Modernism and the Generation of ’27 in Spanish Literature
Modernism
Modernism, a current of renewal arising from the bourgeois aesthetic crisis, collected and synthesized vital innovative attitudes, both philosophical and artistic, at the end of the 19th century. Engendered by the crisis of bourgeois consciousness reacting against the materialism and utilitarian spirit of the times, it took place between 1885 and 1915. This movement synthesized many different influences, particularly two French poetic currents:
- Parnassianism: This wing worshipped beauty, sensory and formal perfection, and showed a preference for mythological elements, the Bible, and exotic, historical evocations.
- Symbolism: This movement emphasized musicality and the art of suggesting intuitively through symbols.
Modernism also drew inspiration from Romantic and Becquerian styles. Its stylistic characteristics include a literature of the senses, expressed through bright plastic effects (colorful adjectives, lexical sensory and sensual synesthesias). Precursors of Modernism include Salvador Rueda (Malaga), but the driving force was the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío.
Themes of Modernism:
- Romantic malaise: exaltation of passion, boredom, sadness.
- Escapism: evasion of space (exotic, oriental) and time (Middle Ages, Renaissance).
- Cosmopolitanism: seeking the aristocratic devotion to Paris.
- Contrast between tender love and deep eroticism.
- Localism: defense of regional identities, like Andalusian or Hispanic (as opposed to imperialism).
Rubén Darío
The great Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío, is undoubtedly the best exponent of Modernism. His initial period, exemplified by “Azul”, showcased great plasticity and brilliant sonority, heavily influenced by Victor Hugo and Parnassianism. This was followed by “Profane Prose”, a work of exuberant modernism. A second stage reveals a more intimate, sometimes anguished and thoughtful style with greater depth, and a greater presence of American themes, as seen in “Songs of Life and Hope”.
Spanish Modernism:
Antonio Machado (Seville)
Initially a modernist, Machado’s work was marked by Becquerian intimacy and heavily influenced by symbolism. His “Solitudes”, later expanded to “Solitudes, Galleries and Other Poems”, defined his poetry as “the essential word of time”, expressing universal themes of time, childhood, death, and God. His poetry is an “intimate monologue”.
His second stage is represented by “Campos de Castilla”. Its second edition was expanded with numerous poems, including recollections of his deceased wife Leonor, the Andalusian countryside, and reflections on the Castilian landscape and people. This work reflects his identification with Soria and its inhabitants. His ethical and social concerns align with the later Generation of ’98.
Machado’s later works include “Canciones a Guiomar” (about his late love, Pilar Valderrama) and war poetry, notably the elegy “The crime was in Granada”.
Juan Ramón Jiménez (Huelva)
Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poetry, characterized by a triple thirst for beauty, knowledge, and eternity, can be divided into several stages:
Sensitive Stage:
- Early works imbued with a certain Becquerian post-romanticism and modernism, such as “Arias tristes”, “Melancholy poems”, dealing with loneliness, time, eroticism, and death.
- Modern works with a greater presence of sensory elements, brighter adjectives, and a modernist vision of love, beauty, nostalgia, nature, and death, including “Elegies” and “La Soledad Sonora”.
Intellectual Stage:
This stage of “naked poetry” opens with “Diary of a newly married poet”, written during his honeymoon with Zenobia Camprubí in New York. He sought the exact name of things in poetry, an original understanding of the world. The sea became a symbol of wholeness and fusion between creator and creation, representing “eternity”. “Platero y yo” also belongs to this stage.
Stage of Exile (1936-1958):
“Dios deseado y deseante” reflects, in free verse impregnated with a certain mysticism, the thirst for eternity of a god (desired and desiring) that the poet becomes aware of through nature, love, truth, beauty, and poetry.
Generation of ’27
Definition:
The term Generation of ’27 designates a group of authors, primarily poets, who renewed Spanish lyric poetry during the 1920s and 1930s. They fused traditional poetic currents with innovative classical and avant-garde elements.
The poets of the Generation of ’27 were friends of similar ages, from bourgeois families with careful intellectual training. They were linked to the Student Residence and other cultural institutions, participated in the homage to Góngora in 1927, and published in the same magazines (Revista de Occidente and the Malaga coast).
The group included Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Rafael Alberti, Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Vicente Aleixandre, Dámaso Alonso, Emilio Prados, and Manuel Altolaguirre. Some consider Miguel Hernández an epigone.
Stages of the Generation of ’27:
- Formative Stage (up to 1927): They were concerned with technical perfection, experimentation, formal purity, and themes. Dehumanization predominated. They explored both modern and traditional trends, including popular and traditional lyric poetry, Juan Ramón Jiménez’s style, and avant-garde movements.
- Consolidation Stage (1927-Spanish Civil War): A general abandonment of formalism and a progressive rehumanization are perceived, especially evident in the adoption of Surrealism. They brought art and poetry closer to human, social, and political concerns. During the war, political commitment intensified, and poetry became a weapon.
- Disintegration Stage (Post-Civil War): Lorca was assassinated during the Spanish Civil War. After the war, some poets remained in Spain in internal exile (Dámaso Alonso, Aleixandre, Gerardo Diego), while others went into exile abroad. Poetry became simpler, heartbreakingly human, rooted in social concerns and nostalgia, even in Jorge Guillén’s work (closer to pure poetry). Some poets reached their peak in the postwar period with existential texts expressing anguish, such as Dámaso Alonso’s “Hijos de la ira”.
Stylistic Traits and Themes:
- A perfect balance between art and tradition, dehumanization and humanization, the intellectual and the sentimental, the cultured and the popular, the universal and the local, the urban and the rural.
- They addressed a variety of themes, both traditional (death, freedom, love, nature, society) and those related to the modern world (progress, cosmopolitanism, urban life, film, sports).
Rafael Alberti
Alberti’s work is characterized by a variety of themes. Nostalgia and anguish for lost paradises, along with social and political commitment, are central to his poetry. His career can be divided into several stages:
- Neopopularism: He recreated forms and resources of traditional and popular lyric poetry from a modern perspective, as seen in “Marinero en tierra”.
- Avant-garde and Gongorism: This stage reflects the influence of avant-garde movements and the assimilation of Surrealism, exemplified by “Sobre los ángeles”, the result of a personal crisis.
- Political Commitment: He considered his earlier poetry “bourgeois” and opted for a “civil poetry” in the service of his political militancy.
- Exile Poetry: This stage is marked by nostalgia for his homeland, as seen in “Entre el clavel y la espada”, which explores the themes of love and death.
Federico García Lorca
Lorca’s work reflects a passion for life, love, and liberty in conflict with limited time, a repressive society, and a tragic destiny. This confrontation results in frustration and loneliness. His early stage includes:
- Youthful works influenced by Bécquer, Modernism, Antonio Machado, and Juan Ramón Jiménez: “Libro de poemas” and “Poema del cante jondo”, the book of “the plains of Andalusia”.
- “Romancero gitano”, a step towards renewal. This work represents the marginalization of the Roma people who face social and moral norms and are beset by a tragic destiny. Sorrow is the true protagonist of this tragic and mythical Andalusia.