Understanding Spanish Ballads and Celestina
Spanish Ballads
Ballads are a manifestation of oral transmission, a learned form of Spanish folk poetry.
The earliest known ballads date from the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Method
A series of rhyming verses with 8 syllables and assonance in pairs.
Both primitive troubadour ballads are part of “Old Ballads” and are epic in character, lyrical, and cover various topics.
Classes of Romances
- Historical
- Border
- Topic Carolingian or Breton
- Romantic and lyrical
The romances mixed narration and dialogue
Read MoreAusiàs March: Life, Poetry, and Literary Impact
Ausiàs March (1397-1459)
Linked to Beniarjó and Gandia (Valencia), Ausiàs March came from a family of knights and poets, being the son of Pere March and nephew of Jaume March. He belonged to the minor nobility. As a knight, he participated in Alfonso V of Aragon’s military campaign in Italy (1420-1425) and was rewarded with land and privileges. In 1425, he was appointed Royal Falconer.
He married Isabel Martorell (sister of Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanc). After Isabel’s death, he
Read MoreSpanish Postwar Theater & 1950s Social Realism Novels
Spanish Theater in the Immediate Postwar Period (1940s)
In the immediate postwar period, the dominant theatrical genres were comedy and escapist drama. These two trends persisted in later theater.
The theater of the early postwar years was quite poor, marked by the absence of major playwrights like Valle-Inclán, Lorca, and Muñoz Seca. Other factors included censorship and cultural isolation. Entertainment comedy and ideological or political drama triumphed, featuring playwrights like Jacinto Benavente
Read MoreKey Spanish and Latin American Authors of the Mid-20th Century
Spanish Novelists (Mid-20th C.)
Luis Martín Santos (1924-1964)
Luis Martín Santos, a renowned psychiatrist, died in a traffic accident that prematurely interrupted a brilliant career. He published works on psychiatry before his untimely death.
Juan Marsé (1933-2020)
Juan Marsé (Barcelona) was self-taught and a natural novelist. Consistently realistic, but employing renewed techniques, he criticized the complacent bourgeoisie in his early novels. He achieved a more ideologically charged critique
Read MoreSpanish Poetry: 1940s-1970s – Post-War to Social Engagement
Spanish Poetry from 1940 to the 1970s
At the end of the war, the outlook was bleak for culture. The year 1939 is considered a turning point for poetry in Spain. There was a division in culture: firstly, those in exile, and secondly, those who remained in Spain and were aligned with the ideology and aesthetics of the victors. This resulted in ‘rooted’ poetry (aligned with the regime) and ‘uprooted’ poetry (from those in exile).
The Poetry of the War: The Forties
This period shows a variety of poetic
Read MoreRoman Law and Citizenship Integration in Hispania
Pre-Roman Iberia and Roman Integration Policy
The Iberian Peninsula was occupied by various peoples and clustered ethnic groups, resulting in diverse Iberian cultures. Most of these peoples were unfamiliar with writing. A strong contrast existed between the peoples of the north and those in the Iberian and southern areas. These differences were due to various forms of political, economic, and social organization before the arrival of the Romans to the peninsula.
Legal diversity existed:
- On the Cantabrian