Imagery and Symbolism in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry

Images and Symbols in the Poetry of Miguel Hernández

Early Works

In his early poems, Miguel Hernández draws imagery from the landscapes of his native Orihuela, using symbols like lemon, fig, and patio. These are evident in poems like “Insomnia and Remember…”, reflecting the pastoral tradition. The recurring image of the shepherd poet is seen in lines like “Squatting, milking / one goat and a dream.”

“Lust” explores erotic desire within a bucolic setting (“Where to find the nymph / that my sex has been warning?”), a theme further developed in The Violated Whistle.

“It is Your Mouth…” portrays a woman’s face through contrasting metaphors, some soft and gentle (“carnation at dawn ignites”) and others cold and sharp (“ruby, in two divided, dagger”).

Proficient in Moons, consisting of 42 stanzas in the style of Góngora’s Polyphemus, presents lyrical riddles whose solutions lie in the poem titles. Among the symbols are the bull (sacrifice and death) and the palm (Mediterranean landscape compared to a jet). Hernández also incorporates contemporary symbols, referencing Lorca’s Poet in New York with images of male sexuality (“Sex and Instant”, “dark perpendicular before / bisector of zero zero”).

The Ray That Does Not Stop (1936)

Love is the central theme of The Ray That Does Not Stop, with symbols revolving around it. Lightning, fire, and burning represent desire; blood signifies sexual longing; the shirt and lemon symbolize male and female, respectively, as seen in the sonnet “I threw a lemon, and so bitter.” The frustration of unrequited love is embodied in the recurring motif of the “sentence.” The beloved’s ambivalent nature is conveyed through soft images (nard, tuer, micron) and harsher ones (thistle, bush). These themes culminate in the symbolic parallel between the poet and the bull in “the bull was born for mourning,” highlighting tragic fate, pain, death, virility, and sorrow.

Not all poems in The Ray That Does Not Stop follow this pattern. Some depict a more fulfilling sexual relationship, such as “My name is Miguel but call me mud,” expressing surrender to the beloved, and “For your foot, your whiteness more danceable.”

Wind of the People (1937)

Wind of the People exemplifies war poetry as a tool for struggle. The wind represents the voice of the people: “Winds of people taking me, / winds drag me people.” The cowardly and resigned are symbolized by the ox (“oxen bend the front”), while the lion represents rebellion. “Child Yuntero” demonstrates solidarity with the suffering: “since its birth yoke is meat, as the tool / for shock.” The contrast between rich and poor is depicted in “His Hands”: pure hands of workers versus “livid hands and avaricious, / landscape of murderers.” After his marriage, motherhood becomes prominent, symbolized by the womb: “I love your belly village and sowing” (“Song of the soldier husband”).

The Man Stalks

The Man Stalks explores the theme of man as beast, using fangs and claws as symbols of fierceness and regression due to war. Hunger becomes a central motif: “fight against so many bellies satisfied.” Blood, previously signifying desire, now represents pain: “Two years of blood: they are two floods.” The “train of death” symbolizes the injured, stopping only at hospitals. Love of country is expressed in “Mother Spain.” The book concludes with “The Last Song,” an homage to Quevedo, and the recurring theme of love beyond death in “Charter.”

Songs and Ballads of Freedom

Songs and Ballads of Freedom opens with elegies for Hernández’s first son, evoked through intangible images: “clothing with your scent, / towels with the scent; bed without heat / shade cloth.” Hope is reborn with the arrival of his second son in “Nanas sentiment reflected in the onion”: “Your smile makes me free, / I put wings. / Solitudes remove me, / me starts jail.” In prison, Hernández yearns for his beloved. Death, symbolized by the sea, becomes a certainty: “about your husband / sound steps from the sea.”