Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/234

 222 SPAIN (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) while endeavoring to justify their claims, ran into the most ridiculous extravagances, pedan- try, and affectations. The essence of epic poe- try was singularly misunderstood, as all epic poems were little more than versified history. Even the best work of the class, the Araucana of Alonso de Ercilla y Ztiniga (died about 1594), though not destitute of beautiful epic ma- chinery, is condemned as tedious and prosaic by many critics ; but a talent for animated de- scription and portraiture, and a natural and correct diction, are conceded to its author. Of all kinds of poetry, the drama was cultivated most and with greatest success. A last attempt to write purely tragical plays was made by Cris- t6val de Virues, whose Semiramis and Casan- dra were, in true expression of tragic pathos and in vigorous dialogue, superior to all former efforts ; but as the people had a decided prefer- ence for the national drama, in which, as in life, tragic scenes alternate with comic, it did not suc- ceed. Higher than all former and later tragic poets stands Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600- '81), one of the greatest dramatists that ever lived. To the originality and overflowing imagi- nation of his predecessors he added a greater depth of reflection and a more careful execu- tion in details. Female characters, in particu- lar, were delineated by him more faithfully and more ingeniously than by any other Span- ish poet. In elegance of language and versifi- cation he is also unequalled. The most promi- nent among his numerous successors were Francisco de Rojas, Agustin Moreto, Fragoso, Diamante, Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Juan de la Hoz, Antonio de Solis (better known as a historian), and Agustin de Salazar y Torres, who inclines toward the "cultivated style.". The decline of Spanish literature shows itself in the writings of Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas, the most learned writer of his times, some of whose works, however, as his bur- lesque sonnets and his prose satires, are among the best of their kind in the Spanish language. Exaggeration and affectation vitiate the other- wise unparalleled erotic songs of Esteban Ma- nuel de Villegas. The corruption of Spanish prose was hastened by the constant stream of bad and shallow novels, in which branch of literature the rogues' novel, Guzman de Al- farache, by Mateo Aleman, deserves an hon- orable mention. The only historians of note were Mariana (Historia de Espana) and Solis (Conquista de Mejico). The fourth period, which begins with the accession of the Bour- bon family at the beginning of the 18th cen- tury, embraces the collapse of the old national literature, the intrusion of foreign elements, their temporary victory over the old Span- ish, and the final attempts to regenerate the old native element, and to fuse it with the best elements of modern European civiliza- tion. The first prominent advocate of the French element was Ignacio de Luzan, who in his Poetica (1787) applied the rules of French critics to native literature, and in his own po- ems tried to substitute brilliancy for genuine poetry. He was principally opposed by Gar- cia de la Huerta, whose Rahel and Agamemnon were written in the old Spanish forms, and were received, in spite of the objections of Gallicizing critics, with immense applause. A middle course was pursued by the school of Salamanca, which endeavored to avoid the ex- cesses of both parties and unite their merits. Its proper founder was Melendez Valdez (1754- 1817), a poet of eminent talents, whose works exceed all that had been produced in Spain since the disappearance of the great lights of the 16th and 17th centuries, and were received with general enthusiasm as the dawn of a brighter period. Under the influence of the Salamanca school were also Iglesias, Norofia, Quintana, Cienfuegos, Arriaza, and Gallego, who like Valdez remained thorough patriots in sentiment, though not disdaining to follow great French, Italian, and English models. The liberal and patriotic movements of 1812, 1820, and 1834 exercised a very favorable influence on the invigoration of the Spanish mind and the progress of literature. Their fruit is to be seen in the works of Xerica, Lista, Martinez de la Eosa, Jos6 Joaquin de Mora, Angel de Saavedra, and Breton de los Herreros. The number of recent poets is very large ; among the best of them are Tapia, Maury, Juan Bau- tista Alonso, Jacinto de Salas y Quiroga, Es- pronceda, Serafin Calderon, Zorrilla, Hartzen- busch, R. de Campoamor, Santos Lopez Pele- grin, the satirist Villergas, and Gertrudis Go- mes de Avellaneda, a native of Cuba. The modern age is least successful in epic poetry, the only notable attempt in this class of com- position being the unfinished Diablo mundo of Espronceda. Better results have been ob- tained by a recultivation of the old romance and fable, the first impulse to which was given by Saavedra, who has been followed by Mora, Zorrilla, Gregorio Romero y Larraflaga, Ma- nuel de Santa Ana, and others. In dramatic poetry, Leandro Fernandez Moratin, a chief representative of the classic school of France, secured for himself a permanent place on the national stage, and for the school to which he belonged a great influence, which lasted until in France the romantic school became power- ful. The works of that school, partly in trans- lations, partly in imitations, controlled for some time the stage of Madrid, but were op- nd by Breton de los Herreros, Martinez de osa, Tapia, Saavedra, and more recently by Gil y Zarate, Hartzenbusch, Gutierrez, Es- Cosura, Zorrilla Moral, Trueba, and others. A reformation of prose literature, which had been reduced by the school of the cultos to the lowest ebb, was prepared by the Benedic- tine Feyjo6, who returned to the simplicity of the classic models of Spain, and by the Jesuit Isla, who in his satirical novel Fray Oerundio ridiculed the trivial and bombastic pulpit elo- quence of his times. Ulloa, Mufioz, Capmany, Ferreras, Quintana, Navarrete, Clemencin, To-