Spanish Literature: Baroque, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism
Quevedo
Francisco de Quevedo was born in Madrid in 1580. He participated in various political intrigues and had a mastery of language. His poetic works include metaphysical poems, moral poems, religious poems, poems of circumstance, love poems, and satirical poems. Dreams (1627) is his most celebrated work. Around 1605, he wrote The Swindler.
Conceptismo
Conceptismo is characterized by a compromise between the desire to express ideas and concepts and verbal ingenuity. It emphasizes not just ideas but
Read MoreShakespeare’s Plays: Structure, Style, and Evolution
General Structure of Shakespearean Plays
The following five-act structure was imposed by Nicholas Rowe, one century after Shakespeare’s time:
- Act One (Exposition): The conflict and characters are established, and the audience takes sides. It provides the rationale and emotional background of the coming action.
- Act Two (Rising Action): Suspense builds as the “good guys” and the “bad guys” make preliminary moves against one another.
- Act Three (Climax): Things begin to look as if the bad guys are going
Baroque Era: Key Figures, Themes, and Theatrical Innovations
The Baroque Era
The Baroque was a cultural movement that developed in Spain and throughout Europe during the seventeenth century. This period, coinciding with the reigns of Philip III, Philip IV, and Charles II, has several characteristic features:
- Political and economic crisis
- Boom of the nobility
- Disenchanted view of life
- Fascination with difficulty
- Taste for contrast
Baroque thought emphasizes the brevity of life and the transience of things, dominated by a negative conception of the world. The idea
Read MoreUnderstanding Romanticism: Key Features and Major Works
Romanticism in Literature
The Romantic Era
When: First half of the nineteenth century
Where: Mainly in England and Germany, later spreading to France and Spain
What it is: Romanticism is a literary movement that champions the creative power of spirit, imagination, feeling, and passion. The artist’s ego must be free to express its creation. The romantic writer is often a rebel, rebelling against the bourgeoisie and rational thought.
Key Characteristics of Romanticism
- Rejection of reality and escape through
Rhetorical Devices and Literary Figures
Allegory
A series of continuous images or metaphors that give each text a real sense and a figurative or literal one. For example, Gonzalo de Berceo, in the “Introduction to the Miracles of Our Lady,” presents Paradise (real sense) as a field (image) in which there are sources (= the gospels), birds (= saints), and flowers (= names of the Virgin, etc.).
Alliteration
Repetition of a sound in words close to or in one sentence:
Noise with the raucous rolling storm. (J. Zorrilla)
Anaphora
Repetition of a
Read MoreHumanism, Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment: A Cultural Journey
Humanism and the Renaissance
Humanism emerged as a cultural movement in 14th-century Italy, forming the foundation of the Renaissance. Humanists, primarily writers and intellectuals, rediscovered the allure of classical Greco-Roman literature and culture. These classical authors served as both examples and models. Humanists championed the human condition, emphasizing humankind as the focal point of all cultural and artistic endeavors.
Humanism in Catalonia
Officials within the royal chancery, possessing
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