Catalan Literature: Humanism to Renaissance
Catalan Literature: Humanism to the Renaissance
Humanism
Humanism was the current philosophical school of thought during the Renaissance, marked by significant scientific and technical discoveries.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a movement that focused on the human experience. Scholars were very interested in creating a comprehensive grammar of the Latin language.
The Plight of Catalan
There was a lack of modern Catalan literature (then called the Limousine language) and a separation between the written
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Catalan Language: Verbal Syntax
SV (Syntagma Verb): Set of words in contemporary Catalan where the verb is the nucleus. SV = V + CV
Types of Verbs:
- Based on the subject:
- Personal: The subject agrees in gender and number.
- Impersonal: No subject, always in the 3rd person.
- Based on syntactic function:
- Copulative: To be, to become, to seem.
- Predicative:
- Intransitive: To call, to telephone, and meals.
- Transitive: Needs a direct object.
- Prepositional (CRV): Needs a preposition for the verb to be meaningful, always
Lorca and Hernández: Poetic Drama, Love, and Loss
Lorca’s Total Performance
Federico García Lorca created a true poetic drama. In it, besides the word, music, dance, and art become increasingly important, shaping a total spectacle. Lorca’s dramatic production expresses profound problems of life and history through a language loaded with connotations.
First Dramas and Farces
His first plays are related to modern theater. The Curse of the Butterfly aligns with the conventions of verse drama and introduces the theme of the ideal of perfection. Mariana
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Federico García Lorca: Poetry and Dramatic Work
Poetic Work
Two stages can be identified:
- Neopopulist Poetry (until 1928): His best-known poems are Poema del Cante Flamenco (1921), Songs (1921-1924), and Gypsy Ballads (1924-1927). These works feature typically Andalusian motifs, with Gypsy Ballads being the most famous. The themes are tragic, including violent death, frustration, and loneliness.
- Poetry of Surrealist Influence (since 1928): This includes Poet in New York, Lament for the Death of Ignacio
Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy in Ancient Greece
Greek Drama
Origin of Greek Drama: Born in Athens, it was related to the cult of the god Dionysus. During the Great Dionysia in 534 BC, in a procession, the statue of the god was placed over an altar. A choir danced around it, ritually singing a song dedicated to Dionysus, the dithyramb, and they wore goat skins. The word “tragedy” comes from the Greek words “tragos” (goat) and “ode” (song), meaning “song of the goat.” It was accompanied by drama, tragedies, and comedies that lasted five days. Three
Read MoreCastilian Language: Origins, Lyric Poetry, and Literary Movements
Birth of the Castilian Language
Vulgar Latin, present on the Iberian Peninsula since 218 BC, evolved and fragmented into dialects. Especially since the 8th century, due to the fragmentation of the Christian kingdoms after the Muslim invasion, Romance languages like Castilian, Catalan, and Mozarabic dialects emerged. The Castilian Romance exhibits a higher degree of evolution and dynamism. The first written records date from the 10th century and are the Glosses (brief explanations in Romance of Latin
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