por What is the literature of the Spanish Renaissance?
The Spanish Renaissance literature It is the set of literary works produced between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Spain. These texts were the product of cultural interaction with Italy, a country that at that time was experiencing its greatest growth in artistic creation.
Spain and Italy were two closely linked countries at that time. The close political, social, religious and cultural ties they had served as a bridge for the exchange of enormous knowledge that enriched both nations.
Popes Calixto III and Alejandro VI, originally from Valencia, were fundamental pieces in expanding the links between Rome and Spain, especially those related to cultural movements.
The greatest Spanish literary works were translated and published in Italy, and vice versa. This exchange was of great importance, since it opened new cultural horizons in the Iberian Peninsula, promoting the Spanish Renaissance.
Historic context
The Spanish Renaissance was developed taking into account the mentality that arose at the time, and that responds to a humanist doctrine.
Humanism proposed the human being as the center of everything, leaving aside religious positions in both science and art, or theocentrism.
On the other hand, it meant the emergence of anthropocentrism, that is, the human as a measure and reference of the world, capable of shaping and dominating it.
This, moreover, developed together with the vindication of the ancient classical cultures and literatures (of Greece and Rome), and it is in this period when the Greco-Latin humanist forms and content are rediscovered.
Spain reaches its maximum political-military splendor
Thanks to the union of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, the expulsion of the Moors was achieved, the arrival in America and the reconquest of Granada, to name a few transcendental events.
This series of events allowed Spain to position itself as one of the most influential and powerful monarchies of the time.
Taking advantage of this historical moment, the Spanish expanded their domains, even reaching the Philippines. If we add to this the authority they exercised over the Portuguese overseas spaces during the government of Felipe II of Portugal, we are talking about a large extension of territory controlled by the Castilian-Aragonese alliance.
Economic structure from America
Perhaps one of the most decisive factors that conditioned a favorable historical context for the development of Spanish Renaissance literature was the wealth taken from America directly to the coffers of the Spanish Crown.
With economic liquidity, the Spanish monarchy was able to solve most of the problems of the fledgling nation. At the time the money from America achieved its own. Great literary schools arose.
Garcilaso de la Vega rose as the most important figure in poetry, closing the fifteenth century with his birth and opening the sixteenth century. And other figures shone: Miguel de Cervantes, San Juan de la Cruz or Fray Luis de León.
Characteristics of Spanish Renaissance literature
The literature of the Spanish Renaissance has well-defined particularities, having as its primary base the tradition of medieval poetry. The cantigas were present, as well as the Christmas carols and the epic songs, so the Marqués de Santillana and Juan de Mena had a noticeable influence on this literary stage.
Among the most outstanding characteristics of this period we can name:
The persistence of the eight syllable verse
The verses of minor art are those that have less than 9 metric syllables, and the eight syllable verse is the recurring one. in Spanish Renaissance poetry.
The Italianism of Garcilaso and Juan Boscán
The influence of Petrarca, carried by Boscán and De la Vega, was imposed in many aspects on the so-called Provençal lyric inherited from the Spanish Middle Ages.
The profane and everyday, the simple love of man as a tool to dignify himself, are the themes of literature during the Spanish Renaissance.
New metrics
Hendecasyllabic verses (11 syllables) and heptasyllables (7 syllables) are incorporated into poetic creations.
Rhyme
The consonant rhyme is the sound that occurs after the stressed vowel and that coincides in its entirety. This happened, of course, in the last words of each verse, generating a pleasant sound to the ear.
The eclogue, the ode and the epistle: the most used genres
The eclogues appeared from the hand of Garcilaso dealing with issues related to pastoral life, being the Eclogue of Salicio and Nemoroso the most recognized. The ode was a widely used form in which the poet captured his deep reflections on life and existence.
The epistles, or letters, for their part, fulfilled a necessary communicative role at the time. The writers used them to clearly convey their thoughts and life situations.
The topics
Among the most prominent themes was love, however, this was manifested in its platonic version, that is, virtuous, rarely reciprocated. Nature was the favorite environment and great protagonist of the literature of the Spanish Renaissance.
Mythology, for its part, was used in two ways: either as a center around which all poetic reality revolved, or as an ornament to enhance the qualities of feminine beauty.
The language
The language in the literature of this period was characterized by being simple and natural. A distancing from elaborate language is noted.
Notable authors and works
Juan Boscan (1492-1542)
Plays
poems
– “To sadness”.
– “The nightingale that loses its children”.
– “What will I do, because I love you” (Song V).
sonnets
– “Love is good in itself naturally”.
– “I am loaded with myself wherever I walk”.
– “Like the sad man who is judged to death.”
– “Sweet dreaming and sweet grief”.
– “Garcilaso, you always aspired to good”.
– “Who says that absence causes oblivion”.
– “I am like the one who lives in the desert”.
– “A new love has given me a new good”.
Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536)
Plays
Couplets
– “To Boscán, because while in Germany, he danced at weddings”.
– “To a game”.
– “Carol”.
– “I will leave from here”.
eclogues
– That honest and pure will.
– The sweet regret of two shepherds.
– In the middle of winter it is warm.
sonnets
– “Dafne’s arms were already growing”.
– “At the entrance of a valley, in a desert”.
– “Oh, jealousy of love, terrible restraint”.
– “My lady, if I am absent from you”.
Fray Luis de Leon (1527-1591)
Plays
poems
– “To Felipe Ruiz”.
– “Serene night”.
– “Prophecy of the Tagus”.
– “Retired life”.
sonnets
– “When I stop to contemplate my life”.
– “Questions of love”.
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Plays
Poetry
– “Enter me where I did not know”.
– «I live without living in my».
– “A pastorcico is only punished”.
– “In the beginning he dwelt”.
Prose
– Ascent to Mount Carmel.
– Dark night of the soul.
– Spiritual song.
– Live flame of love.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
Plays
novels
– The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Mancha.
– The galatea.
– Trip to Parnassus.
Theater
– Tragedy of Numancia.
– Treaty of Algiers.
comedies
– The house of jealousy.
– The entertaining
– Pedro de Urdemales.
Appetizers
– The widowed ruffian named Trampagos.
– Keeps it careful.
– The jealous old man.
poems
– To the tomb of King Felipe II in Seville.
– At the entrance of Duke Medina in Cádiz.
References
Spanish Literature of the Renaissance (S. f.). Retrieved from: es.wikipedia.org
López Asenjo, M. Historical and sociocultural context of the Renaissance in Spain. Recovered from: masterlengua.com
Renaissance literature in Spain (S. f.). Retrieved from: rinconcastellano.com
Notes on the Spanish literature of the Renaissance (S. f.). Retrieved from: blocs.xtec.cat
The Renaissance and the Baroque (S. f.). Recovered from: hiru.eus