Soledad/Soledades en la poesía española del Siglo de Oro (revisando a Vossler)

Abstract

Solitude, as one of the essential feelings of the human being, has received an inveterate and very broad attention in literature, especially in poetry, which, for Spanish literature, was examined by the German philologist Karl Vossler in a well-known monograph of 1940. The analysis offered in this article is based on very different methodological assumptions: it is not so much an attempt to present a complete panorama – which would exceed its scope – but rather to establish a systematic approach to the fundamental tendencies that feature the Poetics of Solitude in the Golden Age. After revisiting the most successful rhetorical formula, re-elaborations of other secular topos (Golden Age, beatus ille, aurea mediocritas, natura paucis contenta, etc.), it is proposed to frame them in two basic categories: solitude as a path towards personal improvement, which is perceived as an achievement; and loneliness as a form of abandonment, which is perceived as a defeat. Humanistic solitude and elegiac loneliness. The former is fundamentally associated with moral poetry, with stoic roots and occasionally with a transcendent drift, whereas the latter is mostly inspired by the expression of amorous experiences. In any case, both provide an excellent portrayal of the longings and emotions that solitude/loneliness can arouse in human beings.

Keywords

• Golden Age
• Cervantes Miguel de
• Vega Lope de
• Góngora Luis de
• Quevedo Francisco de
• Garcilaso de la Vega