Life, Love, and Death in the Poetry of Miguel Hernández
The life and work of Miguel Hernández are inseparable, each reflecting the other. Both flow towards suffering and death, with a possible exception in his early poems (like those in The Ray That Does Not Stop), which possess a carefree vitality. At this time, his life and work are undefined. The poet’s vitality sees things as if they were alive: ‘the stone threatened,’ ‘the moon is diluted,’ ‘Tang welcomes the day.’ This leads to continuous personifications. Death is absent, or perhaps poeticized as a sunset. Despite the exaltation of nature and Levantine sensuality, melancholy emerges with Perito en lunas, introducing a touch of death and sadness. However, death as an ingredient of life is not yet felt.
Hernández’s Wounds
The Hernandiana ‘wounds’ (‘of life, love, death’) begin to breathe air in The Ray That Does Not Stop, songs of ‘punishment’ in love, and the tragic sense of love and life where love is death. In Hernández’s poetry, love and death find their place in the ‘bull’ and ‘blood.’ He adds a constellation of sharp, hurtful symbols: ‘the sword,’ ‘the knife,’ ‘lightning,’ ‘the butt,’ ‘horns,’ ‘daggers,’ ‘iron hell,’ ‘petals of fire.’ These symbolize the wounds of love and death. At this point in his life: to live is to love, grieve, and die.
Death in Wind of the People
In Wind of the People, death becomes part of the struggle, life, and love for the oppressed. Death appears ‘chosen’ by the people’s heroes. However, as the conflict progresses, hope dwindles, and Spain is stained with blood. Hernández modulates his voice to pain and pessimism in Man Stalks Man: “Today’s love is death, / and man stalks man.” The poet begins an inward journey, and his intimacy is populated by grim readings, his poems tinged with pain. Death is now a horror show, symbolized by the ‘train’ of blood spilling across the night, carrying amputees.
Imprisonment and Despair
As war gives way to imprisonment, disease, and despair, Hernández’s poems darken with disappointment and the sadness of ‘the absence of everything.’ In jail, during a ‘day of desolation,’ he creates Songbook and Ballads of Absences, closing the cycle of life and death back to love. There is no salvation without love, which transcends all calamities. His verses are those of a wounded man expressing his pain, defined by absence: the death of his first child and imprisonment (the absence of his wife and second child). Freedom is linked to love, as at least his feelings cannot be imprisoned.
Images and Symbols
Hernández’s poetry is full of symbols revolving around life, love, and death. In Perito en lunas (1933), the bull signifies sacrifice and death, and the palm is compared to a jet. The Ray That Does Not Stop (1936) centers on unhappy, tragic love. The ray, fire and burning, represents the desire for love. Lightning is a hurtful representation of desire, as are ‘the knife’ and ‘the sword.’ Blood is sexual desire, the shirt is male, and the lemon is female, as seen in: “I threw a lemon, and bitter.” The poet’s frustration with the beloved’s elusiveness is symbolized in the sentence. These themes are summarized in “As the bull I was born for mourning.” This collection includes symbols of love and death’s wounds: ‘the sword,’ ‘the butt,’ ‘horns,’ ‘daggers,’ ‘this ray that does not stop,’ and ‘carnivore knife.’ Beyond love and death, friendship and death appear in the “Elegy to Ramón Sijé,” a mosaic of rage and grief. Poems in The Ray That Continues express allegiance to the beloved (My name is Miguel mud but call me).
Wind of the People (1937) exemplifies war poetry as a weapon of struggle. Wind is the voice of the people embodied in the poet. The cowardly and resigned are not identified with the bull; the lion is the image of rebellion. He lurks in the earth, the symbol of Spain. The contrast between rich and poor is presented in “Hands.” The beloved is no longer sung of as desire; the emphasis is on maternity. The claw symbolizes ferocity and man’s animalization due to war and hatred. The two Spains appear in “Hunger.” In “The Train of Wounded,” death is a train. Patriotism is evident in “Mother Spain.” The collection closes with “Last Song,” a homage to Francisco de Quevedo.
Songbook and Ballads of Absences opens with elegies on his first child’s death. Hope is reborn with a new child in “Nanas de la cebolla.” Love for his wife and son’s laughter (its wings) are the poet’s freedom.