Unit 1 Overview: The Middle Ages

4 min read•june 18, 2024

Alejandra Ramos

AP Spanish Literature 💃🏽

24 resources

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Welcome to AP Spanish Literature ✨

AP Spanish Literature shares the spot with AP English Literature for my favorite AP Class. AP Spanish Literature takes you on journeys and different Eras of, well, Spanish Literature. It is basically like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, except instead of albums, it focuses on different time periods in which literature pieces were made. These different eras include:

La época medieval 🗡️
El siglo XVI
El siglo XVII
La literatura romántica, realista y naturalista 🖤
La generación del 98 y el Modernismo
Teatro y poesía del siglo XX 🎭
El Boom latinoamericano 💥
Escritores contemporáneos de Estados Unidos y España

Unit 1 Overview: The Middle Ages

We will be focusing on La época medieval in this section, and although it is the shortest one, it has been tested before and establishes an important historical foundation for everything else.

Ronda, Spain. Image courtesy of pxfuel.

Temas

Additionally, it is very important to note that throughout the units, there are going to be different temas, or themes, that the story is about. The temas are very useful to be able to talk about the stories in the free-response questions (FRQs) on the AP Exam. It is also very important to not focus on just the general history of each time period but rather, the history of the time period that revolves around the literature piece. This was something that at first, I would get confused about, but looking at just the historical context of the story helped a lot with remembering the key details of each era! It is usually easier for people (it was for me!) to not group stories by temas but rather, associate the temas with a story as there can be various temas for a single story.

📝 Read: AP Spanish Literature - How Can I Be Prepared for the AP Spanish Literature FRQ?

1.1 Conde Lucanor Ejemplo XXXV — Don Juan Manuel

El Conde Lucanor Ejemplo XXXV, was written by Don Juan Manuel approximately in the year 1335. During this time period, women were considered to not be on the same level of value as men—which is something, although not fair, very important to remember since it will help establish various temas. The temas del curso are "Las relaciones interpersonales" and "La construcción de genero." These can then be broken down into other sub-temas.

Las sociedades en contacto is one of them, and you will learn about the different roles of people in marriage and what was socially acceptable—the man being in control. This specific example of las sociedades en contacto will be repeated in other pieces of literature that will later be seen.
Las relaciones de poder is another tema, and in this fábula, the power relationship is between the man and the woman—more specifically focusing on how the power is obtained.
El machismo is very much a Spanish term, and it revolves around men feeling superior to women and being considered more important, and wanting to establish their dominance—whatever it takes. When reading the information on El Conde Lucanor Ejemplo XXXV, you will want to make strong connections between the temas with specific parts of the story. 🖼

1.2 “Romance de la pérdida de Alhama” — Anónimo

“Romance de la pérdida de Alhama is one of the few literature pieces in this class that does not have an author. This is because of the type of literature this is—it is talking about the downfall of a kingdom, which would have been very badly punished with the possibility of death. We will see the repetition of two temas from el Conde Lucanor Ejemplo XXXV in this poem—but they are connected in different ways.

Las sociedades en contacto can be seen, but through different religions making contact. As you will learn, this is a type of poema in which the narrator will describe how Alhama was lost by its emperor to another one.
Las relaciones de poder but rather than through a married couple, they are seen through the win and loss of a war, and who can dominate.
El imperialismo, is a new tema that is introduced, although not a full tema for College Board, but is addressed as there is imperialism from one group of people to another, especially from one religion to another or in "conquests."

Alhambra Fortress, Granada, Andalucía, Spain. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Navigating the Course

Some things I wish I knew about the course are that you should be able to recognize not just the name of the story, but also the name of the author and the time period. I am usually a crammer for AP Tests, unfortunately, but I would go back time and time again and make flashcards early one quizzing me on the information of a story. Terminos Literarios are also super important to know—which is why I would recommend finding a literary term and associating it with some part of the literary piece you are reading. Finally, always be aware of the type of piece you are reading—whether it is a moraleja, a poema, or a soneto. Lastly, don’t just focus on the literary pieces but also focus on your writing and analysis skills.

This is genuinely the shortest unit so there is not much else to cover but please enjoy the Eras Tour! It is very enjoyable 😊

Browse Study Guides By Unit

🏇Unit 1 – La época medieval

1.0Unit 1 Overview: The Middle Ages

1.1Conde Lucanor, Exemplo XXXV – Don Juan Manuel

1.2“Romance de la pérdida de Alhama” – Anónimo

🛳Unit 2 – El siglo XVI

🖌Unit 3 – El siglo XVII

🎨Unit 4 – La literatura romántica, realista y naturalista

🤺Unit 5 – La Generación del 98 y el Modernismo

🎭Unit 6 – Teatro y poesía del siglo XX

🌎Unit 7 – El Boom latinoamericano