Quevedo is a very popular author in Spain even today, credited with a wide variety of jokes and provocative language. Apart from a series of humorous and satirical works, both in prose and verse, that highly characterizes his style, the author is a severe moralist, a profound political writer, and a lyrical poet of incalculable vigor. He heads, together with Gracian, the school of literary 'conceptism.'. 

The 'conceptism' presents different aspects, sometimes it is a kind of ingenious wordplay that uses the language to express the most with the least amount of words, other times it consists of the indirect allusion of a particular object in correspondence with another object. Thus, Quevedo calls the oar ("remo") of a boat "the brother of Romulus" (Romulus and Remus were the legendary founders of Rome). Avoiding to name certain objects, the author goes around and connects them with other things for some kind of conceptual association. The mind automatically making the connection,  leaves the reader with a  suddenly surprise after apprehending the correspondence between two objects.The 'conceptist 'methods that Quevedo used are very varied, comparisons, allegories, metaphors, antitheses, contrasts, word games, and syllepsis (a word that means two things at the same time) among others

Quevedo's poetry expresses universal attitudes and concerns. To appreciate Quevedo's work, one must bear in mind the conventions of the time in which he lived and the prestige of the models that channel his creation. Certain contents could only be expressed with a specific literary language and within the scope of specific genres. The poet transmits his cultural experience, communicating with readers through the manipulation of a language in which the life of a society is fixed at a specific moment in history, giving him a deserve position as one of the greatest writers in the history of Spanish literature

Vida del Buscón

La cuna y la sepultura (theological)

Los sueños (satire)

La política de Dios

Parnaso español is a compilation of the poetic work of Franciso de Quevedo, published posthumously.

Poetry

The Baroque is period characterized by a cultural development unwind due to the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In many respects, Baroque supposes a  return to the Middle Ages, ceasing the clear Renaissance separation between the natural and the supernatural. The Inquisition watches over any intellectual activity that does not highlight or otherwise avoids the transcendental. Scientific research and rational philosophy practically end in Spain, with Theology taking their place. Superstition supplants religiosity in people's minds and so-called miracles ubiquitously flourish. 

In this context, the Spanish genius, unable to create intellectually in other areas, takes refuge in the aesthetic task, with an impressive list of painters, sculptors, and architects who live in this era. The literature demonstrates the same splendor. When Cervantes was still alive,  other outstanding authors such as Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Quevedo wrote their literary masterpieces. Shortly after this giants of the Spanish literature history died, began his careers the last genius of the Baroque era, Calderón de la Barca and Gracián. Somehow, the limitation in freedom of expression is offset by an increase in artifice and exaggeration in style, subjecting the language of the Renaissance to an intense elaboration that gives rise to the two great movements of the time: the 'culteranismo' and the 'conceptismo'.

Baroque

Publication of the Romancero general

Second part of Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Second parto fo Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Propaplladia, by Bartolomé de Torres Naharro

Retrato de la Lozana andaluza, by Francisco Delicado

Flores de poetas ilustres, compiled by Pedro de Espinosa

Arte nuevo de hacer comedias, and second part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

The Polifemo, by Luis de Góngora

Novelas ejemplares, by Miguel de Cervantes

Rimas sacras and fourth part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

Viaje del Parnaso, by Miguel de Cervantes

Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega

The Buscón, by Quevedo

La dama duende, and Casa con dos puertas mala es de guardar, by Calderón

El burlador de Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

El burlador the Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

La vida es sueño, by Calderón de la Barca

Soledades, by Góngora

Empresas políticas, by Saavedra Fajardo

Closing of the theaters until 1649

El Parnaso español, by Quevedo

Las Meninas by Velazquez

Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake

King Lear and Macbeth, by William Shakesperare

Spanish Bites

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El Parnaso español (1648)

By Francisco de Quevedo

Time Period: Baroque

Genre: Poetry

Spanish Bites

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