16th-18th Century Spanish Poetry: Renaissance to Baroque
16th-18th Century Spanish Poetry
The Renaissance Poetry
Poetry was the most cultivated literary genre during the Renaissance. The main theme was a love for nature, serving as a symbolic and mythical background for the poems, often drawing from Greco-Latin classical myths.
The Introduction of the Sonnet
The introduction of the sonnet, a new form of Italian origin, was a symptom of the evolution of 16th-century poetry, which was still subject to medieval tradition.
The Root of Popular Love Poetry
16th-century
Read More20th-Century Spanish Theatre: From Pre-War to Post-War
Prewar Theatre
Traditional Theatre
The Bourgeois Comedy
Dramatic subgenre, characterized by themes of everyday bourgeois life, from a critical perspective in a subtle way without offending the sensitivity of the viewer. Jacinto Benavente highlights with vested interests, located in a medieval setting and characters inspired by the Italian comedy.
The Farce
Subgenre dramatic short, critical, popular comedian and traces its origins to the eighteenth century represented among the acts of the other works.
Read MoreSpanish Theater After the Civil War: From Censorship to Democracy
Overview of Spanish Theater After 1936
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) devastated the country’s intellectual landscape. During the subsequent Franco regime, literary production, including theater, suffered from strict censorship. This meant the absence of critical content, as plays were reviewed before their premiere.
In the 1940s, three works signaled a new stage: Camilo José Cela’s novel “The Family of Pascual Duarte,” Dámaso Alonso’s poetry collection “Sons of Wrath,” and Antonio Buero Vallejo’
Read MoreIntroduction to Verse and Poetry
Verse
Definition
Verse text is characterized by musicality and rhythm, achieved through various resources, unlike prose text.
Characteristics of Verse
Meter
Meter is the measure applied to words to organize them into verses with a consistent number of syllables. The calculation of syllables is affected by the word’s accent:
- If the verse ends with a stressed word (oxytone), add one syllable.
- If the verse ends with a proparoxytone word, subtract one syllable.
- If the verse ends with a paroxytone word, the
Renaissance Culture and Literature
1.4. Culture in the Renaissance
Renaissance
There was a change in the conception of man in God’s dealings with us and with nature. Endowed with freedom, dignity, and the capacity of deciding about himself, man stood in the center of the world (anthropocentrism).
The base transformation of Renaissance culture was to evaluate the education and recovery of the classics performed by humans.
Humanism
A school of thought was based on the studia humanitatis (‘human studies’), which imposes the usage of learning
Read MoreSpanish Baroque Literature: A Comprehensive Guide
Item 16: The Baroque Culture in Spain
Influence of Spanish Baroque Catholic Principles
Cultural manifestations during the Spanish Baroque period were deeply influenced by the Catholic principles of the Counter-Reformation.
Patronage and Official Culture
The monarchy and privileged classes actively supported artistic endeavors through patronage. Universities and colleges controlled official culture. As a large portion of the population was illiterate, information dissemination relied heavily on oral
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