1. SPANISH LITERATURE AND ITS DIVISIONS.--At the period of the subversion
of the Empire of the West, in the fifth century, Spain was invaded by the
Suevi, the Alans, the Vandals, and the Visigoths. The country which had
for six centuries been subjected to the dominion of the Romans, and had,
adopted the language and arts of its masters, now experienced those
changes in manners, opinions, military spirit, and language, which took
place in the other provinces of the empire, and which, were, in fact, the
origin of the nations which arose on the overthrow of the Roman power.
Among the conquerors of Spain, the Visigoths were the most numerous; the
ancient Roman subjects were speedily confounded with them, and their
dominion soon extended over nearly the whole country. In the year 710 the
peninsula was invaded by the Arabs or Moors, and from that time the active
and incessant struggles of the Spanish Christians against the invaders,
and their necessary contact with Arabian civilization, began to elicit
sparks of intellectual energy. Indeed, the first utterance of that popular
feeling which became the foundation of the national literature was heard
in the midst of that extraordinary contest, which lasted for more than
seven centuries, so that the earliest Spanish poetry seems but a breathing
of the energy and heroism which, at the time it appeared, animated the
Spanish Christians throughout the peninsula. Overwhelmed by the Moors,
they did not entirely yield; a small but valiant band, retreating before
the fiery pursuit of their enemies, established themselves in the extreme
northwestern portion of their native land, amidst the mountains and the
fastnesses of Biscay and Asturias, while the others remained under the
yoke of the conquerors, adopting, in some degree, the manners and habits
of the Arabians. On the destruction of the caliphat of Cordova, in the
year 1031, the dismemberment of the Moslem territories into petty
Independent kingdoms, often at variance with each other, afforded the
Christians a favorable opportunity of reconquering their country. One
after another the Moorish states fell before them. The Moors were driven
farther and farther to the south, and by the middle of the thirteenth
century they had no dominion in Spain except the kingdom of Granada, which
for two centuries longer continued the splendid abode of luxury and
magnificence.
As victory inclined more and more to the Spanish arms, the Castilian
dialect rapidly grew into a vehicle adequate to express the pride and
dignity of the prevailing people, and that enthusiasm for liberty which
was long their finest characteristic. The poem of the Cid early appeared,
and in the thirteenth century a numerous family of romantic ballads
followed, all glowing with heroic ardor. As another epoch drew near, the
lyric form began to predominate, in which, however, the warm expressions
of the Spanish heart were restricted by a fondness for conceit and
allegory. The rudiments of the drama, religious, pastoral, and satiric,
soon followed, marked by many traits of original thought and talent. Thus
the course of Spanish literature proceeded, animated and controlled by the
national character, to the end of the fifteenth century.
In the sixteenth, the original genius of the Spaniards, and their proud
consciousness of national greatness, contributed to the maintenance and
improvement of their literature in the face of the Inquisition itself.
Released by the conquest of Granada (1492) from the presence of internal
foes, prosperous at home and powerful abroad, Spain naturally rose to high
mental dignity; and with all that she gathered from foreign contributions,
her writers kept much of their native vein, more free than at first from
Orientalism, but still breathing of their own romantic land. A close
connection, however, for more than one hundred years with Italy,
familiarized the Spanish mind with eminent Italian authors and with the
ancient classics.
During the seventeenth century, especially from the middle to the close,
the decay of letters kept pace with the decline of Spanish power, until
the humiliation of both seemed completed in the reign of Charles II. About
that time, however, the Spanish drama received a full development and
attained its perfection. In the eighteenth century, under the government
of the Bourbons, and partly through the patronage of Philip V., there was
a certain revival of literature; but unfortunately, parties divided, and
many of the educated Spaniards were so much attracted by French glitter as
to turn with disgust from their own writers. The political convulsions, of
which Spain has been the victim since the time of Ferdinand VII., have
greatly retarded the progress of national literature, and the nineteenth
century has thus far produced little which is worthy of mention.