Romanticism and Post-Romanticism: Key Movements & Authors
The Romantic movement, reacting against the emphasis on reason, embraced emotion and feeling. It championed the individual over the social, and freedom of conduct and creation over rigid rules. Romanticism developed in the 19th century, culminating trends that opposed Enlightenment rationalism. Originating in Britain and Germany, it quickly spread through Europe, notably via France.
Romantic authors claimed freedom in all spheres: political freedom, advocating for a liberal state; moral freedom,
Read MoreSpanish Literature and Theater Under Franco’s Dictatorship
Poetry in the 1940s
During the 1940s, the expression of religious and existential anxieties dominated Spanish poetry. Postwar poetry began with two books by authors of the Generation of ’27: Children of Wrath (Dámaso Alonso) and Shadow of Paradise (Vicente Aleixandre). Both opened the way for younger poets. These books reflect a pessimistic and anxious world, presented as a meaningless chaos. They show a deep dissatisfaction with reality.
Francoist Spain
Spain lived under the dictatorship of General
Read MoreSonority, Syllable Structure, and Stress in English
Sonority Scale and Syllable Formation
The Sonority Scale (or sonority hierarchy) posits that sonority increases towards the syllable peak, typically occupied by vowels and other sonorant sounds, and decreases away from it. Obstruent sounds, with the lowest sonority, often mark syllable boundaries. The scale has seven levels:
- 7-Vowels
- 6-Glides
- 5-Liquids
- 4-Nasals
- 3-Fricatives
- 2-Affricates
- 1-Plosives
The Sonority Sequencing Generalization (SSG) states that an optimal syllable has a sonority peak, optionally
Read MoreSpanish Romantic Authors: Bécquer, Espronceda, Zorrilla & Larra
Spanish Romantic Authors
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Bécquer, a sentimental, dreamy, and idealistic poet, employed a simpler technique than his romantic predecessors. His work, Rhymes, is divided into four sections and centers on the theme of women, often with a sentimental tone. He blends verses and stanzas, uses short lines with assonance and rhyme, and favors a language with few adjectives and frequent parallels.
Espronceda
Espronceda’s lyric poetry reflects the romantic spirit, oscillating between
Read MoreChildren’s Literature: From Medieval Times to the Golden Age
The 18th Century: A Social Construct
Children’s literature is not a natural phenomenon but a social construct, born of the European Enlightenment of the 18th century.
Before 1800
In the Middle Ages, children’s literature was simply the literature of the entire culture. Caxton printed a version of Aesop’s fables in 1484, while his successor Wynkyn de Worde produced the Geste of Robin Hood around 1510. These were texts shared by, rather than produced for, children. Legends and folk tales such as Robin
Read MoreKing Arthur: Historical Roots and Literary Evolution
Historical and Literary Sources of King Arthur
The town from which the legend of Arthur originates is Brython, a Celtic people invaded by the Romans between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. From the 5th century, they were besieged by tribes like the Angles and Saxons. In the 6th century, a Brython military leader named Arthur emerged.
A story of Latin origin states that Arthur was a war chief who fought in 14 battles against the Saxons. For his part, in Cambrial, where oral dialects were collected, it
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