''Culteranismo'' is a stylistic movement of the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
period of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
history that is also commonly referred to as ''Gongorismo'' (after
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominent ...
). It began in the late 16th century with the writing of Luis de Góngora and lasted through the 17th century.
''Culteranismo'' is characterized by an ornamental, ostentatious vocabulary and a message that is complicated by a heavy use of
metaphors
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with ...
and
complex syntactical order.
The name blends ''culto'' ("cultivated") and ''luteranismo'' ("
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
") and was coined by its opponents to present it as a heresy of "true" poetry.
Poetry from this movement seems to use as many words as possible to convey little meaning or to conceal meaning.
It is also associated with
Latinized syntax and
mythological allusions.
''Culteranismo'' existed in stark contrast with ''
conceptismo ''Conceptismo'' (literally, conceptism) is a literary movement of the Baroque period in the Spanish literature. It began in the late 16th century and lasted through the 17th century, also the period of the Spanish Golden Age.
''Conceptismo'' is ch ...
'', another movement of the Baroque period which is characterized by a witty style, word games, simple vocabulary, and an attempt to convey multiple meanings in as few words as possible. The best-known representative of Spanish ''conceptismo'',
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, ...
, had an ongoing feud with Luis de Góngora in which each criticized the other’s writing and personal life.
Other practitioners of the style include
Hortensio Félix Paravicino
Hortensio Félix Paravicino y Arteaga (12 October 1580 – 12 December 1633) was a Spanish preacher and poet from the noble house of Pallavicini.
Life
He was born in Madrid and was educated at the Society of Jesus, Jesuit college in Ocaña, Spai ...
.
Sample
The first stanza of the first of the ''
Soledades
''Las Soledades'' (''Solitudes'') is a poem by Luis de Góngora, composed in 1613 in silva (Spanish strophe) in hendecasyllables (lines of eleven syllables) and heptasyllables (seven syllables).
Góngora intended to divide the poem in four par ...
'' by Góngora.
[Digital edition](_blank)
of the Centro Virtual Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figur ...
.
See also
*
Hiberno-Latin
Hiberno-Latin, also called Hisperic Latin, was a learned style of literary Latin first used and subsequently spread by Irish monks during the period from the sixth century to the tenth century.
Vocabulary and influence
Hiberno-Latin was notab ...
, a style of Latin poetry by Irish monks, with a similarly contrived vocabulary.
*
Euphuism
Euphuism is a peculiar mannered style of English prose. It takes its name from a prose romance by John Lyly. It consists of a preciously ornate and sophisticated style, employing a deliberate excess of literary devices such as antitheses, alliterat ...
, a similar style in English prose.
*''
Préciosisme'', a similar style in French high society.
*''
Marinismo
Marinism (Italian: ''marinismo'', or ''secentismo'', "17th century") is the name now given to an ornate, witty style of poetry and verse drama written in imitation of Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), following in particular ''La Lira'' and ''L'Ad ...
'', a similar style in Italian poetry.
References
External links
El culteranismo an essay on culteranismo by Jorge Luis Borges, in Spanish.
{{Authority control
Spanish literature
Baroque literature
Spanish Baroque
de:Schwulststil#Gongorismus und Kultismus im spanischen Siglo de Oro