Major Spanish Poets: Works, Themes, and Literary Evolution
Pedro Salinas: Poetic Knowledge and Evolution
To Salinas, poetry is a form of knowledge, delving into the substance of things and life experiences. It aims to express not only beauty but also authenticity (the essential and intimate) and intelligence (conceptual and intellectual). His style follows the guidelines of pure poetry, dense and precise, utilizing paradoxical conceptist resources. He prefers short meters and rarely uses rhyme.
Salinas’s Poetic Phases
First Phase (until 1931): Pure Poetry
Influential Spanish Figures: Arts, Science, History, and Thought
120 Notable Spanish Figures
A Pantheon of Spanish Greats
- José Ortega y Gasset
- Juan de la Cierva
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal
- Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, El Gran Capitán
- Don Pelayo
- Isabella I of Castile, the Catholic
- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
- Félix Lope de Vega
- Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Villegas Santibáñez
- Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez
- Fray Bartolomé de las Casas
- Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo
- Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz
- Juan de Herrera
- Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid
- Philip II of Spain
- Charles III of
Spanish Golden Age Drama: Evolution and Key Figures
Spanish Golden Age Theater
16th Century Theater
Religious Theater
Religious theater in the 16th century focused on Christmas scenes centered around Christ, aiming to evoke piety in the audience. These were short pieces performed inside temples by clerics. Later, mobile carts were used for representations.
Profane Theater
Bartolomé Torres Naharro
His themes included honor and the figure of the servant. He used verse and divided his works into five parts, often performed in workshops.
Lope de Rueda
Known
Don Juan Tenorio Play Plot Summary
ACT ONE: Debauchery and Scandal
The play begins in Seville in the year 1545. The first four acts take place on the same night, which is Carnival night. **Don Juan**, masked, writes at a table in **Buttarelli**’s inn. He speaks to **Ciutti**, who acts as Don Juan’s servant. They discuss their master, whom Ciutti describes as a Spanish knight: frank, rich, noble, and brave, though he claims not to know his name. Don Juan addresses Ciutti and hands him a letter, instructing him to give it to **Doña
Read MoreKey Literary Genres and Dramatic Forms
Linguistic Concepts
The Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed with the verb “to be” acting as an auxiliary and the participle of the verb that is conjugated.
Nonpersonal Verb Forms
Nonpersonal forms (infinitive, gerund, and participle) lack person and number. They function like a noun, an adverb, and an adjective.
Dramatic Literary Genres
Dramatic Subgenres
Dramatic subgenres are classified into two types:
- Major: Tragedy, Comedy, and Drama
- Minor: Entremés (Interlude), Farce, etc.
Tragedy
Tragedy presents
Read MoreSpanish Literary Movements and Poets
Modernism in Spanish Literature
Modernism: An art movement that led to a renewal in the musical aspects of lyrical language and ornamentals. Rubén Darío (1867-1916) is considered a precursor. Notable phonetic contrasts and colorful, plastic meanings of words are used, often as symbols and pictures (e.g., the abandoned garden, fall). Synesthesia is often used. It is considered a minor art.
Antonio Machado
Machado: Does not use many literary resources but expresses feelings very well. Solitudes (1903)
Read More