Renaissance Culture and Literature: Humanism, Poetry, and Influence
1. Renaissance Culture
1.4. Culture in the Renaissance
The Renaissance marked a shift in human relationships with God and nature. Endowed with freedom, dignity, and the ability to decide for themselves, humans stood at the center of the world (anthropocentrism).
The transformation in Renaissance culture stemmed from the renewed appreciation of classical literature and learning recovered by humanists.
Humanism
Humanism, a school of thought based on the studia humanitatis (“humanitarian studies”), imposed classical learning, allowing direct access to the works of antiquity. This education was believed to develop human capacities and provide philosophical ideas for navigating life.
The reading of ancient authors led to poetic creation through imitation, understood as the knowledgeable recreation of various texts. In humanist works, alongside the appreciation of human potential and creativity, an optimistic and confident worldview prevails, exalting nature and pleasure.
Humanists played an active role in urban life. Educated nobles and commoners held important positions, participated in the political and economic life of cities, and enjoyed the protection of the powerful.
Humanism and Renaissance in Spain
In Spain, humanism gained prominence in the late 15th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, Cardinal Cisneros, a promoter of spiritual and rural reforms, played a key role. He promoted the Complutensian Polyglot Bible (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin) and founded the University of Alcalá de Henares.
Along with humanism, the study of the national language gained importance (as it did in Italy). Spanish flourished in literature and science, with Latin works being translated (e.g., Fray Luis’s versions of Horace). Antonio de Nebrija published Gramática de la lengua castellana, and Juan de Valdés wrote Diálogo de la lengua.
The Renaissance also saw a revival of chivalry, merging with the existing culture. Emperor Charles I’s policy of bringing nobles to his court favored the emergence of the ideal courtier: the poet participating in military and diplomatic missions. The prototypical Renaissance gentleman—educated, noble, military, and poet—was embodied in Spain by Garcilaso de la Vega, depicted by Baldassare Castiglione in The Courtier (1528), translated into Spanish by Juan Boscán.
2. Renaissance Lyric Poetry
2.1. Formal Aspects
Italian poetry contributed two innovations: the hendecasyllable and enjambment, which created a softer sound. Although the hendecasyllable had been used before, Juan Boscán introduced it permanently and recommended its practice to Garcilaso de la Vega.
Renaissance lyric poetry also incorporated stanzas and composition types from Italian lyric poetry:
- Terza rima (chained triplets), similar to Castilian poetry, used by Juan Boscán and Garcilaso.
- Lira, whose Castilian name comes from Garcilaso’s “Ode to the Flower of Knidos.”
- Octava rima (also known as ottava rima), introduced by Juan Boscán.
- Cuarteto (quatrain), used in Petrarchan or Italian songs, and by Garcilaso.
- Soneto (sonnet), of Italian origin and perfected by Petrarch, cultivated earlier by the Marquis of Santillana, but permanently established by Boscán and Garcilaso.
- Sestina, of Italian origin, consisting of three hendecasyllable verses and a pentasyllable verse.
In the first half of the 16th century, the prevailing style emphasized simplicity and naturalness of expression.
Renaissance poetry also exhibits a stylistic change: adjectives become important, especially to describe the external world (the beauty of the landscape), and metaphors characterize the lady’s features. The use of hyperbaton is notable.
3. Evolution of Renaissance Poetry
3.1. First Stage
In the early 16th century, cancionero lyric dominated. In 1511, the Cancionero general was published, a model for later collections. Others included popular ballads and traditional poems.
The first half of the 16th century saw poetic renewal driven by Petrarchan and classical influence. Lyric poetry surpassed other genres, with Garcilaso de la Vega as a key figure. This new concept was inherited by poets like Gutierre de Cetina and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.
3.2. Second Stage
In the second half of the 16th century, the rise of spiritual literature, influenced by religious and cultural changes, became important.
These creations, inspired by biblical sources and classical and Italian influences, combined forms and motifs from the first stage, addressing moral or mystical issues. Fray Luis de León and San Juan de la Cruz stand out in religious poetry.
Lyric poetry addressed spiritual themes in two ways: asceticism and mysticism.
- Asceticism: Perfection through purification, a three-stage process: purgative (purifying the soul), illuminative (God guides the soul), and unitive (full union with God).
- Mysticism: The experience corresponding to the unitive way.
4. Garcilaso de la Vega
In 1543, the works of Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega were published (posthumous edition by Boscán), marking the beginning of Spanish Petrarchan lyric poetry. Garcilaso’s short work (forty sonnets, three eclogues, five songs, two elegies, an epistle, and eight octosyllabic poems) revolutionized Spanish lyric and became a model for later poets.
4.1. Themes and Poetic Evolution
Garcilaso’s main theme is love, expressed through melancholy, sadness, frustration, or lack of love. He connects nature, presented in its perfection (locus amoenus), with his inner world, a refuge from pain. In other poems, he addresses friendship (Elegy I, Epistle to Boscán), fate, fortune, and the Stoic ideal of controlling passions.
His early Petrarchan poems show the influence of Ausiàs March, with a more fragmented style and cancionero lyric resources (antithesis, polyptoton, derivation).
4.2. The Eclogues
In these lyrical compositions, shepherds express their complaints in an idealized setting.
- Eclogue I: Two shepherds, Salicio and Nemoroso, lament the pain of rejection and the death of their beloveds, respectively. Written in Petrarchan song stanzas.
- Eclogue II: Heterogeneous in metrics. Albanio’s unrequited love for Camilla and his attempted suicide. Praise of the House of Alba. Uses chained triplets, heroic verse, and stanzas.
- Eclogue III: Four nymphs on the Tagus weave stories: three mythological (Orpheus and Eurydice, Apollo and Daphne, Adonis and Venus) and one about the death of Elisa, Nemoroso’s beloved. Employs octava rima.
4.3. Style
Garcilaso’s poetic language is characterized by natural expressiveness, particularly the use of epithets (from 1532), metaphors, personifications, and hyperbaton.
5. Fray Luis de León
Fray Luis de León’s poetry coincided with the rise of spiritual literature.
5.1. Original Poetic Works
Fray Luis’s poetry, comprising twenty-three original poems, mostly in lira form, was published in 1631 by Quevedo. It is primarily moral poetry, with some religious poems. His sources include Horace (beatus ille theme) and Virgil, as well as biblical texts. Neoplatonic and Stoic philosophy influence his work, emphasizing overcoming passions (love, hate, hope, fear) to achieve peace and serenity.
Fray Luis expresses these ideals through the beatus ille theme (retired life in nature) and the rejection of worldly concerns, particularly greed and lust. The locus amoenus represents the ideal place for poetry, music, and peace.
Style: Fray Luis’s poetic language features metaphors related to nature (sea, wind, air, woods), word repetitions, anaphora, Latinisms, and hyperbaton. He also uses polysyndeton and asyndeton.
5.2. Works in Prose
Fray Luis’s prose, combining clarity, beauty, and colloquial elements, is influenced by humanist ideas and Augustinian values.
- Biblical Commentaries: Exposition of the Song of Songs (1798), Exposition of the Book of Job (1779), and The Perfect Wife (1583). In The Perfect Wife, he describes the ideal wife, outlining the duties and attributes of married women.
- In the Name of Christ (1583): His most important prose work, written in Renaissance dialogue form, exploring the meanings of Christ’s names in the Bible (The Branch, Prince of Peace, The Way, Shepherd).