Style
Quevedo was an adherent of the style known as conceptismo, a name derived from concepto, which has been defined as "a brilliant flash of wit expressed in pithy or epigrammatic style." Conceptismo is characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, simple vocabulary, witty metaphors, and wordplay. In this style, multiple meanings are conveyed in a very concise manner, and conceptual intricacies are emphasised over elaborate vocabulary. Conceptismo can effect elegant philosophical depth, as well as biting satire and humor, such as in the case of the works of Quevedo and Baltasar Gracián.
The first tercet from Quevedo's sonnet "¡Ah de la vida!" is considered to exemplify conceptismo in poetry at its peak:
- Ayer se fue, mañana no ha llegado,
- Hoy se está yendo sin parar un punto;
- Soy un fue, y un seré y un es cansado.
Read more about this topic: Francisco De Quevedo
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“Style is the man himself.
[Le style c’est l’homme même.]”
—Leclerc, George-Louis Buffon, Comte De (1707–1788)
“Everything ponderous, viscous, and solemnly clumsy, all long- winded and boring types of style are developed in profuse variety among Germans—forgive me the fact that even Goethe’s prose, in its mixture of stiffness and elegance, is no exception, being a reflection of the “good old time” to which it belongs, and a reflection of German taste at a time when there still was a “German taste”Ma rococo taste in moribus et artibus.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter.... For me “style” is matter.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)