Nature’s Embrace: Poetic Landscapes in Miguel Hernández’s Verse
Thematic elements, almost Hernandian, are perpetuated throughout his work. According to statements by his former widow, Josephine, the poet never wrote at home; he always wrote in the fields and mountains. He was a pastor, comfortable writing even on the back of a goat.
In his early writings, a close linkage between his pastoral role and his everyday poetic expression is evident. He shows exalted feelings in poems like “Singing Love Exalted Nature.” All his poetry is enveloped in a sense of the natural world. His nature is a colorful, fragrant, Levantine, and authentic landscape.
Early Pastoral Poems
In this first stage, he writes most strongly on this issue, showcasing poems with a pastoral soul, depicting gardens, blessed lands, rain, sunsets, and the Levantine palm. The pastoral poem often features a couple of shepherds, where the man is a born connoisseur of the bucolic environment, populated by a clear river, the rising sun, and a gentle aura.
In the midst of this, there might be a shepherd crying for Leda, or a shepherdess weeping for the abandonment of love. Garcilaso cuts up to half of the poem where the sentimental and bright break occurs. Feelings and nature are an inseparable tandem. The spaces sung about are where the poet develops his journey of life. Thus, the city of Orihuela is a continuous muse, described in realistic detail. His garden does not pass unnoticed by his pen.
Symbolism and Eroticism
There is also a mixture of sex and eroticism expressed through symbols. Oranges, grapes, and roses all hold erotic connotations. The lemon is first an element of inspiration, then progresses to heartache.
Evolution in Later Works
Later, in his first book of poems, An Expert on Moons, he continues to embellish the natural world. He evokes beauty through the flora and fauna that are part of his nature, comparing the sheep to the woman, and the bull to the man. Water, a hypernym encompassing the river, sea, and rain, serves as a natural constituent. He sings to the river and the safe Mediterranean Sea.
In An Expert on Moons, there is a shift away from pure nature. Miguel does not seek aesthetic dimensions but deepens the human and social background. In this collection of poetry, the natural cosmology is changing. Nothing is more significant than the fig. Rain at times appears linked to blood; at other times, it is accompanied by thunder, lightning, and storms, symbolizing the tragic fate of love. The storms are heard roaring in verses emblematic of the Elegy to Ramon Sijé.
Wind, Land, and War
Another important atmospheric phenomenon in Hernández’s poetry is the wind. Land is another momentous component, conceived as mother earth. During the war, the poet does not neglect nature. Vicente Ramos spoke of Miguel de Unamuno’s hylozoism, through which the poet is identified with the land, and its particular Levantine features link him to other writers such as Azorín of Alicante and Gabriel Miró.
Poetic Testimony
Unit elements are also testimony to the poetic and have an immediate impression of a poet who sings what he sees. The Levantine prmeta is worthy of praise, at the culmination of her metaphors. The chronology is eminently poetic in nature. The arrival and departure of day and night, seasons, and time materialize. But the cycle of nature as such is closed, claiming a whistle in the village.