Modernism and Generation of ’98: Late 19th Century Spain
The Crisis of the Late 19th Century in Spain
In late 19th century Spain, two movements emerged in opposition to Realism: Modernism and the Generation of ’98.
Historical and Cultural Context
Two key historical events shaped this period:
- The Colonial Wars: The loss of Cuba and Puerto Rico in 1898, known as the “Disaster of ’98,” triggered an economic crisis.
- The Restoration Crisis: Alfonso XIII ascended to the throne in 1902 at the age of 16. Political instability marked this era, with Liberals and Conservatives
Geoffrey Chaucer: Life, Works, and The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400)
Chaucer’s Works
It was once customary to divide Chaucer’s literary career into three periods:
- The French period (to 1372)
- The Italian period (to 1385)
- The English period (to 1400)
This categorization should not be taken as watertight; it is valid for didactic purposes. The courtly lyrics Chaucer wrote in the manner of contemporaneous French poets might well be mentioned first, although there is no way of dating most of these little poems. They present to us the familiar
Read MoreUnderstanding Child Language Development: From Cooing to Speech
Caretaker Speech
Caretaker speech is the characteristically simplified speech style adopted by someone who spends a lot of time interacting with a young child. It is characterized by frequent questions, always with exaggerated intonation, simple sentence structures, and frequent repetition. These simplified models serve as clues to the basic structural organization of language.
Pre-Language Stages
The pre-linguistic sounds of the very early stages are called cooing and babbling.
- 3-10 months: Three stages
Huckleberry Finn: A Classic American Adventure Novel
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*: A Literary Classic
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, one of the first great American novels, was first published in England in December 1884.
Key Characters in *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*
- Huckleberry “Huck” Finn: The protagonist and narrator of the novel. The thirteen-year-old son of a local drunk from a city on the Mississippi River in Missouri, Huck is thoughtful, intelligent, and willing to come to his own conclusions.
- Tom Sawyer: A young
Poetic Symbolism and Literary Techniques in Early Works
Poetic Symbolism in Early Works
The beauty of the beloved is represented through a series of symbols. For example, the bull, which embodies the fullness of life, represents virility, strength, violence, and masculinity. Mud, a wet, plastic element, symbolizes a submissive lover even more than the dog, and can solidify the vaginal heat. Constant metamorphoses include lightning, forge, anvil, gardeners, hurricane, lava, bull, stalactite, hawk, and lilies. The blacksmith’s anvil or metal represents
Read MoreLiterary Genres and Subgenres: Middle Ages to Renaissance
Epic Poetry
The epic, from the Greek word epos, which signifies narrative, shows an objective attitude and uses the narrative form to tell real and imagined events.
Epic Subgenres
- Epic: A long poem that recounts the exploits of a hero and represents the character of the nation.
- Epic Poem: A medieval epic poem, often anonymous, recited by minstrels for an exemplary purpose, recounting the exploits of a hero.
- Romance Epic: Romance could be born of the epics, and its origin had an epic recounting episodes