Spanish Literature

Article Outline

Introduction; The Early Period (1st Century Through 10th Century); Toward a National Literature (11th Century to 15th Century); The Renaissance in Spain (Early- and Mid-16th Century); Spanish Baroque and the Golden Age (Late 16th Through 17th Centuries); Political and Cultural Realignment (18th and 19th Centuries); Upheaval (Late 19th Century and 20th Century)

The Scholarly Tradition

The scholarly tradition initiated at Toledo by the Moors continued under Alfonso X, known as El Sabio (The Wise), who became king of Castile and León in 1252. Alfonso directed the scholars at the School of Translators to translate histories, chronicles, and scientific, legal, and literary writings from other languages (principally Latin, Greek, and Arabic) into Castilian, thereby boosting the dialect’s importance within Spain. Alfonso also commissioned original works in Castilian, such as Estoria de España (1270?-1289; History of Spain), a universal history called General historia (1270?; General History), and a canon of laws titled Siete Partidas (1256-1265; The Seven Books of Law). A major result of his efforts was a standardized language based on the Castilian dialect. The dialect was further strengthened when Alfonso abandoned Latin as the language of his political administration. Instead, he used the Castilian dialect for all official documents and decrees, which served as models of correct Castilian to be used throughout his kingdom. Castilian became standard for literature and formal education, even in Galician- and Catalan-speaking areas, although those regions maintained bilingualism in language and literature.

One of the earliest works of prose fiction, Libro del Conde Lucanor (1335; Book of Count Lucanor), was written by Alfonso’s nephew Don Juan Manuel. Libro del Conde Lucanor is a collection of 50 stories that imitate the fables attributed to Aesop, the ancient Greek collector of stories with a moral intended to instruct. The Spanish work is modeled closely on the work of Arab scholars who had translated Aesop’s fables. Each story focuses on a specific problem of Count Lucanor, for which his adviser, Patronio, offers a solution using contemporary examples. Although many of Lucanor’s problems are Middle Eastern and ancient in theme, Patronio’s solutions are distinctly Spanish. His advice conveys a realistic picture of Spain’s social structure during Manuel’s lifetime.

Poetry in the Cleric Style

Whereas the mester de juglaría was the poetry of the people, a second poetic style, mester de clerecía (craft of the clerics), developed in educated verse in Spain toward the end of the 13th century. Influenced by poetry of southern France, mester de clerecía differed from mester de juglaría in three distinct ways. First, the authors of verse in the cleric style were educated individuals, such as monks and priests. For the most part they could read and write in Greek, Latin, Castilian, and their own regional dialect. The second difference was in structure. Unlike poems in the free-flowing troubadour style, most poems in the cleric style were organized in stanzas of four verses that isolated and focused on specific ideas. Each line contained 14 syllables and used a rhyming pattern of consonants, called consonance, in which the last accented vowel and all the following consonants and vowels repeat. The third difference was in subject matter. The deeds and adventures of heroes worked well as subjects of troubadour songs and epics. The cleric style, however, focused more on religious aspects of love and life.

The cleric style did remain true to the realistic depiction of everyday life. A monk, Gonzalo de Berceo, is the first poet identifiable by name who wrote in the mester de clerecía and in Castilian . Although he also wrote in a more formal style, poems such as his Milagros de Nuestra Señora (1252; Miracles of the Virgin Mary) entertained common people and members of the court with satire, humor, and realism in a language with which they readily identified.

Lyric Poetry

By the end of the 14th century the educated classes in Spain had begun to produce shorter lyric poetry in Castilian. Unlike epic poetry, which narrated a story or tale, Spanish lyric poetry often addressed the idea of courtly love. In a highly personal manner, the poem’s speaker, often a knight or other individual of prestige, addressed the beloved, offering praise or expressing longing or inadequacy. The sonnet was an especially popular form for lyric poetry, in imitation of the sonnet perfected by Italian poet Petrarch in the 13th century. The sonnet in Spanish consists of 14 lines, organized into two 4-line stanzas called quartets and two 3-line stanzas called tercets. Each line contains 11 syllables and is linked to other lines through consonance. Fifteenth-century poet Íñigo López de Mendoza, the Marquis of Santillana, with his themes of love, religion, patriotism, and morals, offers the best examples of the early sonnet in Spanish in his Sonetos hechos al itálico modo (Sonnets written in the Italian Mode).

Coplas por la muerte de su padre (1476; Verses on the Death of his Father) by Jorge Manrique is another highly personal poem in the lyric style. In writing about his father’s death, Manrique focuses on medieval ideals and beliefs concerning life and death, namely that an individual’s earthly existence is a preparation—worthwhile and honorable at times, and full of suffering at others—for the glorious life to come after death.

Spain United

The marriage of Roman Catholic monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand V of Aragon in 1479 brought together the largest Christian kingdoms in Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand further unified Christian Spain in 1492 by banishing the Moors from Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, and by expelling Jews from Spain unless they converted to Christianity. The two rulers assumed control of many powers of the Catholic Church, including the Inquisition, which they used against political adversaries and against Moors and Jews they believed had falsely converted. These actions unified Spain and helped create a Spanish religious and political identity. With unity came expansion as Spain sent explorers to the Americas and in the early 1500s won control of The Netherlands and southern Italy.

Another way of unifying the peninsula was to make Castilian the official language of Spain. In 1492 humanist Antonio de Nebrija published Gramática sobre la lengua castellana (Grammar of the Castilian Language). It was the first attempt to study and standardize the grammar of a European language. Nebrija believed that a common language was essential to the strength of an empire—a belief that fortified the monarchs’ plans.

At roughly the same time that the Spanish Empire expanded and the Spanish language was standardized, movable type, which had been pioneered by German printer Johannes Gutenberg, became available for publishing books. These events had the potential for making Spanish culture and literature immensely more accessible. Instead of becoming a great cultural and literary influence in Europe, though, Spain closed itself to much of its heritage, including its Moorish and Jewish past. On an official level the country began to limit its cultural, philosophical, and religious identity. As Spain’s influence expanded into the Americas, this intellectual and spiritual isolation led to censorship of literature in newly conquered territories out of fear that native peoples might consider works of fiction and poetry and the Catholic Bible equally valid.

The Celestina

In many senses, La tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (1499) by Fernando de Rojas, a work popularly known as La Celestina, exemplifies the strict moral tone and temper of the times in Spain. It concerns two noble lovers, Calisto and Melibea, who resort to the services of a go-between named Celestina to further their love. The lives of these three characters become entangled through a variety of comic mistakes and beguilements, and in the end all three are brought to disaster.

The Celestina presents the reader with a number of contradictions. The work cautions individuals who are blinded by love and advises them against the deceits of go-betweens and immoral servants. At the same time, The Celestina seems to celebrate human diversity, accepting existence as a complex set of natural impulses—some noble and generous, others base and egotistical. Even its original title, La tragicomedia, indicates that The Celestina is neither tragedy nor comedy, but both. Its structure is that of a novel in dialogue form; this structure illustrates the tensions between the form of the novel and the form of the drama. It also illustrates tension between tragedy and comedy and between the idealism of the lovers and the materialism of the servants. The literary sources of this work are Latin and medieval, but The Celestina also expresses a vision of life that diverges from the spirit of the Middle Ages and propels Spanish literature into the Renaissance.

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The Scholarly Tradition

Poetry in the Cleric Style

Lyric Poetry

Spain United

The Celestina