Miguel Hernández: Social-Political Commitment in Poetry
Miguel Hernández’s Social-Political Commitment
The Spanish Civil War profoundly impacted Miguel Hernández’s human and poetic development. He discovered empathy, witnessing and understanding injustice, and aligning himself with the oppressed. Enlisting as a volunteer in the Fifth Regiment, he experienced the front lines firsthand. His literary creation became a weapon of protest, evident in works preceding the war, such as Vientos del pueblo (Winds of the People), El labrador de más aire (The Laborer of More Air), and his war theater.
After the Republican defeat, Hernández was arrested and sentenced to life, fulfilling his social commitment until his death.
Literary Commitment: Key Works
His commitment is particularly evident in two books:
Vientos del Pueblo (Winds of the People) (1937)
This work, centered on the Republican cause, seeks a more direct form of poetry. Many poems were recited to encourage soldiers, making them highly oral, often in the form of romances and eight-syllable verses, such as “Labradores” (Laborers), intended to inspire soldiers.
In many of these poems, literary quality was sacrificed for the sake of stirring the emotions of soldiers at the front. Many glorify figures in the struggle, as in “Rosario dinamitera” (Dynamite Rosario), while others encourage the people against the enemy.
The highlight of this book is its feeling of solidarity with the people. Hernández blends with the people and the earth: “Vientos del pueblo, llévenme…” (Winds of the people, take me…). The book aims to encourage the fight against the injustice that condemns people to poverty. The poem “El niño yuntero” (The Child Yuntero) exemplifies this thematic line, depicting a child born to work the land until death.
One of the great achievements of this war poetry is the epic sense Hernández conveys, voicing a committed poet. It recounts mighty deeds, full of strength and hope in the fight against injustice.
El Hombre Acecha (The Man is a Hunter) (1939)
This book, written in 1939 but not published due to the Republican defeat, lacks the hopeful, epic feeling of the previous work. It shows the worst of the war: the wounded, the dead, and hunger, as in “El tren de los heridos” (The Train of the Wounded). It adopts a more reflective tone, without explicitly mentioning defeat, but rather continuing struggle, which is encouraging but with a pessimistic tone (“Los viejos” – The Old Men – or “Hambre” – Hunger – which recalls why they started that war.) It highlights war weariness after three years, where love is pushed aside by violence and cruelty. “Hoy el amor es la muerte, y el hombre acecha al hombre.” (Today’s love is death, and the man stalks the man.)
In songs and ballads of absence, Hernández returns to the intimate, diminishing social engagement. He experiences the consequences of his commitment firsthand, which never leaves him. This book is deeply personal, with only minor references to war, but from a profoundly human perspective, such as the sad depiction of villages inhabited only by the elderly, as the young have been killed in battle.
In his poems “Tristes guerras” (Sad Wars) and “Guerra” (War), he is left with the sadness of death, which replaces love: “Triste guerra si no es de amor la empresa.” (Sad war if the company is not love.)
The commitment of the work turns to the personal: the commitment to his son, his wife, and the mother of his child.