Shakespearean Sonnets: Structure, Themes, and Characters
Shakespearean sonnets are typically composed of three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a concluding two-line couplet, all written in iambic pentameter.[19] This meter is also prevalent in Shakespeare’s plays. The rhyme scheme follows an abab cdcd efef gg pattern. Sonnets adhering to this structure are known as Shakespearean sonnets.
Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta, or “turn,” where the poem’s mood shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany. There are a few
Read MoreRenaissance Poetry: Epic and Lyric Masterpieces
Epic Poetry
During the Renaissance in Europe, epic poetry turned its back on the chanson de geste, except in Spain, where it could be encountered in romances. Instead, cult epics succeeded, influenced by Homer and Virgil. Themes developed by some authors, such as Ariosto, were fantastic, while others related recent exploits of a hero or an entire people, as Camoes did.
Ariosto
Ariosto of Este’s Orlando Furioso is a sprawling epic made in octaves. Its protagonist, Roland (Orlando in Italian), has ceased
Read MoreAvant-Garde Poetry and Modernism: Darío and Machado
The Avant-Garde Poetry
The First Manifestations of the Vanguards
The Vanguard had its heyday in the 1920s. The most important movements are:
- Futurism: Originated in the Manifesto of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. It rejects sentimentality.
- Cubism: Attaches great importance to the visual aspects, which are reflected in the calligrams created by Guillaume Apollinaire. The disposition of the lines forms a drawing.
- Dadaism: Founded by Tristan Tzara, it laid the foundations of Surrealism. The poet has to be expressed
T.S. Eliot on Literary Tradition and Individual Talent
T.S. Eliot on Tradition and Individual Talent
Perhaps they are; but we might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism. One of the facts that might come to light in this process is our tendency to insist, when we praise a poet, upon those aspects of his work in which he least resembles anyone
Read MoreEpic Poetry and Minstrelsy in Medieval Spain: El Cantar de Mio Cid
Epic Poetry in Medieval Spain
Epics are literary works that narrate heroic deeds. They teach and exhibit the virtues that a people or group held as role models during the Middle Ages. In the 11th and 12th centuries, minstrels recited them orally due to widespread illiteracy. Epics often exceeded 4,000 verses. The songs were grouped in variable runs. Their features include:
- Irregular Verses: Typically between 14 and 16 syllables, divided into two hemistiches.
- Assonance and Rhyme: Employing assonant
Spanish Renaissance Literature: Key Shifts and Genres
The Shift in Attitude from Middle Ages to Renaissance
The Middle Ages saw a significant shift in attitudes, culminating in the Italian Renaissance during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and reaching Spain in the sixteenth century:
- A transition from a truly medieval, theocentric religiosity to an anthropocentric attitude, where man is considered the measure of all things and the reference point of all creation.
- Faith and belief in dogma gave way to the authority of reason, curiosity, and criticism.