20th-Century Spanish Poetry: Machado, Jiménez, and the Generation of ’27’
The Poetry of Machado and Juan Ramón Jiménez
Antonio Machado and Juan Ramón Jiménez are leading figures in Spanish poetry of the first half of the 20th century.
Antonio Machado
Machado, often associated with the Generation of ’98, can be studied in four poetic stages:
Early Influences
Influenced by Modernism, particularly Rubén Darío, Machado’s first book, Solitudes, later evolved into Soledades. Galerías. Otros poemas. This early work reveals a moderate Modernism, balancing beauty with intimate, melancholic themes of memory, death, and existential searching. Symbols like the road (life) and sunset (death) recur.
Shifting Focus
With Campos de Castilla, Machado’s poetry shifts from Modernist elements to a simpler, sober style. His focus turns to the socio-political landscape of Spain, particularly Castile. The collection concludes with Proverbs and Songs, short philosophical poems exploring existential concerns.
Philosophical Reflections
New Songs marks a philosophical and reflective turn, featuring enigmatic proverbs and songs that delve into Machado’s philosophical inquiries.
War and Loss
The Spanish Civil War inspired Machado’s Poesías de Guerra, reflecting the horrors of conflict, including an elegy for García Lorca, El crimen fué en Granada.
Machado was a poet-philosopher who explored life, death, and poetry, with a deep commitment to Castile and its people.
Juan Ramón Jiménez
An isolated writer, Jiménez pursued beauty, knowledge, and eternity through poetry. He viewed poetry as an art for intellectual minorities, a means to access beauty, truth, and the essence of things.
His poetic journey also unfolds in four stages:
Early Intimacy
Jiménez’s early work, like Arias Tristes, was simple and intimate, influenced by Bécquer and Darío. Themes of loneliness, sadness, death, and time’s passage prevail.
Modernist Phase
A period of Modernist influence, seen in works like El Sonido Aislado and Platero y yo, features vivid imagery, sensory language, and Alexandrine verse. However, like Machado, Jiménez’s Modernism remained moderate.
Intellectual Pursuit
Rejecting Modernism’s ornamentation, Jiménez sought “pure poetry”—simple, essential, and stripped of superficiality. Key works include Diario de un poeta recién casado and Eternidades.
Time Enough
Jiménez’s later poetry became increasingly personal, profound, and philosophical, expressing his religious experiences and identification with God. Free verse and concise language characterize this stage, notably in Dios deseado y deseante.
Jiménez’s poetic evolution moved from intimate beginnings to a quest for “pure poetry,” emphasizing beauty and formal perfection.
The Generation of ’27
This group of young writers, primarily poets, began publishing in the 1920s, sharing social and cultural connections, often meeting at the Residencia de Estudiantes. A key event was the 1927 homage to Góngora.
Key members include Federico García Lorca (Romancero Gitano, Poeta en Nueva York), Pedro Salinas (La voz a ti debida), and Rafael Alberti (Marinero en tierra). While each poet had a distinct style, they shared an aesthetic of synthesis, balancing intellect and emotion, inspiration and rigor, beauty and authenticity, tradition and renewal.
They drew inspiration from traditional folk poetry and classical poets like Góngora, while also embracing European avant-garde movements.
Influenced by Gómez de la Serna, the group experimented with Creationism, Ultraism, and Futurism, seeking “pure poetry” detached from life. Innovations included disrupted syntax, metaphorical focus, visual design, and scored poems.
Surrealism’s influence led to a focus on liberating the subconscious, resulting in unusual metaphors, dreamlike imagery, and automatic writing. This rehumanized poetry, infusing it with feelings of love and death.
After the Civil War, the poetry of the Generation of ’27, often written in exile, became imbued with sorrow, pessimism, nostalgia, and existential themes.