Baroque Literature: Characteristics and Main Authors
Baroque Literature
The Ideology of the Baroque
Baroque is considered the artistic expression of a worldview and an attitude determined by a social and historical context of conflict. The real difficulties generated a pessimistic conception and a sense of disappointment. It sparked a fascination for the bizarre and the grotesque. Reality is conceived as a struggle of opposites. We developed the perception of the weakness of man, the transience of time, and the presence of death.
Collective Beliefs
- Intensification of irrationality, magical vision of reality, and belief in the supernatural.
- Increasing obsession with cleansing the blood, honor, and misogyny.
Current Group
- Search for pleasure and beauty as a means of escape.
- Realistic acceptance.
- Solace of ascetic spirituality.
Baroque Culture
The seventeenth century is known as the Golden Age because it was a great period of cultural brilliance. Spanish baroque is influenced by the Catholic principles of the counter-reformation. The monarchy and the privileged practiced patronage. The official culture was in the hands of universities. Most people were illiterate, so religious instruction was given by sermons, pictures, and parties. (Tendency to show, rise of the theater)
Baroque Poetry
Thematic Aspects
- Love: Related to nature and mythology with an intensification of expressive resources. Texts that express the idea of disappointment and the sense of time dominate.
- Poesia Amorosa (Fleeting Love, Death Related): Continuing the Renaissance idea of love. Survival of the physical description of the beloved as Petrarchan images that can be modified by the consciousness of time. It is also treated from a parody or burlesque approach.
- Poetry and Moral Philosophy: Marked by pessimism. Dominates the heartbreak, the contrast between reality and appearance, the transience of life, awareness of death, the stoic ideas, and the need for a virtuous life. (Poetry satirical: It is critical and humorous) (Quevedo)
- Religious Poetry: Predominantly celebratory poetry. Emphasizes spiritual reflection and repentance. (Lope de Vega)
- Burlesque Poetry: Poetry of an even humorous parody and ridicule and personal attack.
Formal Aspects
It is characterized by a remarkable variety of forms, genres, and stylistic variety of records by the use of language and the talent show through the use of expressive resources.
- Metric: Art Appreciation lower (octosyllable): Seguidillas, carols, letrillas, and romances. It continued to cultivate the types of poems and verses and is relevant Italianate Renaissance the emergence of Silva.
Corrientes Baroque
- Conceptism: Summarizes the thinking and saying. Cares more about content than form. Resources: Irony, paradox, puns, double meanings, antithesis. Highest representative: Quevedo.
- Culteranismo: Searches for the formal beauty of poetry. The issue is less important; what matters is the accumulation of expressive onomatopoeia, alliteration, and sound. Syntactic difficulty: hyperbaton. Use of Latin structures (verb-final and circumlocution). Use of metaphors cultured, literary reality, mythology…
Luis de Góngora
I think the most innovative poetic language of the time. Its production provoked among its readers both rejection and fiery polemics and admiration and followers. The new style is characterized by difficulty for a great job of cultism, Latino, bold metaphors, symmetrical structures, turns poetic Hellenized… Work: Practical minor art of poetry and poetry Petrarch. Poetry minor art: Moorish romances, pastoral, historical and burlesque (Tisbe) Letrillas burlesque and satirical. Sonnets. Major poems:
- Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea: Is Cyclops Polyphemus and Galatea love spurned kills Acis, Galatea’s lover, by throwing a rock, the sea god turns your blood into the river.
- Solitudes: Iban to be four poems of exaltation nature by passing a pilgrim in four age groups: Youth, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. But I only wrote the first and part of the second.
Baroque Prose Narrative
- Fiction Pastoral: In decline (the arcade Lope de Vega) decaying Byzantine Novel (The work of Persiles and Sigismunda (Cervantes))
- Novella Courtesan: (Amorous and exemplary novels María de Zayas) disappeared chivalry novel picaresque novel: It was founded by the picaresque novel Lazarillo but develops in the baroque period is as typical novel Lazarillo B. Elements: Autobiographical. Justification. Is directed to a third party. Experiences, school of life. The character is low class. E. New: pessimism. Ironic vision. Hyperbole. Cartoon. Nastier characters. Purpose moral (moral education explains) The life of Guzman de Alfarache (Matthew German) The hustler (Quevedo) (Special verbal creation.)
- Teaching Prose: Includes works historical, political, and religious. Are satirical-Morales.
- Prose Teaching Quevedo: Includes works political, philosophical, and moral satire. Dreams: A collection of stories that present the satire of social groups and individuals who exemplify misconduct.
- Prose Teaching Gracián: Gracián’s works are directed to a minority, and its purpose is the teaching of standards based on reason and wisdom to achieve personal growth. The Criticon: Pilgrimage in the way of life, pessimistic and critical view of the world pursuit of virtue and the good, crafty language.