Romanticism in Spanish Literature - Poetry

Poetry

The romantic poets created their works in the midst of a fury of emotions, forming verses out of whatever they felt or thought. Critics have found in their works a lyricism of great power, but at the same time vulgar, uninspiring verse.

Some of the characteristics of Romantic poetry are:

  • The I, the inner self. José de Espronceda, setting down in his Canto a Teresa a painful confession of love and disappointment, managed with great skill to translate his feelings into poetry.
  • Passionate love, with its sudden and total surrenders and quick abandonments. The agony and the ecstasy.
  • Inspiration by historical and mythical subjects.
  • Religion, though frequently it is through a revolt against consequent compassion, even to the extent of exalting the devil.
  • Social vindication, value placed on marginalized people, such as beggars
  • Nature, displayed in all its manifestations and variations. Romantics often gave their poems mysterious settings, such as cemeteries, storms, the raging sea, etc.
  • Satire, frequently associated with political and literary events.

It was also a sign that a new spirit was inspiring the creation of verse. By contrast with the monotonous neoclassic repetition of songs and lyrics, poets proclaimed their right to use all existing variations on meter, to adapt those from other languages, and to innovate where necessary. In this respect, as in others, Romanticism prefigured the modernist audacities of the end of the century.

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