Spanish Generation of ’27: Key Authors and Works
Authors of the Generation of ’27
Pedro Salinas
Born in Madrid in 1892. He died in Boston in 1951.
He creates very simple poetry with a simple metric, using mostly assonant rhyme. He began with avant-garde and pure poetry, but Salinas is considered the great Spanish poet of love. His most important books are The Voice Due to You and Reason for Love.
Jorge Guillén
Born in Valladolid. He was devoted to university education. He returned to Spain and died in 1984.
He is the most important representative of pure poetry and has only three books:
- Song: A very cheerful book that aims to explain the joy of the world.
- Clamor: Poems about social injustices.
- Tribute and Other Poems: A smaller book with poems dedicated to VIPs.
Gerardo Diego
Santander 1896 – Madrid 1987
He dedicated his life to university and journalism. He is the author who had fewer problems with the regime and is one of the three who were not exiled from Spain. He authored more varied works:
Almost every poem follows different poetic lines. He began with Bécquerian poetry with Ballad of the Bride, Avant-Garde (creationism) with Picture, and Traditional Poetry with Human Verses and Soria.
Dámaso Alonso
Madrid 1898 – Madrid 1990
He was for many years president of the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy). There is not much difference between the books he published. He started writing pure poetry with Pure Poems, Little Poems of the City (1925). His second book, the most important, Children of Wrath (1944), is a rootless poetry (poetry made by authors who are not supporters of the regime, with social criticism). From the 1960s, Dámaso’s poetry returns to religious and existential themes with Dark News.
Vicente Aleixandre
Seville 1898 – Madrid 1984
He is another of the authors who remained in Spain after the war. In 1977, he was given the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was devoted to lecturing. He is primarily representative of Surrealism. Examples include: Scope (Bécquerian poetry), History of the Heart (social poetry), Destruction or Love, and Shadow of Paradise (anguished poetry).
Luis Cernuda
Seville 1902 – Mexico 1963
He was a university professor and reader at English universities. He always felt slighted by others, and all his poetry is about the impossibility of being happy, collected in Reality and Desire. At the end, he put all his poetry together in one book.
Federico García Lorca
Fuentevaqueros (Granada) 1898 – 1936
In 1919, he moved to the Student Residence (Residencia de Estudiantes) where he met the other authors of the generation. In 1929, he left with a scholarship to New York, and when he returned, Lorca devoted himself to traveling with his street theater company, “La Barraca”. In August 1936, Falangists arrested and killed him.
He started making very Bécquerian, modernist poetry with Book of Poems. He quickly changed to a more traditional poetry with Poem of the Deep Song and Gypsy Ballads (1924-1927).
His poetry is traditionalist but mixed with surrealism.
Poet in New York is an entirely surreal book, written while in New York.
When he returned to Spain, he continued to write traditionalist poetry. Notable works include Lament for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías and Sonnets of Dark Love.
Rafael Alberti
Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) 1902 – 1998
He quickly moved to Madrid to the Student Residence.
Apart from being a poet, he was also a painter. He was affiliated with the Communist Party and fought in the war. He was exiled to Argentina and Italy. He returned to Spain after Franco’s death.
At first, his poetry is popular/Andalusian, such as Sailor on Land. Then he has a series of books that mix avant-garde and classicism, like Lime and Stone. His most important surreal book is About Angels.
After the war, he continued to write poetry. In his last stage, he wrote…