Miguel Hernández: Love, Death, and Nature in His Poetry
Key Themes in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
The poetic work of Miguel Hernández, though concise, is remarkably rich in its subject matter.
Nature and Symbolism
Firstly, the elements of nature are prominent, especially the moon, surrounded by aspects of rural life: the rooster, the scarecrow, orange blossom, the waterwheel, goats, farmers, forges, clay, lime, etc. Secondly, Hernández employs powerful symbolism. The bull stands out as a primary symbol. Initially a descriptive element, it evolves into a representation of painful tragedy. The bull symbolizes passionate love, manhood, greatness, and strength. Hernández identifies with it, writing: ‘a bull on the shore just crying / forgetting that it is bull and male.’
The Centrality of Love
However, the quintessential theme is love. Critic Juan Cano Ballesta identifies three overarching themes: love, life, and death. Hernández’s concept of love encompasses everything: it is passionate and restless when thinking of his girlfriend; fraternal and generous when remembering friends like García Lorca and Neruda; pantheistic when addressing nature; and filled with solidarity when considering the common people.
Influential Women
His love poetry was inspired by several women:
- Josefina Manresa, his lifelong love and wife.
- Maruja Mallo, with whom he had a brief but intense affair in Madrid during a temporary separation from Josefina.
- María Cegarra, who held an unrequited love for him.
Sensuality and Eroticism: Perito en lunas
In Perito en lunas (Expert in Moons), a predominantly adolescent sensuality emerges, described as ‘without vertices of love, / holeada froth’. Fruits take on sexual connotations (‘sex female candy open’ referring to the fig, and the date as a ‘parable of the female sex’). The sensory presence of the lemon in the first poem is initially visual and fleeting but projects an erotic sensuality. This eroticism represents a vital impulse towards both women and the earth, evident in the insistence on sexual references carried through metaphors, like the bull symbolizing virility.
Tragic Love and Grief: El rayo que no cesa
However, it is in El rayo que no cesa (The Unceasing Ray) that Hernández’s concept of love matures, often viewed as a tragic fate. The collection opens with a sharp and poignant poem where love is ‘a carnivorous knife,’ a phantom killer, hurtful and persecuting—a symbol of love intertwined with agony. It portrays a painful love, ‘to walk that knife, that sword.’ The fundamental motives in the book’s sonnets revolve around his love for Josefina, but also doubt. The core theme remains love, intertwined with loneliness and grief. Loneliness permeates the poems alongside love, carnal passion, and fiery devotion. Here, the bull symbolizes not death, but force—a protective mantle offering care and shelter.
The poems reflect his bitterness about life and his joy in the beloved, capturing her feelings. Only the lover can comfort the poet and allay his grief. Man exists between love and death. He seeks refuge in love from his violated life and tremendous desire, seeking to ease his frustrations. Yet, he also rebels against the love that enslaves and controls: ‘Get out of my heart I’ve done / submissive and a sunflower yellow.’ In El rayo que no cesa, the common denominator is depth. Pain prevails, and love is overloaded with intensity and strength. A sad life equates to death, and ultimately, death seems to triumph over love.
Absence and Suffering: Cancionero y romancero de ausencias
Finally, in Cancionero y romancero de ausencias (Songbook and Ballads of Absence), the idealized woman he loved appears transformed by sadness, ‘dressed in black.’ She no longer represents life transparent through beauty and eyes. Now, pain and misfortune are perceived through the eyes, face, and gait of his wife.
The once clear and definite sexual passion is diminished by pain, transforming into the ‘flesh of sadness,’ bitterness, and longing.
This collection stems from three absences: the death of his son, separation from loved ones due to the war, and the absence imposed by imprisonment. These three wounds—love, life, and death—converge. The poet felt the wound of love and recognized it as the wound of life itself. Now, he senses it is also the wound of death.