Medieval Spanish Literature: El Cantar de Mio Cid & Mester de Clerecía
El Cantar de Mio Cid: Epic Poem Analysis
El Cantar de Mio Cid is the most important epic poem in Spanish literature, and the only one with about 4000 verses that has come down to us almost completely. The preserved manuscript is a copy from the 14th century. However, the composition of the work appears to be earlier.
Date and Authorship of El Cantar de Mio Cid
According to Menéndez Pidal, the epic was composed in the 12th century by two anonymous minstrels from the Soria region. The first part conforms
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Juan Goytisolo: Innovative Narrative Techniques
Juan Goytisolo was one of the first novelists to abandon the plain language of realism, replacing it with an innovative narrative technique that often addressed social and economic realities. His early novels, such as Legerdemain and Duel in Paradise, adopted the hallmarks of a fiesta. In his renewal procedures, he narrated the return to Spain of exiled intellectuals and the imposition of a challenging new reality in the country.
Juan Marsé: Chronicler
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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
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