''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 The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish ...

''Conceptismo'' is characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, simple vocabulary, witty metaphors, and wordplay. In this style, multiple meanings are conveyed in a very concise manner, and conceptual intricacies are emphasised over elaborate vocabulary.

Definition

A major theorist of the movement, Baltasar Gracián, in his work ''Agudeza y arte de ingenio'', defined "concept" as "an act of the understanding that expresses the correspondence between objects". ''Conceptismo'' is characterized by a search for conciseness of expression with maximum significance in as few words as possible (''

mot juste Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...

''), especially in a way that suggests various meanings, as long as it is relevant to the theme of the work. ''Conceptismo'' works with the meanings of words and their relationships, often in the service of rhetoric. The most common means of achieving this are

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

, zeugma, amphibology,

polysemy Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, a morpheme, a word, or a phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word has a sin ...

antithesis Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...

equivocation In logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word/expression in multiple senses within an argument. It is a type of ambiguity that stems from a phrase havi ...

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

, or

puns A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...

. In line with other baroque styles, ''conceptismo'' upheld the aesthetic value of the difficulties of language, thus Gracián declared:

"La verdad, cuanto más dificultosa, es más agradable, y el conocimiento que cuesta es más estimado." "Truth, when it is more difficult, is more pleasant, and knowledge that costs is more valued."

The most prominent writer of Castilian ''conceptismo'' is

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, ...

, who wrote with an ironic style and satirical wit. Other adherents of this style include Baltasar Gracián.

Contrast with ''culteranismo''

''Conceptismo'' contrasts starkly with '' culteranismo'', another movement of the Baroque period, which is characterized by ostentatious vocabulary, complex syntactical order, multiple, complicated metaphors, but highly conventional content. To rephrase, where ''conceptismo'' values few words with high significance, ''culteranismo'' values elaborate vocabulary with relative significance. They both are concerned with what Gracián identified as the value of the difficulty of language. One should not assume ''conceptismo'' is simpler than ''culteranismo'' because of its simpler vocabulary—''conceptismo'' disguises its complexity through a variety of techniques, some of which are listed above. Likewise, one should not assume ''culteranismo'' is less meaningful or profound than ''conceptismo'' because it emphasizes the "exterior" of the work—it can be equally as meaningful as ''conceptismo'', and it is simply a matter of whether the meaning is revealed in the "exterior" or "interior" of the work. The best-known representative of Spanish ''culteranismo'', Luis de Góngora, had an ongoing feud with Francisco de Quevedo in which they each criticized the other's writing and personal life.

References

* {{reflist Spanish literature Baroque literature Spanish Baroque Literary movements de:Schwulststil#Marinismus im italienischen Barock und Konzettismus in Spanien