West between the 9th and 11th centuries. The reaction of the Christian kingdoms began in the 9th century with continuous territorial gains at the expense of Muslim territories. The arrival of the Almoravids in 1086 restored the Taifa kingdoms, marking the beginning of the Muslim decline. The capture of Toledo by Alfonso 6 of Castile and Leon, along with Aragonese and Catalan expansion in the east, constituted unstoppable milestones in the Christian advance. Under the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, the Nasrid kingdom of Granada fell. Other significant historical events include the discovery of America and the expulsion of the Jews from the peninsula.
Medieval Mentality
Religions
Christian, Jewish, Muslim.
Creative Writing
Monasteries, cathedral schools, and universities were the main centers of cultural and literary activity during the Middle Ages. These religious institutions were not only generators of culture, but also fostered the creation of universities. Castles and the Way of Santiago also saw the emergence of many important works of medieval literature.
Al-Andalus Literature
Prose and poetry.
Mozarabic Language
Latin Romance was spoken by Christians and Muslims in Islamic Spain.
Epics
Epic poetry was the art of minstrels. Spain had a long tradition of epic poetry in the Middle Ages, particularly in Castile. It was commonly sung, using gestures to enhance the storytelling. An epic poem is defined as a story written in verse that extols the exploits of a hero.
Epic Origins
They are related to distinct sources: carmina maiorum, French epic, Arabic epic, Andalusian folklore, and popular tradition. They are part of the literary tradition of minstrelsy, or the art of the troubadours, and hence are often anonymous.
Poema de Mio Cid
It is a poem composed during the peak of the medieval Castilian epic, between the second half of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th century. It has survived in one manuscript, preserved in the National Library as one of its most precious treasures. It has two main storylines: 1) The exile of the Cid by King Alfonso 6 and his subsequent fortunes, and 2) The marriage of the Cid’s daughters. The poem is an epic, a narrative poem in verse, which follows the rhyme scheme of the mester de juglaría.
Provençal Lyric
Poetry written to be sung, accompanied by musical instruments and melodies. Like the epic, it addresses a listening audience, but unlike it, it is a refined and rigorous art form, whose composition requires a solid literary foundation.
Humanism
A cultural, intellectual, and political movement that placed paramount importance on the texts of Latin antiquity, considered indispensable for individual development. Prominent figures in Spain, as in other countries, embraced humanism and its desire to ennoble language.
Petrarchan Lyric
Drawing from the tradition of courtly love and the chivalric ideal, it is based on an aesthetic where the poet expresses their feelings indirectly, transformed through a process of spiritual development and refinement that distances them from reality and elevates them to aesthetic truth.
Songbooks
Collections of short lyrical poems that have survived to this day. Two stand out: the Songbook of Baena and the Songbook of Stúñiga.
Íñigo López de Mendoza
Some of his works have Italian characteristics and try to follow the new style of Dante’s allegory. Among them are the Comediata de Ponza and the Infierno de los Enamorados, which introduced the sonnet form, of Italian origin, into Castilian for the first time.
Juan de Mena
His most important work is Laberinto de Fortuna, consisting of 300 stanzas of high art, written in dodecasyllabic octaves, with a heavily Latinized syntax and vocabulary.
Jorge Manrique
The most significant poet of the 15th century and one who had the most influence on the tastes of his time. He wrote love poems, following the tradition of courtly love and troubadours.
Ballads
In the hands of the bards, ballads became the most genuine expression of popular literature. Closely related to epics, they have narrative elements of both epic and romance.
La Celestina
Written by Fernando de Rojas, it belongs to the humanist comedy genre. Theatrical elements predominate over narrative, with dialogue throughout. It consists of two parts.
17th Century Literature and Thought
The Renaissance ideal provided art and literature with beauty and moderation of form. From the mid-16th century, a transformation took place, with a progressive departure from the imitation of classics. This change is reflected in Mannerism, represented by artists like Caravaggio, Herrera, and El Greco, as forerunners of the Baroque.
Baroque
Characterized by greater subjectivity in the artist’s interpretation of the world, and a more reflexive, serious, and pessimistic attitude towards the transcendental themes of human existence.
Golden Age
The 16th and 17th centuries constitute our Golden Age, a period of splendid literary production in both quantity and quality, with great geniuses of Spanish arts.
Classicism and Baroque in Literature
In Classicism, expression is direct and natural, seeking elegance and spontaneity, avoiding artificial and excessively ornamental expression. Baroque, on the other hand, is characterized by a more identifiable literary language, creating a literature with its own language.
Conceptismo and Culteranismo
The interest in drawing attention to linguistic forms is reflected in two characteristic Baroque literary currents: Conceptismo and Culteranismo. Both demonstrate the writer’s desire to excel in verbal skill and wit. Conceptismo is based on the concept, while Culteranismo uses dazzling and strange language, surprising with unexpected words.
Poetry During the Baroque
The exuberant and sensory language of this period is mainly expressed in lyric poetry. The themes, metric forms, and genres of the 16th century remain, but the range has expanded to encompass both popular and more educated forms. Love poetry remains faithful to the Petrarchan tradition.
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