Spanish Romanticism (1800-1850): Society, Culture & Literature
The Nineteenth Century (1800-1850)
Society & Culture
The transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century coincided with the French Revolution, whose final exaltation did not appease the spirits in Europe.
Ferdinand VII’s absolutist policies hindered the cultural and economic development of Spain, despite the opening of the Museo del Prado and the rise of the bourgeoisie.
Romanticism
Romantic ideas originated in Germany in the late eighteenth century.
Goethe’s work initiated this movement, which shared the ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity with the French Revolution. With it, reason lost strength in favor of feeling and subjectivity.
Romanticism rejects educational value to defend the individual and their freedom in all aspects of life, proclaiming passion and instinct as the only law of life. It moves away from reason and exalts personal feelings and emotions.
Romantic Man
The Romantics faced a reality that did not ease their life expectancy, and far from reason, they felt dominated by the forces of nature and destiny. Hence the disappointment, distress, and the desire to escape of the Romantic man, who would travel to distant countries, to ancient times, and in extreme cases, to suicide.
Romantic Themes
The most purely Romantic themes are freedom and love. The force of destiny that is adverse to the hero, obliging him to flee. The identification of the character’s emotional state with nature. The recognition of characters who meet after a long time. Travel to exotic worlds and times, the final journey.
The defense of the individual facilitates the recovery of the different, and there is a revival of nationalism and their cultures against the homogeneity of the state.
Romantic Poetry
Poetry is the medium that best reflects the Romantic soul: love, sadness, passion… But Romantic poetry also developed narrative stories or romances in the medieval tradition.
José de Espronceda
Represents the Romantic and exalted poet model in Spain. He wrote plays and historical novels but is known for his lyrical poetry and his two narrative poems.
Several of his lyric poems are well-known, including: Pirate Song, The Executioner… His style is emphatic and pompous, with lyrics that promote a very marked rhythm and bombastic sound, but give strength to Romantic themes.
His narrative poems are The Devil World and Student of Salamanca.
Romantic Prose
During Romanticism, two prose genres developed: the historical novel, whose action was usually set in the Middle Ages, and the novel of manners, closely linked to current events and the development of journalism.
Mariano José de Larra
Son of a military doctor afrancesado, he fled to Paris after the Revolutionary War, where he studied. He founded the satirical newspaper El Pobrecito Hablador.
The Articles of Larra
His articles, which reflect the Spanish current at the time, have traditionally been classified by themes found in literature, customs, and politics, but they have common elements: the critique of mediocrity and backwardness, his personal and independent vision, liberal and tolerant ideology, and the European perspective.
Romantic Drama
All Romantic drama takes freedom as its principle. The following features stand out:
- Units of time, place, and action are lost.
- There are no boundaries between dramatic genres, mixing tragedy and comedy, prose and verse to create new sensations and move the viewer.
- Long stories are chosen, with many actions.
- The acts vary from three to five.
- The hero is a mysterious being, with unrequited love, but marked by a fate that will affect him and those around him.
- The main themes are absolute love, beyond good and evil, and freedom.
The Duke of Rivas
As a soldier, he fought in the War of Independence, was sentenced to death, and fled to England. When he returned, he devoted himself to politics and literature. His work Don Alvaro, or the Force of Fate became a masterpiece of Romantic drama.
José Zorrilla
He debuted in Madrid by reciting a poem at the funeral of Larra. He lived in France, where he met great Romantics, such as Alexander Dumas. His work Don Juan Tenorio is the most popular Romantic drama.
Two Romantic Epilogues: Bécquer and Rosalía
Bécquer
His poetry marks the beginning of modern poetry in Spain.
In 1868, he lost the manuscript of the Rhymes during the looting of a minister’s house and had to reconstruct it from memory.
Rhymes
Bécquer receives and transmits two influences:
- The popular poetry of Andalusia.
- And secondly, German Romantic poetry.
They share these characteristics:
- Brevity and simplicity of the poems, very musical structures.
- Subjectivism, very personal texts.
- The absence of rhetorical tone.
Rosalía de Castro
Rosalía’s first books added a commitment to using the Galician language, marginalized as a literary language.
But it is in “Follas novas” where Rosalía is shown as a true modern poet, whose subjects expressed the deepest feelings that affect the human heart.
The Revival
Romanticism aroused nationalist sentiments and independence in Europe.
The “Rexurdimento” Gallego
Romantic liberalism set the stage for the emergence of a cultural and literary movement. With the Rexurdimento, Rosalía de Castro and Curros Enríquez, Galician regained its status as a literary language and culture.
The “Renaixença” Catalan
The Catalan bourgeoisie was the first to reclaim their language and culture. Jacint Verdaguer is the Romantic figure par excellence in Catalan poetry.
The “Rebirth” Basque
The influence of Romanticism in the Basque Country boosted nationalism and oral literature.
Jose Mari Iparraguirre was a famous Basque who composed the national anthem.