Blas de Otero: Life, Career, and Poetic Evolution
Blas de Otero
Life and Career
The work of Blas de Otero reflects the evolution of Spanish poetry over several decades. Initially, his poetry delves into personal, existential, religious, and collective struggles. Later, it transitions to social and political themes, and finally explores new forms of expression.
First Stage: Existential Poetry (1945-1955)
In 1950 and 1951, two pivotal works emerged: Angel fiercely human and Strengthen human consciousness. These were later combined in 1958 into a single volume titled Anciano. Damaso Alonso placed Blas de Otero within the uprooted Spanish poetry movement. This stage is dominated by introspection, existential angst, and personal struggles.
- Firstly, his poetry grapples with metaphysical questions about existence, the human condition, and destiny. It often takes on a religious tone, addressing a God who resembles the Old Testament’s formidable figure, responding with silence to desperate cries.
- Secondly, love emerges as a desperate yearning for vitality, a means of escaping anguish, and a manifestation of his thirst for the Absolute.
- Thirdly, this stage marks an initial approach to collective concerns.
Blas de Otero’s language in this cycle is characterized by its expressive violence, drama, emotional intensity, and extreme tension. His struggle with language to achieve unexpected effects is influenced by biblical Psalms. Classical forms, particularly sonnets and free verse poems, are prominent.
Second Stage: Social Poetry (That is from Spain)
The poet shifts his focus from personal struggles to solidarity with the suffering, specifically in Spain. He adopts a simpler language, aiming for accessibility and hoping to inspire change through poetry. Like Machado, Otero’s feelings towards Spain are a blend of love and pain. He evokes Spain’s past with pain and celebrates its land with love. Blas de Otero views poetry as both a struggle and a means of construction, demanding peace, justice, and freedom.
Otero’s style becomes more transparent and simpler, but this simplicity is deceptive. It conceals the rigorous construction of his poems, the use of parallelism, and the abundance of phonetic and lexical sets. In Pido la paz y la palabra (I ask for peace and the word), he dedicates numerous poems to the land of Spain and its prominent figures like Cervantes, Velázquez, Machado, and Unamuno, all within a historical and social context. New nuances emerge, including irony and a sense of resignation stemming from addressing difficult topics. There’s also a greater presence of popular poetry, including free verse and sonnets. Blas de Otero’s trajectory mirrors that of other major 20th-century Spanish poets like Machado, Lorca, and Miguel Hernandez, who all transitioned from the personal to the collective.
Third Stage: Finding New Ways
Like other writers, Otero recognized the need for revolutionary poets to be revolutionary in their language, rejecting populist prejudices that limit formal enrichment. His production after 1965 is only partially understood.
His later poems show a preference for very free metrical forms with unequal verses. There’s a freedom of expression based on unusual images, a striking enrichment of poetic language, and the influence of Surrealism. While social and political issues remain present, there’s a greater emphasis on personal experiences.
Analysis of “Angel Fiercely Human” (1950)
Topics
This poem establishes a dialectic between the poet and “YOU” (God). The poet implores God’s presence in the face of death but finds no answer. This leads to questions about human helplessness and loneliness, the source of the poet’s existential angst. Man is portrayed as grappling with death and condemned to a painful existence.
Style (Stylistic and Linguistic Resources)
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“Language Resources: The duality of the struggle is expressed by the pronominal alternation and with the use of terms to the contrary. (Silence / my voice). The use of the gerund (fighting) expresses the tension of that struggle. A sustained struggle in the present tense (I am). The value of the gerund forms combined with those of this give the poem the idea of continuity in its course of action. They turn the fight into something more tragic. The use of iterative adverbial phrases influence the durative aspect (every night). Metaphorical use of severing and sajas, verbs that confirm the neglect of the poet is subjected. Terms are loaded with connotations of violence. The term angel symbolizes the yearning for eternity the man who is only one to be tied to life and condemned to suffer.
“Stylistic Resources: enjambment, the sharp enjambment fits the cry of despair of the poem (if I die, I want you / awake). Apostrophe: in verse 4, the expression appears Oh God, no punctuation marks as expected. His absence may be because the poem as a whole has an exclamatory tone, making it unnecessary exclamation points, it should be in each of his verses. Metaphor in the poem highlights the metaphorical use of verbs (Scratching shadows to see). Parallelism: appears in the verses that focuses more violence. The repetitive pattern is the expression of pain, the persistence of pain. Intertextual Quote: being and not being an allusion to Hamlet’s monologue .*
– Metric: This is a Sonnet (verse heroic verse of rhyme ABBA, ABBA, CDC, CDC).
Blas de Otero
Life and Career
The work of Blas de Otero summarizes the stages covered by our poetry for several decades. Blas de Otero will speak, at first, their personal problems, existential, religious and collective problems.
First Stage: Existential Poetry (ANCI)
In 1950 and 1951 two of his books are perfectly pomegranates: Angel fiercely Strengthen human consciousness. Years later in 1958 merged into a single volume entitled elderly. Damaso Alonso Blas de Otero stood at this time within uprooted Spanish poetry. We are at a stage that dominates the self, with its problems, with their existential angst.
– First is a poem might be called metaphysical, questions about the meaning of existence, the world of man, of his destiny. Often it is areligious poetry, addressed to a God who looks more like the terrible God of the Old Testament, a God who opposes a powerful silence the cries torn.
– Secondly. In Blas de Otero, love appears as a desperate desire to conduct vital, as a way to escape his intense anguish, in short, as a manifestation of his thirst for the Absolute.
– Thirdly, we find at this stage a first approach to us.
The language of Blas de Otero in this cycle is characterized primarily by its expressive violence, its drama, its tears, its extreme tension. The struggle with language, in order to achieve unexpected effects, contribute to the influence of the biblical Psalms.
Moreover, the classical forms predominate: Blas de Otero was a splendid sonnets (highlight his sonnets) and free verse poems.
Second Stage: Social Poetry (That is from Spain)
The poet put aside their troubles and metaphysical concerns. Reasons of solidarity with the suffering. Social Poetry will focus on their specific area: Spain.
Seek a simpler language, but the simplicity is apparent. It will be seen less poetic tension, by the desire to be more accessible and thus help transform the world through poetry. As Machado Otero’s feelings about Spain are love and pain. With pain evokes its ancient past or recent past. And with love evokes their land. Blas de Otero sees poetry as a struggle and as construction. Requests, demands, peace, justice, freedom. In style, Otero, has become more transparent tones and simpler. But insist that such simplicity should not deceive: she hides behind the rigorous construction of certain poems, in the presence of parallelism, an abundance of phonetic and lexical sets.
In her poem about Spain that highlight the many poems dedicated to singing the land of Spain. There are also poems dedicated to large Spanish: Cervantes, Velázquez, Machado, Unamuno … And all framed in the historical and social themes that had begun with I ask for peace and the word. New shades appear: some irony, some even abandon, motivated by a growing embarrassment to touch serious topics. Also greater presence of popular poetry: free verse and sonnets. The Blas de Otero path is similar to that of other major Spanish poets of the twentieth century, Machado, Lorca, Miguel Hernandez … They are all poets who were the self to us.
Stage Three: Finding New Ways
Like other writers, must have thought that the revolutionary poet has to be revolutionary in the language of poetry, dismissing vain populist prejudices that limit or restrict formal enrichment issue.
It should be noted that the production of Blas de Otero after 1965 we are conceived only in part.
The first thing seen on the new poems is a preference for very free metrical forms: unequal verses. There is a freedom of speech, based on unusual images, also a striking enrichment of poetic language and the influence of Surrealism.
In the issue, and although not disappear social and political problems, there is agreater presence of privacy.