Spanish Literary Eras: From Medieval Roots to Renaissance Masterpieces
Linguistic Foundations: Signs, Sounds, and Meaning
In linguistics, we explore the fundamental building blocks of language:
Signs and Phonemes
- Signs: A sign represents an idea or a thing.
- Phoneme: A phoneme is a basic unit of sound in a language, a set of distinct sounds that a speaker interprets as a single unit.
Linguistic Structures
Common linguistic and textual structures include:
- Deductive
- Inductive
- Chronological
- Causal
- Problem-solving
- Enumerative
Monemes and Morphemes
- Monemes: The smallest units of meaning
Spanish Medieval Literature: La Celestina & Book of Good Love
The Social World of La Celestina
In La Celestina, the transformation of medieval society is palpable. This can be seen:
- On the one hand, in the establishment of new relationships between different social strata. The nobility has been displaced by the gentry; it is no longer lineage, inherited from our ancestors, but wealth that determines social status. In addition, the old feelings of respect and mutual fidelity between masters and servants has been replaced by purely economic relationships.
- On the
Troubadour Poetry: Origins, Themes, and Catalan Masters
Troubadour Poetry: Origins, Themes, and Legacy
Troubadour poetry was the first great literary expression in a Romance language. While Latin remained the consistent language of culture throughout the Middle Ages, Romance languages, like Catalan, began to develop their own distinct literary roles, particularly in prose. Literary history distinguishes between poets who wrote in Latin and the troubadours, who wrote in Occitan and also composed the music for their poems. This poetic tradition began with
Read MoreEssential Literary Concepts and Textual Analysis
Literary Devices Identification
- 1. Hyperbole
- 2. Second Person
- 3. Flashback
- 4. Ambiguity
- 5. Alliteration
The Crucible
Setting
- Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Themes
- Religion
- Jealousy
- Justice
- The Supernatural
- Good vs. Evil
Characters
- Abigail Williams: Parris’s niece; she initiated the witch trials by falsely accusing others of witchcraft and saved herself by lying throughout the story.
- John Proctor: A Salem farmer and former lover of Abigail Williams; he is intelligent and independent.
Summary
A group of teenage girls from
Read MoreNineteenth-Century Literature: Trends, Novels, and Key Authors
Nineteenth-Century Literary Trends
After the Romantic movement, literature divided into two main currents: one aimed to accurately portray society, while the other resisted adherence to reality due to perceived artistic limitations.
The Realistic Movement
The Realistic movement began with authors like Stendhal, Balzac, and Flaubert. This realism later evolved into Russian spiritualist realism and Zola’s Naturalism. Writers were seen as doctors treating a sick society, experimenting with unpleasant
Read MoreThematic Depth in Miguel Hernández’s Works
Image and Symbol in the Poetry of Miguel Hernández
Miguel Hernández’s poetic journey developed, resulting in his book Expert on Moon. In Expert on Moon, a style very close to Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s greguerías can be observed. Following the example of Gómez de la Serna and the avant-garde poets, Hernández focuses on real-life scenes, such as the cock, bull, rockets, watermelon, sheep, goats, snakes, gypsies, the well, the wheel, or the palm. He applies a very particular lunar iconography.
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