Spanish Renaissance Literature: Characteristics and Poetry
Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron is a bitter narrative satire against the institutions of his day. Dante is the continuation of the Renaissance in Spain, but it appears with its own characteristics, making traditional religious beliefs coexist with the new valuation of the world, and the national with new European trends. Two factors, politics and culture, contribute to the Spanish Renaissance having its own personality:
- The reign of Charles I of Spain and V of Germany is a symbol of glory, full political and economic prosperity, and allows opening to the European mainstream.
- The reign of Philip II follows the spirit of the Counter-Reformation and, to prevent the spread of Protestant ideas, exercises strict censorship through the Inquisition.
Stages of the Spanish Renaissance
Early Renaissance or Reign of Charles I
Comprises the first half of the sixteenth century, a period in which European directives are received. Neoplatonism and Erasmianism appear, and Italianate poetry of Petrarchan influence is introduced. Its best representative is Garcilaso de la Vega.
Second Renaissance or Age of Philip II
Includes the second half of the 16th century, which emphasizes religious and national traits and Christianizes the previous period. The Italian formula blends with the national tradition. Its best representative is Fray Luis de Leon.
Renaissance Poetry
Spanish Renaissance poetry represents the simultaneity of two streams: the traditional, inherited from the fifteenth century, and the European mainstream, with Italian influences. The poetry was popular and oral, expressed in the traditional lyric ballads and old. With the advent of printing, oral texts are collected in anthologies, songbooks often referred to in living folk poetry and learned lyrics.
The court poets, meanwhile, continue to cultivate the troubadour song, focusing on courtly love and using key metrics such as the octosyllable. Mid-century, the new ballads or artistic nature also come to worship.
Formal Aspects
The essential contribution of this Italian influence is the eleven-syllable verse, which, due to its rhythmic flexibility, was very appropriate for the expression of lyrical themes. Some poets had tried, but until John Boscán, the hendecasyllable would not be promoted and succeed in later poems of Garcilaso de la Vega.
Stanzas
New stanzas were created, based on this verse:
- Trio: Stanza of three heroic verses, consonant rhyme (ABA). The chained triplets follow this scheme: ABA BCB CDC…
- Quartet: Stanza of four heroic verse lines, consonant rhyme (ABBA).
- Lira: Stanza of five lines, two heroic verses and two seven-syllable verses that follow the pattern: aBabB.
- Stay: Consonant rhyme combining a variable number of seven-syllable and hendecasyllable lines, with variable rhyme.
- Ottava Rima: Stanza of 8 lines of heroic verse rhyme (ABABABCC).
Compositions
Two compositions are also features of the Renaissance:
- Sonnet: Poem combining 2 quartets and 2 triplets. The rhyme is always quartet ABBA ABBA. However, the triplets show variables: CDC DCD / CDE CDE / CDE CDE, etc.
- Petrarchan Song: A variable number of rooms. The rhyme scheme of the first is repeated elsewhere.
The Renaissance also recovers Genres, several poetic genres of the Greco-Roman tradition, such as Eclogues: Compositions in which the poet expresses his feelings through shepherds.