Spanish Generation of ’27: Poets and Characteristics
Features of the Poetry of the Generation of ’27
Gongora’s works share two mentioned traits:
- Mix of Tradition and Vanguard: Poets from the Generation of ’27 retrieved elements of traditional Spanish lyric, such as romance, song, eight-syllable verses, etc. It is essential to note the influence of classic poets such as Garcilaso de la Vega and Luis de Góngora. But they combine all of this with strong leading-edge features.
- Influence of Pure Poetry: These artists felt great admiration for Noucentist writers, especially Juan Ramón Jiménez. This led them to seek pure poetry, as understood by this great poet: a creation that had the objective of beauty and perfection, not sentiment or the reflection of reality.
These features do not occur with equal intensity in all poets; each has his own style. For example, pure poetry in the group has its leader in Guillén. Ultraism is present in the work of Salinas and Diego. Lorca, Alberti, Cernuda, and Aleixandre prefer surrealism channeled into the stream, etc.
Trajectory of the Group
Three different stages:
- In the 1920s, works are characterized by the influence of pure poetry, cutting-edge features, and the poetry of Góngora. It is the moment when we find greater similarity in motivations and characteristics among all the poets.
- In the 1930s, we start to see differences in the styles and interests of each author. There is a common trait: interest in pure poetry lowers to pay attention to social and political issues. Lorca, Alberti, Cernuda, and Aleixandre take the surrealist current.
- After the Civil War, the group ceased to exist as such: Lorca was assassinated in 1936, and Alberti, Cernuda, Salinas, and Guillén were exiled. Those remaining in Spain wrote under the repression of the dictatorship, living in a very different social and political situation: Gerardo Diego was a man of conservative views and had never been a supporter of the Republic, while Vicente Aleixandre was ignored by the authorities and institutions of the time due to his ideology against the dictatorship. Dámaso Alonso entered a maverick and anguished poetic flow, expressing the pain and tearing of postwar Spain.
Authors
The Defense of Pure Poetry: Jorge Guillén
His work is characterized by the attempt to keep out of the poem everything that is not strictly poetic. This means that there are no narrative or descriptive elements in the poem; it is avoided at all costs that this is a representation of reality.
- Cántico is an optimistic book, a hymn to life, in a vision of the universe as harmonious and beautiful.
- The experience of the Civil War and exile led the poet to raise critical issues. Thus, Clamor surged, a book that presents a society unjust, violent, and destructive of the harmony of nature.
- In Homenaje, a synthesis of the previous ones, Guillén offers an idyllic vision, although less than in the first, but more hopeful than in the second.
The Mix of Tradition and Avant-garde: Gerardo Diego and Pedro Salinas
Gerardo Diego used tradition and the vanguard:
- Avant-garde Works: We have books such as Imagen or Manual de espumas, which have influences of ultraism and especially creationism. He uses free verse; there is often a juxtaposition of ideas and sentences regardless of logic, without using punctuation marks; visual poems are often used, etc. There is also some ludic intention: a constant play with poetry and words.
- Works of Traditional Orientation: Alondra de verdad or books like Versos humanos. They are defined as traditional themes (religious and amorous, for example) and by their metrics, which return to the use of classical compositions such as the sonnet and the popular eight-syllable verses.
The poetry of Pedro Salinas has a clear evolution in three stages:
- 1920s: At this time, Salinas’s construction is characterized by the influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez and pure poetry and by the presence of avant-garde elements, especially ultraist. We refer to books such as Presagios, Seguro azar, and Fábula y signo.
- 1930s: Salinas writes books dedicated to love as a poet. They are works of love themes, including La voz a ti debida and Razón de amor. In them, love is presented as a force able to give life its meaning.
- Stage of Exile: The books written after 1930 bore the hallmarks of the painful experience of war (the Spanish Civil War and World War II) and exile. They are works of pained tone, critical and bitter, although hopeful. Noteworthy are El contemplado and Todo más claro.