THE 20 MOST OUTSTANDING AUTHORS OF THE GOLDEN CENTURY - LITERATURE - 2025

Some of the most important authors / writers of the Golden Age have been Alonso de Ledesma, Antonio Hurtado, Baltasar Gracián, Bartolomé de las Casas, Fernando de Rojas, Fray Luis de León, among others.

The Golden Age comprises two important and distinguished cultural movements; the Renaissance and the Baroque. Between these periods the artistic and cultural currents had their greatest splendor. Specifically, literature and art stand out notably between the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Golden Age begins with the rise of Romanticism and ends with the Baroque. Its beginning dates back to the year 1492 and its end towards 1681, the year of the death of the writer Calderón de la Barca.

As for the field of letters and art, it includes the period of maximum glory of literature from Spain, which was an influential model in art and literature of the world and for what the cultural, the artistic and the literary arrive at its best.

Furthermore, during this stage the most famous works of Spanish literature have been produced. Critics consider the Golden Age the moment of the rise of Spanish letters, where its greatest exponents were Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

The 20 writers of the Golden Age who have made famous and outstanding works

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616)

Miguel de Cervantes was one of the authors who ventured into the Byzantine novel genre. Source: Attributed to Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar

He is the greatest figure in Spanish literature. Nicknamed the "Prince of Wits". Recognized for his work, called The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (Don Quixote).

Featured as one of the best modern novels and the greatest work of world literature. Being the most edited and translated book in history.

Cervantes Saavedra created the genre of the polyphonic novel, the exemplary novels being another of his masterpieces. Among other relevant creations are: La Galatea; The works of Persiles and, Sigismunda.

Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627)

Poet born in Spain, maximum exponent of culteranismo (literary current of the Baroque immersed in that of conceptism).

Góngora has not published any of his creations as it was not successful. Now, in modern times there are several of his renowned works. Among them: Góngora's poetic works; The poetic language of Góngora; Gongorian studies and essays; Gongora and Polyphemus. The Chacón Manuscript was the most authorized, having been copied by Antonio Chacón.

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

Calderón de la Barca

Author of the Golden Age, recognized mainly for his theater of a baroque nature internationally.

With more than a hundred comedies and eighty pieces of religious theater performed, his main works include: The doctor of his honor; Life is a Dream; The son of the sun; The goblin lady; The greatest charm, love and, The great theater in the world.

Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Saint John of the Cross was a mystical poet of the Spanish Renaissance. A religious whose profane name was Juan de Yepes Álvarez. Patron of poets in the Spanish language since 1952.

His poetry constitutes the point of intersection of literary culture. Among his most considered poems are: Dark Night; Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame of Love.

Alonso de Ledesma (1562-1623)

Writer from Spain, born in Segovia. He was recognized for being the forerunner of conceptism (literary current).

Among his most outstanding works are: Spiritual Concepts, Christmas Eve Games in one hundred enigmas; The Romancero and Imagined Monster and, Epigrams and Hieroglyphs of the life of Christ.

Its aesthetic was continued by the writers Francisco de Quevedo, Luis Vélez de Guevara and Baltasar Gracián.

Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza (1586-1644)

Spanish playwright and poet. Disciple of Lope de Vega. He is recognized for his poems, which were, to a greater extent, compiled in lyrical and comic, divine and human works. With a romantic aesthetic and an inclination towards culteranismo (literary current of the Baroque period).

His most outstanding works are: The Life of Our Lady; Convocation of the Cortes of Castile and, La Guerra.

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658)

He was a Spanish writer of the Golden Age. Precursor of existentialism and postmodernity.

Noted for his work called El Criticón, which is one of the most important novels in Spanish literature. His works also include The Hero; The politician Don Fernando the Catholic and, The Oracle, manual and art of prudence.

His works have the aesthetics of the literary current of conceptism, like Alonso de Ledesma, his predecessor. His writings are also characterized by the pessimism characteristic of the Baroque period.

Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566)

Encomendero and Spanish writer. Recognized as the Apostle of the Indians for being the universal protector of all indigenous people. Considered to be one of the forerunners of modern international law.

In the middle of the sixteenth century, he produced the work Brief Relationship of the Destruction of the Indies, which constitutes the first modern report on human rights.

He wrote countless works such as: On the title of the domain of the King of Spain over the people and lands of the Indians, Eighth remedy, Treatise on the Indians who have become slaves; Memorial de remedios para las indias (also known as The fifteen remedies for the reformation of the Indies), among many others.

Fernando de Rojas (1476-1541)

Spanish writer, author of La Celestina Literary work with the character of a humanistic comedy, which popularized the tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea.

Although he has not been recognized as the author of the work, historically the authorship is attributed to him. With a pessimistic style characteristic of the Baroque, it is the only work that is known.

Francisco Gómez de Quevedo Villegas y Santibáñez Cevallos (1580-1645)

Recognized Spanish writer of the Golden Age. For being one of the most outstanding authors in the history of the literature of that country. He has written narrative and dramatic works but stood out for his poetic work writing all the subgenres of his time.

His style was characterized by the baroque concept. He has written more than 200 love style poems. Her poetry being considered the most important of the seventeenth century. The most successful love poetry of this writer is Constant love beyond death.

Among his other most relevant works are La Torre de Juan Abad and the Knight of the Order of Santiago.

Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla (1607-1648)

This Spanish author has more than seventy works produced. He made valuable contributions to the Spanish theater of the time, publishing Rojas in two parts with more than 10 works each.

In addition, other pieces stand out such as: From the king below none; The Cain of Catalonia; Each one what he has to do; The doctor of his love; Dying thinking of killing, among others. His style was characterized by comedy.

Fray Luis de León (1527-1591)

Born in Spain, he is together with Saint John of the Cross one of the most important poets of the Spanish Renaissance of the mid-16th century.

His literary work of philosophical and religious style is inspired by the desire of the soul and the desire to get away from everything forbidden in the earthly world.

Being spiritual peace, knowledge, moral and ascetic themes the predominant ones in all his literary work. Among his main writings are: On the names of Christ; Monte y Literal translation and declaration of the book of songs of Solomon.

Garci Lasso de la Vega (1501-1536)

This author was a Spanish poet popularly known as Garcilaso de la Vega, who stood out in lyrical production, which was the highest expression of the Castilian Renaissance.

Garcilaso was one of the greatest exponents of the Spanish poets. He used simple, clear and clear language, preferring to use familiar and familiar words to those belonging to cultism. His style leaned towards classicism.

Among his works are the books Le Liriche; Eclogue I, Sonnets, Poetry, among many others.

Hernando de Acuña (1518-1580)

Spanish writer of the Renaissance, dedicated to the lyrical and contemporary genre of Garcilaso de la Vega. He is considered a lyrical poet corresponding to the first generation of Spanish Renaissance poets.

He has translated classic works by renowned Latin and Italian writers. And he was mainly known for his poetic composition of more than 14 verses dedicated to Emperor Carlos I of Spain.

Juan Boscán Almogávar (1492-1542)

Spanish Renaissance poet is recognized for having introduced into poetry, in Castilian, the lyric from Italy together with Garcilaso de la Vega.

He is the author of the poem Hero, being the first to be linked to classic legendary and mythological themes at that time.

Juan de Valdés (1509-1541)

Spanish Protestant writer, representative of the anti-normative trend of the 16th century. Author of Dialogue of the Language, a work that tries to put the Spanish language at the level of other prestigious languages.

Among his main works can also be found, Christian Alphabet; Comments in Spanish to the Psalms; Dialogue of Christian doctrine, etc.

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza (1581-1639)

Spanish writer of the Golden Age, born in Madrid. The style of his literature refers to the genre of comedy, using a language with proverbs.

Although he published twenty comedies in two volumes, his most outstanding works are the comedy The Suspicious Truth and The Walls Hear. The first of them being one of the key works of the Baroque theater of Latin America. And both the most influential for later literature.

Juana Inés de Asbaje and Ramírez de Santillana (1648-1695)

Religious and writer from New Spain, known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Nicknamed the Phoenix of America, the Tenth Muse or the Mexican Tenth Muse. It is also an exponent of the Golden Age in Spanish literature.

In the field of lyric, he developed his work in a baroque style. He also made a significant number of theatrical works, among which are Amor es más laberinto.

Among his most famous writings, the comedy Los empeños de una casa stands out. As for its theological side, it was denoted in his work, composed of three autos sacramentales: El martir del sacramento; The center of Joseph and the divine Narcissus.

Lope Félix de Vega Carpio (1562-1635)

Outstanding Spanish poet of the Golden Age. Recognized as one of the most exuberant authors of universal literature.

He has been dubbed the Phoenix of Wits, "Poet of Heaven and Earth," and "Monster of Nature." He is, along with Calderón de la Barca, one of the greatest Spanish exponents of the Baroque theater.

Among his most relevant works can be found: La Arcadia; The pilgrim in his homeland; Shepherds of Bethlehem; La Égola to Claudio; Conquered Jerusalem, among many others. Pieces that continue to be represented today.

Lorenzo van der Hamen and Leon (1589-1664)

He was a Spanish writer of the Golden Age, who was also a Catholic priest and humanist. Throughout his life he has dealt with Lope de Vega and Francisco de Quevedo who have dedicated some of their works to him.

Among the most outstanding ones are: A Don Francisco de Quevedo, and Villegas; Way of mourning sins; Excellencies of the name of Mary; History of D. Juan de Austria, among others.

References

1. Bloom, H. (1995). Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age. Chelsea House.
2. Britannica, TE (1998, Jul 20). Golden Age. Retrieved from Britannica: britannica.com.
3. Congdon, L. (2016). Legendary Sports Writers of the Golden Age: Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Shirley Povich, and WC Heinz. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated.
4. MARCHE, S. (2012, Nov 26). The Golden Age for Writers. Retrieved from Equire: esquire.com.
5. McGilligan, P. (1986). Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age. University of California Press.
6. Science-fiction's Golden Age writers left a fantastic legacy. (nd). Retrieved from Theguardian: theguardian.com.
7. Scott, D. (2001). Sacred Tongues: The Golden Age of Spiritual Writing.
8. Spain Golden Age Literature: Overviewhttp. (nd). Retrieved from Spainthenandnow: spainthenandnow.com.
9. Wright, JC (2003). The Golden Age, Volume 1.