Bécquer writes in a Romantic style, very much in the style of the poetry of Espronceda. The Romanticism that attracts him is no longer of English or French origin, but German, especially that of Heine, characterized by an intimate lyricism, simple in form and sparse of ornament, with a restrain in the sensory to better reveal the poet's deep feeling. His ideal of poetry style is natural, brief, and dry, which springs from the soul like an electric spark and awakens the individual's world of fantasy.

He was a great storyteller, writing twenty-eight stories or legends. Most of these short stories belong to the genre of Gothic or horror stories, dealing with themes such as death and the afterlife, haunting and sorcery,  religious themes  Other times,  the short stories are authentic sketches of prose poetry, inspired by local ballads and dealing with animistic themes. He also cultivated adventure stories, mostly based on themes of the oriental and exotic. Despite the prose writings, he shows his skill and superior inspiration in the field of lyrical prose, where his rich descriptions demonstrate the poet's deep love for nature and the Castilian landscape, but highlighting the mystery, the supernatural,  and prodigious. 

The fame of Bécquer is based on the eighty-four Rhymes that he composed throughout his life. They are short compositions, of two, three, or four stanzas, generally in assonance with varied meters, in which Bécquer advocates for an intimate lyric, simple in form, apparently bare of rhetoric, suitable for emotional and silent reading. In the first rhymes (I-XI) the author speculates on poetry itself, on its ineffable foundation, its difficulties, and its central motives: the mystery, love, feeling, and woman. He presents himself as the poet of love, expressed, in general, in an affirmative and luminous tone in the following poems (XII-XXIX). But this tone becomes acrid and disappointed in the third series (XXX-LI). The last poems show a feeling of unfathomable pain, hopelessness, and lonely anguish. In his Rymes Bécquer's demonstrates his poetic ideal of an intimate lyric, expressed with sincerity and simplicity of style.

Rimas y leyendas

Cartas literarias a una mujer

Desde mi celda

La cruz del valle

Las Rimas de Bécquer is a total of 76 poems in which he develops thematic groups such as love, hope, and death; all of them the result of intimate memories of the poet.

Poetry

The word Romanticism refers to a cultural and political movement that had its heyday in the first half of the 19th century and that affected both Spain and other European and American countries. Spain adopted the general lines of Romanticism, with its own nuances due in large part to the turbulent political situation in the country. During the 19th century, Spain experienced one of the most agitated periods in its history. The century opens with the War of Independence and ends with the disaster of 1898, the date that marks the loss of colonial control of Cuba. The political tensions are enormous, and the national culture becomes negligible. The writers participate in the struggle between liberals and traditionalists that covers the entire century. Those Spanish writers with affinities to liberal Romanticism admire and consider as heroes the English Lord Byron and the French Victor Hugo, Among the most relevant are Alexander Dumas, Alfredo de Vigny, Espronceda, Gil de Zárate, and Hartzenbush.

Romantic poets are highly inspired writers, creating the poem by an emotional process that condenses what they feel till they obtain a product with a pure sentiment, bringing to life works of sincere and outstanding lyricism. This firm intention to match the poet's feelings on occasions produces the somehow unintended result of a poem falls into the vulgar, the prosaic, and the oratory. Most frequently the tones are melancholic, exultant, with occasional tones of protest that sometimes ends in nihilism. Most of the authors sing with loving intimacy,  inspired by historical, legendary, and exotic themes, prowling by an attraction to the mysterious. Their absolute rebellious attitude takes them to sometimes rebel against social norms and against life itself, their favorite values ​​being gallantry, virility, and dissent, always proclaiming their pessimism and gesture with a dishartened spirit.

Romanticism

Teatro Crítico I, by Benito J. Feijoo

Diccionario de Autoridades of Real Academia 

Orígenes de la lengua española, by Gregorio Mayans

Poética, by Ignacio de Luzán

Vida, by Diego de Torres Villarroel

Fray Gerundio de Campazas, by José Francisco de Isla

La petimetra, by Nicolás Fernández de Moratín

El delincuente honrado, by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos

Fábulas morales, Félix M. Samaniego

Fábulas literarias, by Tomás de Iriarte

Poesías, by Juan Meléndez Valdés

Cartas marruecas, by José de Cadalso

La comedia nueva, by Leandro Fernández Moratín

Informe sobre la ley agraria, by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos

Exequias de la lengua castellana, by Juan Pablo Former

Edition of the first French encyclopedia. Diderot's work, although widely criticized, can be considered the first modern encyclopedia.

Samuel Johnson publishes the Dictionary of the English language, with uses, customs and definitions of the words that make up the English language. Includes terms that appear in Shakespeare and other great authors of British literature.

Publication of Candide, by Voltaire. Candide is living a sheltered but indoctirinated life.

Harmonia Mundi, by Kepler

Novum Organum, by Bacon

Tartufo, by Molière

Don Juan, by Moière

Paradise Lost, by Milton

Ethics, by Spinoza

The 5th Symphony, by Ludwig van Beethoven. 

Symphonie Fantastique, by Hector Berlioz, the musical story of an artist's self-destructive passion for a beatiful woman.

Publication of the psychological novel Le Rouge et le Noir, by Stendhal.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles published The Communist Manifest.

The United Stated wins its independence from the UK.

The French Revolution begins and will end in late 1790 with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, a luminous allegory of magic, premiers at Schikaneder's thater.

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Rimas y leyendas (1871)

By Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

Time Period: Romanticism

Genre: Poetry

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