Juan Ramón Jiménez: Life, Poetry, and Nobel Prize

Juan Ramón Jiménez: Biography and Poetic Evolution

Born in Moguer in 1881, Juan Ramón Jiménez dedicated his life to poetry. His work is characterized by its early and total commitment to artistic expression. In 1900, he went to Madrid with Rubén Darío, joining the modernist movement.

Early Life and Crisis

Following his father’s death, Jiménez experienced a profound crisis and was hospitalized in a mental asylum in France in 1901. In 1905, he returned to Moguer, where he began writing his famous book, Platero and I.

Madrid, Marriage, and Exile

Jiménez moved back to Madrid in 1911, residing at the Residencia de Estudiantes, where he connected with the poets of the Generation of ’27. He married Zenobia Camprubí in New York in 1916. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, they left Spain and lived in several American countries.

Nobel Prize and Later Years

In 1956, Juan Ramón Jiménez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Shortly after, his wife Zenobia died, followed by Jiménez himself.

The Formation of Jiménez’s Poetry

Jiménez viewed his work as his reason for living, constantly striving for perfection and renewing his lines. Towards the end of his life, his poetry became so complex that it was understood by only a few, leading to his motto: “Always the vast minority.” Although not explicitly Christian, God, whom he identified with nature or absolute beauty, was central to his life.

Poetic Career: A Summary

In 1918, Jiménez summarized his career, stating that it had gone through the following stages:

  • Simple and pure poetry
  • Modernist poetry
  • Progressive purification: Gradually refining the style of previous poetry
  • Naked poetry: Focused solely on concepts and the primary meaning of words

Later, Jiménez reduced his evolution to three phases:

  • Sensitive period (since 1915)
  • Intellectual age: Diary of a Newly Married Poet (1916-1936)
  • Sufficient or real time: From 1936 until his death, representing the poetry he aimed to achieve

Sensitive Period (1900-1915)

In 1900, he wrote Souls of Violets and Lilies, reflecting sensory modernism. In 1903, he published Sad Arias, characterized by simple poems.

Robes of Modernism (1908-1915)

This period includes works like Elegy, Loneliness Sound, Magical Poems and Suffering, and Spiritual Sonnets. Jiménez utilized color and other sensory elements extensively. Platero and I, published in 1914, is a prose poem with impressionistic nature images rich in color and musicality.

Intellectual Period (1916-1936)

This era marked a break with modernism, beginning with Diary of a Newly Married Poet in 1916. His new style abandoned sensory adjectives and modernist lexicon.

Modernist Novel: Influences and Contemporaries

Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past analyzes the psychology of high society characters, blending present and past time.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

Kafka’s works, such as The Metamorphosis and The Trial, express the anguish of human beings and the absurdity of social relations.

James Joyce (1882-1941)

Joyce’s Ulysses is a revolutionary and experimental work, pushing the boundaries of literary expression.

Novecentismo: A Break from the Past

Novecentismo represents a group of intellectuals who sought to create pure, unsentimental art, breaking away from the artistic and literary forms of the 20th century.

Ideology

Key components of Novecentismo include:

  • Highly trained university intellectuals
  • Admiration for classical and anti-romantic ideals
  • European focus
  • Consideration of Spanish problems, but with less sentimentality
  • Avoidance of passionate and enthusiastic tones
  • Concern for language
  • Writing for minorities
  • Characteristic intellectualism, avoiding sentimentality

Essayists and Novelists of Novecentismo

José Ortega y Gasset

Ortega y Gasset addressed the decline of Spain in Invertebrate Spain and explored new art in The Dehumanization of Art, advocating for pure, intellectual, and dehumanized art. He founded the magazine West to promote avant-garde movements.

Gabriel Miró

Miró is notable for his lyrical descriptions and use of language. His most important works include Our Father Saint Daniel and Bishop Lepers.

Ramón Pérez de Ayala

Pérez de Ayala emphasizes perspective, technique, and language in his writing. Notable works include Belarmino and Apolonio, where characters embody ideas or attitudes. His language is carefully crafted, with an elegant lexicon and syntax.