Post-War Galician Poetry (1936-1975): Generations and Key Authors
Post-War Galician Poetry (1936-1975)
Following the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Franco dictatorship imposed a period of social and ideological repression. This repression targeted cultures such as Portuguese and Catalan, with persecution and even murder of prominent Galician figures like Alexander Bóveda. Works were censored, impacting cultural expression. From 1947 onwards, this repression softened, allowing works like “Comar Green” to emerge under the Galaxia label. After Franco’s death, individuals who fostered culture in the 1960s, often associated with the political left (such as the UPG underground), gained prominence. Poetry, in a way, became a privileged genre, with more published works than fiction. We can distinguish three generations:
Generation of ’36
Born between 1910 and 1920, this generation directly experienced the Civil War and was influenced by avant-garde movements. Poetic trends included:
- Paixasisticas (landscape-focused) and intimate themes
- Hylozoism (the belief that all matter has life)
- Neotrobadorismo (a revival of troubadour poetry)
Other influences included classicism and religion.
Key Authors:
- Aquilino Iglesias Alvariño: Influenced by Saudosista and modernist movements. Notable works include: Señardá (paixasismo with Saudosista and modernist influences), Heart in the Wind (paixasismo in the popular style of Noriega Varela), and Comar Greens (paixasismo without rhyme, influenced by neotrobadorismo and hylozoism).
- Cadernos Díaz Castro: Nimbus explores religious themes using symbols of light and shadow, reminiscent of a lost childhood paradise, with a focus on musicality.
- Álvaro Cunqueiro: Owner of the Slender Body is a neotrobadorista poetry book with avant-garde elements. Grass Here and There reflects on human identity, pain, and death, renewing Portuguese poetry.
- Luis Pimentel: Shadow of the Air in the Grass shows avant-garde and modernist influences. He is known as the poet of mystery and childhood.
- Celso Emilio Ferreiro: Long Night of Stone is a social-realist poetry book that innovates language. Travel to the Country of the Dwarfs offers critical, sarcastic, and ironic commentary against desgaleguizados (those who abandon Galician culture), immigrants, and capitalism. Other poems include Songs from Scorn and Scolding and Antipoemas, which critique society.
The ‘Enlace’ (Connection) Generation
Born between 1920 and 1930, this generation did not experience the Civil War directly and their formation was marked by the cultural isolation of Spain. Many were bilingual writers who began writing in Spanish. Their work is characterized by intimacy and a personal style for each poet, while continuing to address social concerns.
Key Authors:
- Antón Tovar Bobilla: His work follows the line of existentialist introspection and social concern.
- Luz Pozo Garza: The Bird in the Mouth explores love, sensuality, and uses strong, exuberant language. I Promise the Lotus Flower reflects on life and death through the lens of love.
- Manuel Cunha News: Fabulario Again is the book that opens the Tebra School, exploring pain, uprootedness, existential anxiety, and loneliness.
Generation of the Minerva Parties
Born between 1930 and 1940, their training was influenced by historical figures of the Galaxia group, the Generation of ’36, and Celso Emilio Ferreiro. They belonged to a middle-class, liberal, and republican background. Not having experienced the war, they adopted a nonconformist and refreshing attitude. Groups like Compostela Brais Pinto stood out, advocating for Galician political revival. Key features include the Tebra School (pessimism and existentialism) and socio-realistic discourse with a desire for overcoming and modernity. Writers were influenced by foreign literature, especially Brazilian literature.
Key Authors:
- Manuel Mª: Dying Every Moment presents a tormented vision of existence. Earth Cha is descriptive and paixasista.
- Tippi Hedren: Book of Poems Courel and Calligraphy features paixasistica poetry with an existentialist tone, depicting man in solitude facing nature, leading to reflections on life and death, marked by a dominant language.
- Xohán Torres: Work: From the Furrow, intimacy, deep domain of rhythm and musicality.
- Bernardino Graña: Poem of the Man Who Wanted to Live explores aesthetics of anxiety and existential pain. I Do Not Even See Cangas de Vigo is social-realist. If Our Love and Fish… explores the theme of love.
- Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín: You in the Mist features existentialism with the presence of imaginary and dishonest elements. With Gunpowder and Magnolias opens the doors to a change of direction in the 1980s, with abundant poetic, cultural, and stylistic features.