Romantic Lyricism: Features, Modernism, and Pérez Bonalde
What Constitutes Romantic Lyric Poetry?
The romantic lyric appeared earlier in England, France, and Germany than in Spain, countries that reached a great development. The romantic lyric is a reflection of the literature of the time, in the sense that the issues it touches are the call for freedom, subjectivity, the exaltation of self, and the yearning for realization of the individual in bourgeois society (as it takes the utmost contempt of the rules, money, and life and be more generous).
Romantic
Read MoreJacint Verdaguer: Life, Works, and Legacy of a Catalan Poet
Jacint Verdaguer: A Literary Icon of Catalonia
Jacint Verdaguer is celebrated as the most famous poet of the Catalan language in the nineteenth century. Born on May 17, 1845, he entered the seminary to study for ten years. In 1865, he received two awards at the Floral Games. He was ordained a priest in 1870.
Soon after, he suffered an illness that caused severe headaches. He was advised to embark on a journey to the West Indies to recover his health and experience the setting of the epic he was working
Read More17th Century Lyric Poetry: Baroque Themes and Styles
The Lyric of the Seventeenth Century
The Baroque poets reflect the contradiction between the classical and idealized Renaissance, and a new, pessimistic, and disillusioned reality.
Topics
- Love is still the preferred theme of poetic compositions but is coupled with a reflection on the transience of earthly life, death, and the rapid passage of time.
The passage of time is reflected mainly in the short life of some mythical flowers like the rose or lily, and ancient ruins that recall a bygone splendor.
Read MoreQuevedo and Lope de Vega: Baroque Poetry
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco de Quevedo belongs to a generation after Góngora and Lope de Vega. He was a man concerned about the affairs of his time, delicate and cruel at the same time. He represents the world of contrasts of the time. His complex social status and physical appearance provided him with a bitter view, expressed through anguish and tears or ridicule.
Subjects
Quevedo’s poetry presents a wide range of themes. He wrote metaphysical, moral, religious, and satirical poems.
Style
Quevedo
Read MoreSpanish Literature: Generation of ’27, 1940s Novels, and García Márquez
Generation of ’27: Key Stages and Authors
Stages of the Generation of ’27:
- 1st Stage (up to 1929): Coincided with the splendor of the avant-garde movements.
- 2nd Stage (1929-1936): Authors like Lorca experienced profound personal crises within Surrealism, finding ways to express their conflicts. New songs produced a rehumanization of poetry, coinciding with a complex political situation.
- 3rd Stage (from 1939): The Generation of ’27 was dramatically dispersed.
Federico García Lorca: Themes and Poetic
Read MoreSpanish Literary Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Modernism and the Generation of ’98: A Literary Revolution
Modernism represented a complete break from the Spanish literary tradition up to that point. It also signified the emergence of writers born in Latin America, not on the Iberian Peninsula, thus initiating a parallel literary tradition that used Castilian Spanish as its vehicle of expression. Modernism was so prolific that, while originating as a literary trend, it manifested in all branches of art, not just literature. Alongside Modernism
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