Alberti Aleixandre
González
Hernández
Jiménez
Lorca
Machado
Alberti
Aleixandre
González
Hernández
Jiménez
Lorca
Machado
The Shooting of May Third 1808 by Francisco de Goya
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Alberti was born (1903) in Puerto de Santa María, a small town
across from Cádiz. He was the last surviving member of the Generation of
1927, which included his friend and rival, Lorca, as well as Aleixandre, Salinas,
Guillén and Cernuda.. Alberti's initial calling was art, and he even
released a collection of poems (A
La Pintura, 1950) devoted to this subject. His early poetry was strongly
influenced by Andalusían folksong and included Marinero en Tierra (A Sailor On
Land, 1924), which was generally light-hearted and uplifting. In contrast, his best
known work, Sobre Los Ángeles (Concerning the Angels, 1929) is a surrealist work
utilizing various Angels as allegory for forces in the real world. The tone is
quite tragic and intimate and Alberti notably makes no mention of his beloved Andalusia,
as in earlier collections. Deception is included within
this collection and illustrates these themes.
Although Alberti won a Spanish literary prize in 1925, he was exiled following the Spanish Civil War due to his ardent support of the Republicans. Alberti was not initially a political poet, but eventually devoted himself completely to this cause, even reciting poems to Republic troops to improve their morale. His exile took him to Argentina, where he published Retornos de lo vivo lejano (Returns of the Distant Life) and Ora Maritima, which were both published in 1953. Alberti eventually returned to Spain in 1977 where he remained until his death in October, 1999.
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Aleixandre is the most successful Spanish poet to both survive
the Civil War and remain in Spain afterwards. This is largely due to the fact that
his poems were non-political in nature and that Aleixandre's long-suffering struggle with
tubercular nephritis kept him bed-ridden in a mountain retreat for much of the war.
Aleixandre's significant contributions to modern poetry were recognized with the receipt
of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977, when he was 79 years old.
Vicente Aleixandre was born in Seville in 1898 and led a happy childhood. His father was an engineer, and the family was very close-knit. In fact, following their parents deaths (mother passed away in 1934 and father in 1940) both Vicente and his sister, Conchita, continued to live together in their parent's house. The family moved to Málaga in 1902, and this scenic, coastal village proved to be a strong inspiration to Aleixandre's early poetry, which often evoked images of the sea and sun. However, he was late in developing as a poet. In college, Aleixandre studied business law and became a University law teacher in Madrid when he was only 22 years old. It was not until a close friend and poet, Dámaso Alonso, gave him a book of poetry by Rubén Darío, that he began writing in secret. Aleixandre did not devote himself to his hidden passion, until his illness forced him to leave his job at the age of 27.
His early publications were well regarded and Vicente Aleixandre was rewarded Spain's National Prize for Literature in 1933 for his first four publications: Ámbito (Ambit, 1928), Espadas como labios (Swords like Lips, 1932), Pasíon de la Tierra (Passion for the Earth, 1935) and La Destrucción o el amor (Destruction of Love, 1935). However, it is with Aleixandre's fifth publication, Sombra del Paraíso (Shadow of Paradise, 1944), that his place was secured in literary history. Shadow of Paradise aptly described both Spain's and Aleixandre's sense of interminable loss following the Civil War. Without resorting to political overtures, Aleixandre conjures the most primal images and emotions of mankind and contrasts these to the immortal power and brutality of Nature to evoke the sense of gloom and loss the War subjected upon all Spaniards. The Body and the Soul is a prime example of this, and is indicative of the sadness which permeates much of Aleixandre's work.
Most of Aleixandre's work can be categorized as Surreal, although he explored other genre's later in his career and also managed to escape the haunting sadness which permeates the majority of his poems. However, Aleixandre should not be faulted for this tendency, as the destruction wrought by the war on Spain's resurgent poetry movement (indeed, upon all of Spain's institutions) must have been too much for him to avoid. Vicente Aleixandre described his poetry as "a Longing for the Light", and a closer evaluation of his poems displays this desire to escape from the despair of a Paradise Lost and hint at the beauty and peace Aleixandre and post-Civil War Spain aspired toward.
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Ángel González is probably Spain's greatest post-Civil War
poet. He was born in Oviedo in 1925, where he also received a law degree in 1949
from the University Of Oviedo. Like so many Spaniards of this generation, his life
was profoundly affected by the Civil War. Ángel's father died when he was only two,
and one of his brothers was exiled and the other assassinated during the War. He
developed a serious interest in poetry during a three year self-imposed exile to León,
where he fled after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. It was here that he
familiarized himself with the Group of 1927, who would strongly influence his early
works. In fact, a dominant member of this group, Vicente Aleixandre, became his
friend after he moved to Madrid in 1951 and was instrumental in convincing Ángel to
publish his works. Zero City describes the effects of
the Civil War through the eyes of a child, and its' stark descriptions of a devastated
city's landscape can be interpreted metaphorically as a reflection on the state of the
Spanish soul during this conflict.
He spent most of the next 20 years in Madrid, where he published most of his works, including: Aspero Mundo (Harsh World, 1956), Sin esperanza con convencimiento (Without Hope, But With Conviction, 1961), Grado elemental (Elementary Grade, 1962), Palabra sobre palabra (Word Upon Word, 1965), Tratado de urbanismo (Treatise On Urban Development, 1967), Breves acotaciones para una biografia (Brief Marginal Notes For A Biography, 1969) and Procedimientos narrativos (Narrative Procedures, 1972). Ángel's talents and influence were rewarded during this period with the Adonais Prize (for Harsh World) and the Antonio Machado Prize for Poetry (for Elementary Grade). These works collectively reflect an astonishing array of styles, emotions and subject matter. Certain common elements recur though, including the subject of war and a sense of cynicism and isolation.
González moved to the United States in 1972, where he taught at several Universities, including Maryland, Texas, Utah and the University of New Mexico where he has taught since 1973. During this period he produced two more works (Narrative Procedures And The Emotional Attitudes That They Usually Entail in 1976 and Prosems Or Less in 1985) which primarily delve into his adopted country's landscape's and culture.
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Despite his tragically early death, Miguel Hernández became one
of the most influential poets to the succeeding generation of Spanish poets.
Hernández was born in the small town of Orihuela in 1910, where he spent his childhood as
a goatherd and farmboy. He was largely self-taught, having received a basic
education in state schools and later, training by the Jesuits. Miguel spent his
youth devouring poetry, particularly that of the Spanish poet Góngora, who was
influential in his early works, the first of which was Perito en lunas (Expert in
moons, 1933). Góngorism combines a formal structure with fantastic and sometimes
surreal imagery. His second collection, El rayo que no cesa (Lightning
which doesn't end, 1936) eerily portends of the cruel fate awaiting him.
Hernández moved to Madrid shortly after getting married, leaving his wife and child behind in Orihuela. There he befriended the most prestigious poets in Spain, including Lorca, Aleixandre, Alberti and Neruda. Their influence, as well as the tragedy and horror he was later forced to endure, matured his work into an intensely personal and brutal form. Miguel served with the Republican Army during the Civil War, and the savagery he witnessed, as well as the early death of his firstborn son are vividly portrayed in his subsequent works. First Song depicts the dehumanizing effect of war on individuals, as do most of the poems in Viento del pueblo (1937) and El hombre acecha (1938).
At the conclusion of the Civil War, Miguel attempted to flee to Portugal, but was detained, beaten and arrested by the Guardia Civil. Hernández was moved to a prison in Madrid, where he continued to write poetry, often on scraps of toilet paper which were smuggled out. His influential friends secured his release, but Miguel stubbornly insisted that he return to Orihuela where his family remained, rather than flee the country as if he were a criminal. He was jailed once again and subsequently moved to a prison hospital in Alicante after contracting tuberculosis while imprisoned. During his 3 years in prison, Miguel wrote his most original poetry which was published posthumously in Cancionero y romancero de ausencias (1958). Ironically, the prison poems, while still obsessed with darkness and suffering, reflected a compassion and faith in the human spirit lacking in his earlier works. Just before Hernández died on March 28, 1942 he scrawled his last verse on the hospital wall: Goodbye, brothers, comrades, friends: let me take my leave of the sun and the fields.
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Juan Ramón won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1956 and his masterpiece
about an old man and his donkey, Platero y yo (1914), is widely considered the
greatest work of poetic prose in the Spanish language. Jiménez was born in Moguer
(1881), but moved to Madrid in 1898 where he befriended the modernist Rubén Darío, who
influenced Juan Ramón's early works, including Arias tristes (Sad Songs, 1903).
Jiménez met his future wife, Zenobia Camprubí, in Madrid and they traveled to the
U.S. in 1916 to get married. One of his best collection's, Diario de un Poeta
Recién Casado (Diary of a Newly Wed Poet, 1917), was written during this period and
marked a significant change in his style. From this moment on, Jiménez moved away
from the modernist movement, towards what he called "poesía desnuda" (naked
poetry). This style rejected ornamentation and end-rhyme's in favor of an emphasis
on simplicity and rhythm. The result is a collection of later poems which are
succinct, delicate, and yet intensely emotional.
In his poem, "Intelligence, Give Me" Jiménez expresses his desire to invoke only those words absolutely necessary to describe things as they are. The allegorical "At First She Came To Me Pure", explains how Juan Ramón first came to love poetry when "she" was pure and then grew to hate "her" as "she" dressed up, becoming more elaborate and ornamental. Then "she" learned to trust him again, and returned to "her" state of undress, renewing his affection for "her" - Naked Poetry.
At the start of the Civil War, Juan Ramón fled Spain to live in the U.S., Cuba and Puerto Rico, where he died. Jiménez and his wife were intensely devoted to each other and many of his poems were written for her, including I Took Off Petal After Petal. Indeed, he was awarded the Nobel Prize while his wife was on her deathbed and refused to travel to Stockholm to receive the prize, stating that his wife should have received it and that he had no interest in it now. Juan Ramón was always a frail man, both physically and emotionally, and he suffered from severe depression before passing away just over a year after his wife's death.
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The pre-eminent member of the
Generation of 1927, Lorca is
clearly the most popular poet ever to originate from Spain. He was born in Fuente
Vaqueros in 1898, and was educated at the universities of Granada and Madrid.
Although he is best known for his drama and poetry, this talented individual was also a
proficient painter and pianist. Lorca was at the center of Spain's "intellectual
circle" and befriended many influential members, including fellow poets Albertí and
Jiménez, filmmaker Luis Buñuel, painter Salvador Dalí, and classical composer Manuel de
Falla.
Libro de poemas (Book of Poems, 1921) was his first collection of poetry to be published and was strongly influenced by Machado and Jiménez. However, in 1922 Lorca organized the first festival of cante jondo (deep song), which is the music and folklore of gypsy culture. This folk influence is evident in his subsequent works, including Canciones (Songs, 1927), Primer romancero gitano (First Book of Gypsy Ballads, 1928) and Poema del cante jondo (Poem of Deep Song, 1931). Each of these works exhibit a combination of musicality (or rhythm), unique metaphors and sense of mystery which had previously been missing from Spanish poetry.
Lorca lived at Columbia University in New York from 1929-30, but did not adapt well to the drastic change of lifestyle and returned to Spain after a brief visit to Cuba. Poeta en Nueva York (Poet in New York, 1940) was published posthumously and includes the poem Sunrise, which displays his disdain for this dense and industrial city. The poems written during his stay in New York, contrast from his earlier works in that they are highly surreal and full of anguish.
Lorca's later poetry dealt increasingly with death and Lorca lectured on the "Play and Theory of the Duende" in which he suggests that great art can only occur when the writer is intimately aware of death. His later poems were accordingly more somber and included many elegies, the best of which is Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, 1935). This elegy was dedicated to his bullfighter (torero) friend who was gored to death. The opening poem employs a striking liturgical device in which each line is followed by the litany "at five in the afternoon" (his time of death), thus giving the impression that a stunned Lorca is presiding over a sermon, repeating the only fact which penetrates the state of shock resulting from his friend's sudden death.
Lorca was murdered by order of one of Franco's generals at the outset of the Civil War (August, 1936) in what could be interpreted as a harbinger of the evil soon to devastate Spain's resurgent poetry movement. Both Spain and the world were denied the opportunity to benefit from the future maturity of one of history's greatest poets. Information regarding Lorca's dramatical works can be accessed using this link.
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A member of the
Generation of 1898 and the most popular poet in
Spain. Antonio was born in Seville in 1875, but moved to Madrid at the age of 8 and
subsequently to Soria, where he taught French. His early poetry, including Soledades
(1903) and Soledades, galerías y otros poemas (1907) were strongly influenced by
the French modernista movement. His marriage in 1909 to 16-year old Leonor resulted
in his happiest and most fertile poetic period, including what is arguably his best work, Campos
de Castilla (1912). During this time, the dominant themes in his poetry were
nature, Castile and the Romancero (ballads).
Tragically, his wife died only five years into their marriage and Machado moved from their home in Soria to Baeza. This period reflected the belief's of the Generation of 1898 more closely in expressing concern on Spain's decline, and the belief that the country could only return to glory with the spiritual and intellectual regeneration of the individual, rather than politically or institutionally. His poem, Los Ojos, is dedicated to another member of this illustrious group, Miguel de Unamuno.
Machado later returned to his more simplistic approach and subject matter later in life. Antonio was yet another victim of the Spanish Civil War. He traveled to Valencia at the start of the Civil War where he supported the Republic. In February, 1939, he fled across the Pyrenees with his mother and a brother, but became ill during the trip and died shortly thereafter in Collioure. Machado's Obras Completas (Complete Works) were published in 1947.
