Spanish Golden Age and Medieval Literature review

Flashcards covering the Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro), Baroque theater (Calderón and Lope de Vega), literary currents (Culteranismo and Conceptismo), and Medieval literature (Mesteres).

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

The last great dramatist of the Golden Age (1600-1681) and maximum representative of Spanish Baroque theater, known for his philosophical and reflexive style.

Autos sacramentales

One-act plays of a religious and allegorical character, such as "El gran teatro del mundo".

Libre albedrío

The main theme of "La vida es sueño" (1635), referring to the human capacity to choose one's own destiny rather than being determined by the stars.

Segismundo

The protagonist of "La vida es sueño", a prince chained in a tower by King Basilio who eventually proves humans can overcome instincts through reason.

Lope de Vega

Known as the "Fénix de los Ingenios", he was the creator of the "Comedia Nueva" and author of "Fuenteovejuna".

Protagonista Colectivo

A major innovation in "Fuenteovejuna" where the hero is an entire town acting united as one block to defend their dignity.

Comedia Nueva

A theatrical formula that divided plays into three acts, broke the units of time and place, and mixed tragic and comic elements.

Honor Campesino

Lope de Vega's concept that clean-blooded peasants possess the same dignity and right to defend their honor as any nobleman.

El Barroco

A 17th-century movement characterized by disillusionment (desengaño), complexity, exaggeration, and aesthetic contrasts like chiaroscuro.

Validos

Trusted governors to whom the kings of the Minor Austrias (Felipe III, Felipe IV, and Carlos II) left the government.

Tempus fugit

A recurring Baroque theme meaning "time flies", often symbolized by withered flowers or skulls to remind of life's brevity.

Culteranismo

A literary current led by Luis de Góngora that sought formal beauty through complex metaphors, cultisms, and hyperbaton.

Conceptismo

A literary current led by Francisco de Quevedo that focused on meaning and wit through wordplay, paradoxes, and conciseness.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Known as "El Manco de Lepanto", he fused idealism and realism to create the modern novel with "Don Quijote de la Mancha".

Siglo de Oro

A period of approximately $150$ years in Spanish culture beginning in $1517$, encompassing the Renaissance and the Baroque.

Novela Picaresca

A genre focused on a "pícaro" (anti-hero), characterized by its realism, first-person narrative, and social criticism, exemplified by "Lazarillo de Tormes".

Mester de Juglaría

The "craft of the minstrels" (12th-13th centuries), consisting of popular, oral poetry with irregular metrics, such as the "Cantar de mio Cid".

Mester de Clerecía

The "craft of the clerics" (13th-14th centuries), consisting of cultivated poetry written in "cuaderna vía" (stanzas of $14$ syllables).

Teocentrismo

A characteristic of Spanish Medieval literature reflecting the hegemony of the Catholic Church and papal power.