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Culteranismo

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Spanish Baroque literary style marked by elaborate syntax, Latinate vocabulary, and dense metaphors

Detailed Definition
Culteranismo is a highly ornate, intellectually dense Spanish Baroque poetic style developed in the 17th century by Luis de Góngora, characterized by Latinate syntax, mythological allusions, neologisms, hyperbaton, and elaborate metaphors; it prioritizes linguistic virtuosity and aesthetic difficulty, often obscuring meaning beneath layers of rhetorical artifice to challenge and elevate the reader.
Example
Example in poetry:
Luis de Góngora’s “Soledades” employs hyperbaton, neologisms, and mythological allusion; Dense metaphors like “the liquid gold of Phoebus” for sunlight; Extreme Latinate syntax obscuring immediate meaning; Use of periphrasis: “the feathered couriers of Juno” instead of “peacocks”
Additional Notes
Culteranismo is a 17th-century Spanish Baroque style marked by extreme syntactic complexity, Latinate vocabulary, mythological allusion, and neologisms; pioneered by Luis de Góngora; contrasts with conceptismo’s intellectual wit
Also Known As
Gongorism culto style Baroque intricacy Spanish ornate style
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