During the XVI century, the poetry was clearly petrarchist. Neoplatonism influenced the subtle interpretative analyses and the cult to the feeling of nature. The topic of love, imitating the Arcadia by Sannazaro, will always be a constant in the genre.
In 1543, Carlos Amoros de Barcelona printed one of the most important volumes in the Spanish literature: works by Boscan and some by Garcilaso de la Vega distributed among four books. The fourth book includes a piece by Garcilaso, whose legal ownership was trusted to Boscan when the original author died. The book, reprinted frequently, became an essential partner to every educated and sensitive Spanish person. Boscan and Garcilaso were published together throughout many years, but near 1570 it became necessary to print Garcilaso by itself: the author had upgraded his category and he became a classic.
Garcilaso de la Vega (1531-1536) met Spanish humanists like Juan de Valdés and very important Italian characters such as Luigi Tansillo and Bernardo Tasso. He was an admired member of Napolitan literary circles and others even bigger; he shared letters of mutual admiration with Pietro Bembo, known as the mediator of the Italian literary elegance back then.
The connection between Garcilaso and Ausias March, along with the Spanish poetry found in several collections of ballads, is undeniable. One of the pieces that really deserves to be recognized is General Collection of Ballads (Valencia, 1511), a massive compilation of all types of poetry by Hernando del Castillo. This piece immediately reached a clear commercial success with seven different editions within the XVI century, but it’s a very curious fact that the poetic compilation of the XVI century only included pieces written in the XV century.