Post-War Spanish Poetry and Theater: Trends and Key Figures
Post-War Spanish Poetry and Theater
Following the Spanish Civil War, many poets remained in exile, with exceptions like Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso, and Vicente Aleixandre. New poetic trends emerged:
Existential Poetry
This style explored themes of loneliness, anxiety, love, and religious sentiment. Luis Rosales, with The House On, exemplifies this trend. Some poets expressed existential anguish and protested against God.
Postismo
In 1945, Carlos Edmundo de Ory founded Postismo, an avant-garde movement that championed rebellion, playfulness, and creative freedom.
Canticle Group
The Canticle group, including Pablo García, Julio Aumente, John Bernier, Mario Lopez, and Ricardo Molina, distanced themselves from existentialism and focused on intimate themes.
Social Poetry (Mid-1950s)
Social poetry emerged, expressing collective anguish and political protest in simple, direct language, aiming to inspire ideological transformation in readers. Blas de Otero and Gabriel Celaya are key figures. Vicente Aleixandre, leaving his isolation, contributed to social poetry with History of the Heart.
Poetic Renewal (1960s)
This generation viewed poetic language as an end in itself, rather than a means of ideological transmission. Claudio Rodriguez, Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Ángel Valente, and others belonged to this movement.
Novísimos (1970s)
In 1970, Castellet’s anthology, Spanish Novísimos, introduced new poets like Leopoldo María Panero, featuring allusions to movies and comics. Other trends included culturalism, incorporating classical themes, with Antonio Colinas and William Carnero as notable figures. Experimental poetry integrated images as poetic material, emphasizing the poet’s creative freedom, exemplified by Joan Brossa.
Poetry After 1975
With the advent of democracy, two trends emerged: poetry as a means of communication and social solidarity, and poetry as a way of understanding mystery. The latter is an anti-realist style that values creative freedom and expresses feelings without restraint. José Ángel Valente, Antonio Gamoneda, and Andrés Sánchez Robayna are key representatives, along with older poets like Francisco Pino and Eduardo Cirlot. This trend is notable for the quantity and quality of female poets.
Spanish Theater (1950s-1970s)
Theater, as a mass spectacle, faced significant censorship during the Franco regime. Like poetry, its evolution was shaped by political circumstances. Three main types of theater emerged:
Existential Theater
This style featured minority characters tormented by isolation and solitude.
Comic Theater
Comic theater offered a disillusioned view of life, where characters were forced to conform to social conventions, seeking to forget the difficulties of daily life through laughter.
Social Criticism Theater (Mid-1950s)
This theater exposed injustice and championed freedom. Often, authors set their works in the past. Prominent authors include Alfonso Sastre, Lauro Olmo, and Antonio Buero Vallejo.
Experimental Theater (1970s)
Experimental theater shared trends with other art forms, with playwrights continuing social criticism but encouraging audience participation, corporal expression, and incorporating music. Key authors include Luis Riaza, Fernando Arrabal, and Francisco Nieva. Buero Vallejo also incorporated aspects of experimental theater in The Skylight.