Spanish Poetry - The Golden Century (El Siglo de Oro)

The Golden Century (El Siglo De Oro)

This epoch includes the Renaissance of the 1500s and the Baroque of the 1600s. During the Renaissance, poetry became partitioned into culteranismo and conceptismo, which essentially became rivals.

• Culteranismo used bleak language and hyperbaton. These works largely included neologisms and mythological topics. Such characteristics made this form of poetry highly complex, making comprehension difficult.

• Conceptismo was a trend using new components and resources. An example of this new extension was the Germanias. Works included comparative and complex sentences. This movement derived from Petrarchanism.

During the Baroque period, Satire, Neostoicism, and Mythological themes were also prevalent.

• Satire tended to be directed to the elites, criticizing the defects of the society. This form of poetry often resulted in severe punishments being administered to the poets.
• Neostoicism became a movement of philosophical poetry. Ideas from the medieval period resurfaced.
• Mythological themes were more common in culteranismo. Not until the Generation of 1927 did these poems gain more importance. La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea and Las Soledades are two key works.

• Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas
• Luis de Góngora y Argote established culteranismo.
• Félix Lope de Vega Carpio
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca