38 Spanish Literature Works (Need To Memorize)

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LA Edad Media y El Medioevo (476 - 1492)

2 works

Don Juan Manuel - El Conde Mucanor: Ejemplo XXXV (1335)

Anonimo - Romance del Rey Moro Que Perdido Alhama (1482)

El Conde Mucanor: Ejemplo XXXV

Year: 1335
About: a young man who tames his fierce, wealthy wife through terror and violence to establish a patriarchal household
Author: Don Juan Manuel

Romance del Rey Moro Que Perdido Alhama

Year: 1482 (also made during La Reconquista 711-1492 when the Jews and Arabics where thrown out from Spain)
About: the Christian conquest of the strategic Moorish town of Alhama on February 28, 1482. It portrays the Moorish king's panic, the town's mourning, and blames the king for the loss.
Author: Anonimo

El Renacimeinto (1492 - 1580)
or
El Siglo De Oro (If you don’t remember the exact era)

4 works

Miguel Leon-Portilla - “Vision de Los vencidos” (1959)

Hernan Cortes - “Segunda Carta de Relacion” (1520)

Garcilaso de la Vega - “Soneto XXII” “El tanto que de Rosa y azucena” (1533)

Anonimo - La vida de Amarillo de Tormes (1554)

“Vision de Los vencidos”

Year: 1959
About: Documenting the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Author: Miguel Leon-Portilla

“Segunda Carta de Relacion”

Year: 1520
About: foundational historical letter written by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to Emperor Charles V, documenting his, at times, unauthorized invasion of the Aztec Empire and the, at times, stunning, sophisticated city of Tenochtitlán
Author: Hernan Cortes

“Soneto XXII” “El tanto que de Rosa y azucena”

Year:1533
About: Carpe Diem theme, advising young women to enjoy their youth before time destroys their beauty
Author: Garcilaso de la Vega

La vida de Amarillo de Tormes

Year: 1554
About: Lázaro, a poor boy, as he serves various masters—including a blind man, a priest, and a squire—using wit and deception to survive hunger and poverty in 16th-century Spain
Author: Anonimo

Remember: It made the genre Picaro (Antihero) who moves through various social levels. The story exposes the corruption and hypocrisy of the church and society, which is why the author is anonimous

El Barroco (1600 - 1750)
or
also falls under El Siglo De Oro

Section one: El culteranismo (Carpe Diem)

1 work

Luis de Gongora - “Soneto CLXVI” “Mientras por competir con tu cabello” (1582)

“Soneto CLXVI” “Mientras por competir con tu cabello”

Year: 1582
About: About the fleeting nature of youth and beauty. It urges a young woman to enjoy her beauty before time turns her and her features into nothingness (carpe diem)
Author: Luis de Gongora

El Barroco (1600 - 1750)
or
also falls under El Siglo De Oro

Section two: El conceptismo (Momento Mori)

1 work

Francisco De Quevedo - “Salmo XVII” “Mire Los muros de la patria mia” (1613)

“Salmo XVII” “Mire Los muros de la patria mia”

Year: 1613
About: Spanish Baroque poetry focusing on the inevitability of decay, the decline of the Spanish Empire, and the approach of death (memento mori)
Author: Francisco De Quevedo

Siglo De Oro (1492 - 1681)

3 Works

Miguel De Cervantes - Don Quijote de la Mancha (1605 and 1615)

Gabriel Tellez: Tirso de Molina - El buriador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (1630)

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz - “Hombres necios que acusais” (1689)

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Year: 1605 - 1615
About: about an elderly, impoverished nobleman named Alonso Quixano who goes mad from reading too many chivalric romances. He renames himself Don Quixote and sets out as a knight-errant to revive chivalry, fighting imaginary foes
Author: Miguel de Cervantes

El buriador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra

Year: 1630
About:a reckless, charming nobleman who seduces women through deception, scorns divine judgment, and is ultimately dragged to hell by the statue of a man he murdered
Author: Gabriel Tellez: Tirso de Molina

Remember: La Justicia Divina. The Author was a priest and hear so much from women about how men tricked them, so he wrote this book

“Hombres necios que acusais”

Year: 1689
About: critiques the hypocrisy and double standards of men in colonial Mexico
Author: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

El Romanticismo (1830 - 1860 and 1860 - 1880)

2 works

Jose Maria Heredia - “En una Temestad” (1830?)

Gustavo Adolfo Becquer - “Volveran las oscuras golondrinas” (1830)

“En una Temestad”

Year: 1830
About: uses a violent hurricane as a metaphor for divine power, emotional turmoil, and longing for independence
Author: Jose Maria Heredia

“Volveran las oscuras golondrinas”

Year: 1830
About: famous Spanish poem (Rima LIII) by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, exploring lost love, nostalgia, and the irrecoverable nature of time. It means "The dark swallows will return," symbolizing that while life's cycles (like nature) continue, specific past loves and moments are unique and never return.
Author: Gustavo Adolfo Becquer