Baroque Lyricism: Characteristics, Themes, and Authors
Characteristics of Baroque Lyricism
In the seventeenth century, poets, driven by literary genius, pursued the creation of complex texts to awaken admiration in the public. This genius manifested in two lyrical trends:
- Cultured: Characterized by complicated works requiring intellectual effort from the reader. It emphasizes two major literary currents: Culteranismo and Conceptismo.
- Popular: Characterized by simplicity and formal clarity.
Themes
Baroque lyricism presents, among others, the following themes:
- Love: Experiences show the misleading contrast between happiness and pain brought by love.
- Disappointment and Pessimism: Life is viewed pessimistically, both morally and philosophically.
- Satire: Poets reflect on the social and political reality of the time, using a critical and burlesque tone.
- Mythology: Compositions recreate scenes from the mythological world of Greco-Roman antiquity.
Culteranismo
Culteranismo is a literary movement based on the use of formal devices. Its most representative author was Luis de Góngora.
Traits of Culteranismo:
- Frequent references to classical mythology.
- Obscure language, distant from reality, using learned words, hyperbatons, metaphors, etc.
- Resources directed to the senses, highlighting color adjectives and those referring to touch.
Góngora’s poetic output consists of:
- Popular Poems: Verses composed in minor art, traditionally attributed to his youth. These compositions were widely distributed due to their apparent formal simplicity.
- Cultured Poems, comprising:
- Sonnets.
- The Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea.
- The Solitudes.
Conceptismo
In Conceptismo, the poet’s ingenuity is manifested in the content, meaning, and double meaning of words. The most commonly used literary devices are:
- Antithesis: Presenting conflicting ideas.
- Dilogy or Puns: Using words with more than one meaning.
- Neologisms: Creating new words.
- Hyperbole: Exaggerating qualities.
Quevedo’s poems can be classified into three groups according to their subject:
- Philosophical and Moral Poems: Addressing the transience of life, the inevitability of time, human destiny, the fear of death, and the decline of Spain.
- Satirical-Burlesque Poems: Mocking critiques of professions and customs of his time.
- Love Poems: Exploring idealized love, but also love understood as a futile hope, a contradictory and frustrated feeling.
Popular Lyricism
Popular lyricism includes villancicos and letrillas. These compositions are characterized by clarity of expression and simplicity in language.
Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega cultivated poetry in both its cultured and popular forms. His poetry reflects his life experiences. Lope collected traditional Castilian poetry circulating among the people, with multiple variants. He recreated and enriched them. The forms he used most were the romance, the villancico, and the seguidilla.
Conceptismo (Repeated Section Corrected)
In Conceptismo, the poet’s ingenuity is reflected in the content, meaning, and the double meaning of words. The most commonly used literary devices are:
- Antithesis: Showing conflicting ideas.
- Dilogy or Puns: Using words with more than one sense.
- Neologisms: Creating new words.
- Hyperbole: Exaggerating qualities.
Quevedo’s poems can be classified into three groups according to the subject:
- Poems on philosophical and moral issues, such as the transience of life, the inevitability of time, human destiny, the fear of death, and the decline of Spain.
- Poems with a satirical-burlesque theme, offering mocking critiques of professions and customs of his time.
- Poems on the theme of love, presenting idealized love, but also love understood as a futile hope, a contradictory, frustrated feeling.
Popular Lyricism (Repeated Section Corrected)
Popular lyricism includes villancicos and letrillas. These compositions are characterized by clarity of expression and simplicity in language.
Lope de Vega (Repeated Section Corrected)
Lope de Vega cultivated poetry, both in its cultured and popular forms. His poetry reflects his life experience. Lope collected the compositions of traditional Castilian poetry circulating among the people, with multiple variants. He recreated and prepared them to return them enriched. The forms used were the romance, villancico, and the seguidilla.