Quevedo: Poetry, Style, and The Life of a Scoundrel
Quevedo’s Poetic Themes
Quevedo’s poetic topics primarily focus on major and minor art forms, especially sonnets. Key themes include:
- Love Poetry: Rooted in “cancionero” lyricism, classical Latin poetry, and Petrarchan influences. Common motifs include the beautiful, unattainable beloved, the lover’s suffering, the madness of love, and love that transcends death.
- Metaphysical and Moral Poetry: Influenced by Christian morality and Stoic ideas, reflecting a deep sense of disappointment. This includes reflections on the transience of life, the deceitfulness of appearances, and the inevitability of death.
- Satirical and Burlesque Poetry: Reviews of customs, human types, and social issues of the era. It prominently features female archetypes, such as old ladies and mischievous women, reflecting the misogyny present in satire, earlier traditions, and the Baroque period.
- Religious Poetry: The Christian Heraclitus combines religious and moral themes, such as repentance for sins and the Passion of Christ.
Additionally, Quevedo wrote circumstantial or praise poetry for the court, celebrating great heroes of antiquity and nobles, as well as descriptive poetry.
Quevedo’s Style
Quevedo’s style is characterized by rhetorical excess in the complex expression of ideas, wit, and ingenuity. He frequently uses contrasts. In his poetry, metaphors and satirical elements aim to educate and provoke laughter, incorporating colloquial and even vulgar expressions. In his more serious works, he employs lexical hyperbatons. He modifies and adds to worship, using idioms and proverbs for parodic purposes.
History of the Life of a Scoundrel
History of the Life of a Scoundrel is a picaresque novel presented as a fictional autobiography of a miserable character, with modifications to the genre. Pablos, the protagonist, longs for social advancement and shows no remorse for his misdeeds. He recounts his life in chronological order without justifying the shame of his family. The narrative introduces various caricatured characters, aiming to depict a marginal world devoid of values. The book can be seen as a burlesque work and a moralistic tale, employing a wealth of resources to elicit laughter.