THE BEGINNING OF THE 18TH CENTURY
 

Works by
Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo
edited by Torres, 1744

    1.-  Although there existed different approaches and diverse opinions, the poetry of the first third of the 18th century continued the trends of the end of the earlier one. Góngora´s mark is tangible in numerous authors who still copy his style and technique today.
 
   This trend is commonly known as post-baroque and it could still be seen in the mid 18th century.
 
   Amongst the most noted poets, we should remember primarily, the Sevillian Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo (1662-1714), for his sonnets along the lines of Quevedo. His poetry was edited in 1744 by someone who deserves mentioning in this epigraph, Diego Torres Villarroel (1694-1770).

Eugenio Gerardo Lobo		 Secondly is Eugenio Gerardo Lobo (1679-1750) from Toledo, author of merry and carefree poetry, written in "arte menor" (short verses). His first works were published in 1713.
 
    2.-  Soon we were going to read a new kind of poetry, based on the forementioned but which showed an eagerness for the meticulous and delicate.
 
   This was impregnated with a tenuous eroticism and an apparent hedonism: it is rococo poetry.
   With this we are faced with a type of enlightened poetry of a time that some authors consider neoclassic, a name that we reserve here for another trend.
 
   We mention Alonso Verdugo Castilla, Count of Torrepalma, (Jaén, 1706-1767), founder of the Spanish Royal Academy and the Academy of History. He excelled in poetry with mythological and classical themes.
   A friend of his was the priest from Granada, José Antonio Porcel (1715-1794), a member of the same academies, who also developed the mythological tale, although hereditor of the "Gongorian" and "Garcilasian" tradition.
 
   With all this, it is necessary to remember that a great part of this rococo poetry is the work of enlightened poets that were to cultivate more progressive genres than the anacreontic.
Manuscript of the Adonis (h.1741)
by José Antonio Porcel

Poetics by Luzán, 1737		     3.-  Poetics (1737) by Ignacio de Luzán (1702-1754) from Aragon, should be cited as one of the most influencial texts on the illustrated poetry of his time.      Although written in prose, it established a series of principles to direct the later literature in verse: simplicity in its form, as opposed to the post-baroque exuberances; stylistic elevation without ornamental excesses; utility of the treated topics, etc. Luzán was to follow the Horacian principles of poetic art and was to propose the first reformation of Spanish poetry, inspired by, although not anchored to, the French fashions that dominated this century.
 
   His poetic practice did not, however, reach the height of his theoretical one. He wrote epic poems and allegories that, in spite of showing a new focus of the topic, didn't offer models of true interest to the following generations.

D.Miguel Pérez Rosado.
Ph. D. in Hispanic Philology.