CULTERANISMO

in Spanish literature, an esoteric style of writing that attempted to elevate poetic language and themes by re-Latinizing them, using classical allusions, vocabulary, syntax, and word order. Announced as a theory by Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor in 1611 with his Libro de la erudicin potica, culteranismo reached its height in the 17th century with the poetry of Luis de Gngora y Argote. Gngora's complex imagery, unusual grammatical constructions, and obscure mythological allusions in Soledades (1613; Solitudes) carried culteranismo to such extremes that gongorismo entered the language as a synonym for literary affectation. Lesser imitators of Gngora deliberately cultivated obscurity in their work, thus overshadowing the original aim of the style, which was to create a poetry that would be timeless and universally appealing. After 300 years of almost universal ridicule, culteranismo was rediscovered by early 20th-century avant-garde poets in Spain as a fruitful method of poetic expression, and Gngora himself was reevaluated by modern critics as one of Spain's greatest poets.