Modernism and the Generation of ’98: A Poetic Revolution
Unit 8: The Poetry of Modernism
Introduction
Modernism revolutionized poetry’s language, synthesizing Parnassianism and Symbolism. This creative force, introduced by Rubén Darío, sought absolute beauty as an escape from everyday reality. The movement exhibits several key characteristics:
- Discomfort with society and a preference for solitude
- Exploration of intimacy and a detachment from daily life
- Anti-bourgeois, anti-realist, and anti-vulgar sentiments
- Cultivation of aristocratic, elegant, and cosmopolitan art
- Exaltation of exotic environments
- Predilection for Classical antiquity, medieval legends, and Eastern cultures
- Expression of inner nostalgia and anxieties
- Dedication to formal beauty through idealization of reality
Key Aspects of Modernist Renovation
| Topics | Modernists embraced a diverse range of subjects, from classical to modern, including medieval romance. |
|---|---|
| Attitudes | Modernists held a symbolist vision and interpretation of reality. |
| Poetic Tendencies | Modernist poetry is a sensual explosion of colors, sounds, aromas, and flavors. It evokes landscapes, people, animals, and things through extreme stylization and idealization, while also exploring the gray tones of intimate moods and individual worldviews. |
| Language | Modernist language is lush and romantic, embracing diverse expressions to achieve literary beauty. |
| Meter | Modernist poets explored meter as a field of aesthetic inquiry, pursuing rhythm and musicality. They revived forgotten meters and relentlessly pursued variations. |
Key Figures in Modernism
Manuel Machado
Influenced by Darío, Parnassians, and Symbolists, Machado’s lyrical and graceful work is best remembered for Andalusian songs and lighthearted poems.
Rubén Darío
Considered the originator of Hispanic Modernism, Darío’s Azul… (1888) marked the movement’s beginning. He was the first to articulate Modernism’s innovations into a coherent poetic style, becoming the figurehead of this new literary movement.
Juan Ramón Jiménez
A driving force in Modernism, Jiménez is a major innovator in contemporary Spanish poetry. A Nobel laureate, his poetic evolution progressed from simple, neo-romantic verses to vibrant modernist poetry tinged with gray and intimate tones. His essential works include Platero and I and Diary of a Newly Married Poet.
The Generation of ’98
Emerging alongside Modernism, the Generation of ’98 shared similar dissatisfaction with existing literature. The movements’ boundaries blur, as Modernism provided the generational language for many ’98 writers. Common features of this generation include progressive ideology and concern for Spain’s social and political crisis. The Generation of ’98 incorporated symbolism and ideological heritage, but its language avoided Modernism’s rhetorical brilliance while maintaining impressionistic descriptions and idealization of nature and the Castilian landscape.
| Characteristics | Analytical thinking and self-absorbed view of Spain and Castile Focus on genuinely Spanish elements through landscape, history, and literature Idealistic solutions proposed for national regeneration Mix of romantic and existentialist attitudes Examination of conscience in post-colonial literature |
|---|---|
| Linguistic Features | Rejection of baroque and rhetoric Tendency towards natural, precise, and clear language Recovery of localisms and archaisms Impressionistic and descriptive techniques Idealization of Castilian nature and landscape |
Antonio Machado
With progressively radical ideology and deep existential humanism, Machado’s poetry synthesizes classical forms, symbolism, and introspection. His work explores recurring themes of nostalgia, lost love, and the interplay between landscape and emotional states. Key works include Soledades and Campos de Castilla.
Miguel de Unamuno
Also a playwright, novelist, and essayist, Unamuno expressed existential anxieties and his aesthetic vision of Castile in Poems, Ballads and Songs of Exile.
The 19th-Century Avant-Garde and Ramón Gómez de la Serna
The Novecentistas, a group of essayists and novelists, shared Modernism’s concerns but differed in literary expression. They adopted an intellectual minority stance, advocating for Spain’s regeneration and defending pure art and literature as intellectual exercises. Ramón Gómez de la Serna, with his varied and complex work, exemplified the avant-garde spirit through experimentation and genre indeterminacy.
Modernist and Generation of ’98 Theater
Valle-Inclán
While commercial theater thrived, Jacinto Benavente achieved success with high bourgeois comedy. Modernist and ’98 playwrights included Miguel de Unamuno, Azorín, and Jacinto Grau. Valle-Inclán, a major innovator, rejected bourgeois realism and revolutionized Spanish theater. His works are categorized into cycles: Mythical (Barbaric Comedies), Farce, and Esperpento (Bohemian Lights).
Avant-Garde Theater and the Generation of ’27
Federico García Lorca
The Generation of ’27 also contributed to theater. Rafael Alberti, Max Aub, Alejandro Casona, and Federico García Lorca were key figures. Lorca, the most internationally renowned, believed theater should raise public awareness. His dramatic works range from farces (The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife) to impossible comedies (The Public) and social tragedies (Yerma, The House of Bernarda Alba).
The European Avant-Garde Movements
Emerging from France and Germany, avant-garde movements impacted all artistic forms. Heirs to Symbolism, Impressionism, and Modernism, they pushed experimentation and played with language. Key movements include Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Creationism, Dadaism, Ultraism, and Surrealism, which significantly influenced the Generation of ’27.