Spanish Literature

IV

The Renaissance in Spain (Early- and Mid-16th Century)

Ferdinand was succeeded by his grandson Charles, who ruled from 1516 to 1556. Charles grew up in The Netherlands and was at first rejected by his Spanish subjects for his unfamiliarity with the Spanish language and Spanish culture. But he soon won their hearts. Charles brought The Netherlands, which he inherited from the Habsburg side of his family, under Spanish control, and he established a colonial empire in the Americas. In 1519 he was elected Holy Roman emperor, an office that required him to protect the empire’s territory in central Europe from hostile forces, including France and England.

Not the least of Charles’s worries was the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church, led by Martin Luther. Spain became one of the primary defenders of the pope and a proponent of the Catholic Church’s response to the Reformation: the Counter Reformation. Among its leaders, later made saints, were Spanish cleric Ignatius of Loyola and Spanish mystic Teresa of Ávila. During this period of tumultuous political and religious battles, Renaissance ideals emerged. However, those ideals, based on the promise of the intellectual, spiritual, artistic, and physical capacity of humans to solve the problems of society, were always tempered in Spain. Spain was suspicious that those beliefs in human potential were somehow in conflict with a strong faith in the power of God.

Renaissance literature in Spain was limited to a few forms, themes, and figures. Renaissance humanism, with its emphasis on the individual, did not achieve the importance in Spain that it did in Italy, France, and other parts of Europe. Instead, Spanish writers relied on accepted styles and looked to Spanish history for subject matter. The chief literary forms were novels of chivalry, romances (oral ballads from the Middle Ages), pastoral poetry (poetry that portrays the innocence of life in the country), and religious poetry.

A

Works of Chivalry and Romance

Chivalric novels celebrated the deeds of knights-errant, or knights who searched for adventure in order to demonstrate their chivalry. These works were immensely popular and mixed the themes of epic heroism with figures from the reconquest. Themes of courtly love drawn from the troubadour poets were also popular subject matter. One of the period’s best works is Amadís de Gaula (Amadís of Gaul), a 14th-century story written down in four books by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in 1508. Filled with giants, monsters, and other fantastical characters, the story traces the adventures of Amadís, a knight-errant who completes many deeds while remaining faithful to his lady. The work was so popular that several imitations of it were created elsewhere in Europe.

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Also during the Renaissance vast numbers of ballads, which had been circulating in oral form since the Middle Ages, began to be written down. Many of these romances had historical or legendary themes that focused on figures of the reconquest, such as Bernardo del Carpio (the Spanish hero who, according to legend, defeated the forces of Charlemagne) and the Cid. Some romances, called romances fronterizos (ballads of the frontier), focused on wars along the frontiers between Christian and Islamic Spain and presented both Christians and Arabs as heroes. Other romances are more lyric and personal, focusing on love and loss.

B

Pastoral Poetry

As city dwelling became more common during the Renaissance, a type of poetry called pastoral became popular. Pastoral poetry depicted ladies and gentlemen who retired to the country in search of a simple life, without the complications of newly developing urban existence. The forms and themes of pastoral poetry were not entirely new. Spanish pastoral poets, such as Juan Boscán Almogaver and Garcilaso de la Vega, imitated the sonnet, tercet, and other verse forms often used in Italian pastoral works. Garcilaso also drew on ancient Roman writers Virgil, Horace, and Ovid as inspiration for his lyric poems. These poems contained sentimental discussions of rural love and the beauty of the Spanish landscape. Garcilaso captured the Spanish spirit through descriptions of his experiences as courtier, soldier, artist, and musician, but it was his literary skill that influenced Spanish poets in later centuries.

C

Religious Poetry

Religious poetry gained intensity near the middle of the 16th century, partly as a consequence of the Counter Reformation. This writing expressed attitudes of spiritual devotion, the state of the soul, and the desire to withdraw from the world. Three writers of religious verse stand out: Augustinian monk Luis Ponce de León, known as Fray Luis de León; Carmelite monk Juan de Yepes y Álvarez, known as Saint John of the Cross; and Carmelite mystic Saint Teresa of Ávila, also known as Saint Teresa de Jésus.

Fray Luis de León, the first important writer of religious verse, expressed his desire to separate himself from the business of the world and to live simply and in harmony with nature. This theme of pastoral serenity echoed the works of Garcilaso and other writers. Fray Luis de León’s lyric poem “Vida retirada” (The Retiring Life) focuses on Christian devotion and the beauty of love for God.

Saint John of the Cross composed what many critics consider the most mystical and intense poems written in the Spanish language. He attempted to express, in terms of human love, the mystical experience of uniting the human soul with God in poems such as “Cántico espiritual” (Spiritual Canticle), “Llama de amor viva” (Living Flame of Love), and “Noche obscura del alma” (Dark Night of the Soul).

Saint Teresa of Ávila, who wrote both prose and poetry, was one of the most important reformers of the Catholic Church during the Counter Reformation. Her prose, especially her most famous work, Moradas del castillo interior (1577; Rooms in the Interior Castle of the Soul), focuses on the theology of the soul and its relation to God. Much of her poetry expresses her mysticism and a personal desire to escape the earthly life and its problems by joining God in the afterlife.

V

Spanish Baroque and the Golden Age (Late 16th Through 17th Centuries)

Whereas the Renaissance fostered literature and other intellectual pursuits, the baroque period that followed was filled with disillusion and disappointment. The Netherlands revolted in 1567 against harsh Spanish rule under Charles’s successor, Philip II, and a costly war ensued. England supported The Netherlands. In 1588 the Spanish Armada, the naval fleet sent by Philip to conquer England, suffered a humiliating defeat. This war drained the Spanish treasury.

Despite these political disappointments, Spanish literature entered its Siglo de Oro (Golden Age), a highly creative and prolific era in the late 16th century. Spanish writers of this period saw from experience that humankind’s talents often could not triumph over violence, ignorance, and injustice, nor over the forces that had defeated the Armada. The greatest Spanish writers and works of the Golden Age expressed these complications, as well as disillusion with the age and humankind.

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