Introducción a la literatura española offers a comprehensive introduction to Spanish literature for general readers and students of Spanish at the AP high school and third year college levels who are not native speakers. The book maps the development of the three major literary genres: narrative, poetry and theater, from the Middle Ages through the 20th century, and includes works by Don Juan Manuel, Garcilaso de la Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, Juan Meléndez Valdés, Federico García Lorca, and more. In addition to the selected readings, Introducción a la literatura española also features a cultural and historical overview of Spain. This panoramic view will enable students to place the selected works within a specific cultural, historical, and literary context. Each reading is followed by a series of drills that are designed to question the student's basic understanding of the story and develop critical analysis skills. Due to the difficulty presented by poetry a special section devoted to the study of poetic language, "Introducción al análisis de la poesía," is included to help students count syllables and identify rhymes and the different types of verses. It also provides an introduction to the study of the most common rhetorical figures used in poetry.