Catalan Literary Renaissance: Verdaguer and Key Figures
Jacinto Verdaguer: A Literary Titan
Jacinto Verdaguer was one of the most significant poets in Catalan literary history. His poetic strength arises from the use of imagination and painstaking detail, employing a language of intimate tenderness that connects with the song of the purest popular tradition. In 1877, he was awarded the grand epic poem L’Atlàntida at the Floral Games. He died from tuberculosis on May 10, 1902, and was buried in Montjuïc.
Verdaguer’s Prose and Conflicts
Verdaguer’s prose
Read MoreLiterary Genres: Epic, Lyric, Dramatic, Didactic
Literary Genres
Lyric Genre
The lyric genre is characterized by a subjective attitude where the author expresses personal sentiments. It can be represented in verse or prose.
Lyric Subgenres
- Letrilla: Burlesque, loving, or religious content, often in the form of a carol.
- Ode: Expresses emotion through the contemplation of something.
- Hymn: A poetic composition directed to something, celebrating its virtues.
- Satire: A brief composition that censors individual or collective vices.
- Eclogue: A pastoral character
Spanish Baroque Painting: Velázquez and Murillo
Other issues that were explored: Zurbarán’s The Holy Face and The Baby Jesus in the Carpentry, carving a cross or concocting in Nazareth a crown of spines. Its true everyday world transcriptions are synthesized in his still lifes.
Baroque Realism: Velázquez and Murillo
Diego Rodríguez de Silva Velázquez (Madrid, 1599 – Seville, 1660) is the greatest genius of Spanish art. He was a supreme portraitist who covered all genres of painting: religious painting, mythological fable, still life and landscape.
Read MorePre-Romanesque Art in Europe: Visigothic and Asturian
Pre-Romanesque Art
Developed in Western Europe between the 5th and 10th centuries. It can be divided into two stages:
- Between the 5th and 8th centuries: Art of the Barbarians or Germanic peoples. In Spain, this corresponds to the Visigoths.
- Between the 8th and 10th centuries: Pre-Romanesque art itself. This includes Carolingian art in France, and Asturian and Mozarabic art in Spain.
Visigothic Art
The Visigoths were the most Romanized of the Germanic peoples. Their capital was in Toledo. Visigothic art
Read More20th Century Western World: Thought, Aesthetics, and Literature
Historical Periods of the 20th Century
The 20th century Western world underwent profound transformation, marked by two World Wars, the Russian Revolution, and the Cold War.
Panorama of 20th Century Thought
Three major schools of thought emerged: existentialism, psychoanalysis, and Marxism, often appearing intertwined.
Aesthetics in the 20th Century
Aesthetics evolved rapidly in the 20th century, with numerous artistic streams. Three major trends included social, experimental, and existential approaches.
Read MoreLife, Love, and Death in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
Miguel Hernández’s poetry revolves around three main themes: life, love, and death. Love is reflected and expressed in different ways. In Perito en lunas, love is linked to nature. Sensitivity is lit; poems reveal natural vitality, always reflecting their sensitivity and vitality. After this sensual phase, Miguel Hernández finds his voice and his ‘wound’—love—with El Rayo que no cesa, which reveals the poet’s inner wound embodied in the ‘lightning’ and ‘knife’. Love is tormented passion. The
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