A lo divino
{{Lang|es|A lo divino}} ({{IPA|es|a lo ðiˈβino}}) is a Spanish phrase meaning "to the divine" or "in a sacred manner". The phrase is frequently used to describe a secular work, rewritten with a religious overtone, or a secular topic recast in religious terms using metaphors and symbolism. These types of adaptations were most popular during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Golden Age of Spanish literature.{{cite book
| last = Ward
| first = Philip
| title = The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature
| publisher = Oxford University Press, USA
| year = 1978
| isbn = 978-0-19-866114-6
| page = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00ibli/page/17 17]
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00ibli/page/17
}}
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, a Spanish literary scholar, felt the adaptations were of little note, calling them a short-lived whim of the pious. It took Dámaso Alonso's study of their influence on Garcilaso de la Vega's poetry before they were considered significant to the development of Spanish literature.
A lo divino also refers to a style of music that incorporates religious chants.
Famous authors
- Saint John of the Cross - many of his poems contained a lo divino in the title, indicating that they were taken from a secular work and changed to fit a religious interpretation.
- Sebastián de Córdoba - rewrote some of Garcilaso's secular love poems in this style.
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book
| last = Crosbie
| first = John A.
| title = A Lo Divino Lyric Poetry: An Alternative View
| publisher = University of Durham
| year = 1989
| isbn = 0-907310-19-2
}}