Los Amantes de Teruel | Page 7

a more artistic production, is still a Romantic play, and one of the best in Spanish literature.
#VI. Romanticism.# Generally speaking, an author belongs to his own age and country, is moved by the prevalent ideas and sentiments; his outlook upon life is similar to that of the majority of his contemporaries. Ordinarily then, a piece of literature of a past age is understood and fully appreciated only by the student who is able to view it in its proper historical perspective, to see it through the eyes of those for whom it was written. Especially is this true of Romantic literature, the production of ardent and youthful enthusiasts who found themselves suddenly emancipated from the rigid rules and formalism of French pseudo-Classicism of the eighteenth century. The tendency in literature, as in political and social life, is to pass in a pendulum swing from one extreme to the other, so that to appreciate the fine and enduring qualities of Romantic literature and to make due allowance for its exaggerations and other apparent faults, the student must know something of the Romantic movement and of the Classicism that immediately preceded it. Moreover, his purpose in reading a literary masterpiece is not merely to understand and appreciate it in itself, but also to gain through it some understanding of the age or literary movement of which it is a representative. In order, then, that Los Amantes de Teruel may be more fully appreciated as a dramatic masterpiece, and in order that through it the student may come to a fuller understanding of Romanticism, his attention is now directed to the essential characteristics of this important literary movement.
Romanticism in Spanish literature is the name given to the literary revolt that began about 1830 against pseudo-Classicism. A similar revolt had already freed the other literatures of Europe, so that the many Spanish exiles who had been forced to seek refuge for political reasons in England or on the Continent there became familiar with the new ideas in literature. Ardent converts to the new literary ideals, these political exiles, when permitted to return to Spain at the death of the despotic Ferdinand VII in 1833, became the leaders in a literary revolution that soon swept away all opposition. The logical reaction from the rigid rules and formalism, new ideas in political and social life weakened opposition so rapidly and effectively that the Romantic poetry and plays of the Duque de Rivas, Espronceda, García Gutiérrez, Hartzenbusch, and others found a ready and enthusiastic welcome.
In the comparison that is to be made of Romanticism and Classicism, romantic and classic are to be used in their technical, literary sense. As ordinarily used, romantic means the extreme opposite of prosaic or commonplace; in literary history, Romantic is used to describe the movement known as Romanticism. Classic, in its oldest and ordinary acceptation, means the best of its class or kind; in its literary sense, classic, or classical, is usually applied to the type of literature that harmonized so completely with eighteenth century rationalism, the Classicism, or rather pseudo-Classicism, which, enthroned in France, ruled all literary Europe until the closing years of the century. In the following comparison, Classic, Classicist, and Classicism are the opposites of Romantic, Romanticist, and Romanticism.
Romanticism, in its general application to all kinds of literature and to the literatures of all countries where it made itself effectively felt, shows the following characteristics:
1. Subjectivity, the introduction of the personal note, the expression by the author of his own individual feelings and ideas. The Classicist, aiming at universality and completeness, considered only the typical and eternal as suitable material for literature and carefully excluded whatever seemed peculiar to himself; his ideal was to give perfect literary form to ideas and sentiments acceptable to mankind generally, truths of universal application. Originality of idea or sentiment was not of prime importance with him; his aim was rather to give finished form to "what oft was said, but ne'er so well expressed." The aim of the Romanticist, on the other hand, was to turn to literary uses his own individual experiences, to give forceful and effective, rather than elegant, expression to his own peculiar feelings and ideas. This subjectivity led naturally to many abuses; it also led to the production of some of the masterpieces of literature. Lyric poetry, that had almost died of inanition during the period of Classicism, took on new and vigorous life and became again one of the most important literary genres. The mere mention of such famous poets as Byron, Shelley, Heine, Musset, Leopardi, Espronceda, indicates the extent and importance of lyric poetry in the first half of the nineteenth century.
2. Emotional appeal. Classicism made its appeal to the intellect; Romanticism to the emotions. The aim of the Classicist being to give perfect literary expression to