Spanish Literature: From Gypsy Ballads to Modern Poetry
**Gypsy Ballads: Federico García Lorca’s Masterpiece**
Publication: First published in the Revista de Occidente in 1928. The work was not completely unknown, as the author had recited it orally on multiple occasions. The book’s success matched its popularity in oral transmission.
**Stylistic Features of the Traditional Ballad:**
- Use of dialogue without introductory verbs or indication.
- Sudden onset and conclusion of the story.
- Use of parallelisms, anaphora, and paronomasia.
- Use of traditional narrative formulas.
- Combination of verbs in different tenses within the same romance.
- Use of a specific number to represent a vague quantity.
**Description and Ordering:**
The book consists of 18 ballads. The majority do not exceed 50 lines. The metric unit reinforces the style and thematic thread of Andalusia’s cry. Placed at the end are those least related to the Andalusian theme: three historical ballads, three dedicated to archangels, and two about Antonito el Camborio. Note the careful arrangement: the three historical ballads are slipped in at the end, and the non-Gypsy ballads are grouped into two series, separated by the three archangel ballads. The first series is more lyrical, featuring creation myths. The second is more epic, with male characters.
**Meaning:**
Lorca confessed his inclination towards understanding the persecuted: the bohemian, the Black, the Jewish. The poet fraternally sings of the marginalized. The figures in the ballads are individuals outside a conventional and hostile world, marked by frustration and doomed to death.
**Style:**
Lorca uses many symbols derived from ancient traditions:
- **Moon and stars:** Represent death.
- **Metals:** Represent the cold matter of the dead and the knives used to kill.
- **Stagnant water:** Cisterns or wells are often the scene of a murder.
- **Flowing rivers:** Usually the meeting place for lovers.
- **Colors:** Rose for femininity and blue for masculinity.
- **Animals:** Horses and oxen symbolize erotic force, while birds often foretell bad events.
**Spanish Lyric Poetry After the Civil War**
**Historical and Cultural Framework:**
At the end of the Civil War, a single party existed under the command of the Army, led by Franco. In the 1950s, some sectors became politicized. Economically, a slow recovery began. In the 1960s, and up to 1975, Francoist repression continued. In 1976, a year after Franco’s death, the transition to democracy began.
**Spanish Poetry in the Three Decades Following the War**
**Principal Poetic Trends from the Civil War:**
Between 1936 and 1939, both sides developed a literature of ideological propaganda.
**Poetry in Exile:**
The Civil War and dictatorship led to the exile of many intellectuals, including poets of the Generation of ’27, who published outside Spain. A principal anxiety in their work was the theme of Spain.
**1940s:**
This decade saw a prosperous neoclassical poem of nationalist fervor and avoidance, alongside existential poetry and the avant-garde’s new proposals.
**1950s:**
The triumph of social poetry.
**1960s:**
Poetry focused more on the individual.
**Poetry of Miguel Hernández**
His poetry is full of deep human content, framed within great formal perfection.
**Themes:**
- **Love:** Initially shown as erotic fulfillment, later as love for women.
- **Pain and Death:** Personal experiences and social reality cause suffering.
- **Life and Hope:** His writing reflects a deep vitalism, coupled with love and solidarity.
**Works:**
- **First Stage:** *Perito en Lunas* (Expert on Moons) and *El Rayo que no Cesa* (The Unending Lightning).
- **Second Stage:** Influenced by Pablo Neruda, *Viento del Pueblo* (Wind of the People) and *El Hombre Acecha* (Man Lurks).
- **Last Poems Written in Jail:** *Cancionero y Romancero de Ausencias* (Songbook and Ballad Book of Absences).
**1940s: Neoclassical Poetry**
In the 1940s, magazines played an important role in disseminating literary trends. Escorial magazine emerged as the first intellectual propaganda organ of the new Spain. Its collaborators cultivated an intimate, realistic, and transcendent poetry. Among them were Luis Rosales, Leopoldo Panero, Luis Felipe Vivanco, and Dionisio Ridruejo, grouped in the so-called Generation of ’36. The other magazine, Garcilaso, promoted a formal neoclassicism with a necromantic power. Its editor was the poet José García Nieto.
**Existential Poetry:**
In 1944, two key works were published: Hijos de la Ira (Children of Wrath) by Dámaso Alonso and Sombra del Paraíso (Shadow of Paradise) by Vicente Aleixandre.
**Avant-Garde Poetry:**
Two movements posed a different line from neoclassical and existential poetry: Postismo and the Cántico group.
**1950s: Social Poetry**
With the publication of Tranquilamente Hablando (Quietly Talking) by Gabriel Celaya in 1947, a process of change began. Key figures in this movement include:
**José Hierro:**
His poetry is testimonial, based on personal and historical time. From his first book, Tierra sin Nosotros (Earth Without Us), to Alegría (Joy) and Cuanto Sé de Mí (How Much I Know About Myself), the wind is present over time and the losses it causes. Quinta del 42 (Class of ’42) and Libro de las Alucinaciones (Book of Hallucinations) show a more social approach.
**Gabriel Celaya:**
Notable works include Movimientos Elementales (Elementary Movements), Objetos Poéticos (Poetic Objects), Paz y Concierto (Peace and Concert), Cantos Íberos (Iberian Songs), and Los Espejos Transparentes (Transparent Mirrors).
**Blas de Otero:**
His poetry evolved from existential to social. Key works include Cántico Espiritual (Spiritual Canticle), Ancia, Pido la Paz y la Palabra (I Ask for Peace and the Word), and Que Trata de España (That Deals with Spain).
**1960s: Poetry of Knowledge**
This era saw a group of poets who, while addressing social issues, sought further elaboration of poetic language and a shift from the collective to the personal. Notable figures include:
- Carlos Barral
- José Agustín Goytisolo
- Ángel González
- José Ángel Valente
- Félix Grande
**José Ángel Valente:**
His writing is an ongoing inquiry into language to reach poetic knowledge and self-salvation. Works include A Modo de Esperanza (A Way of Hope), La Memoria y los Signos (Memory and Signs), and El Inocente (The Innocent).
**Ángel González:**
Áspero Mundo (Rough World) and Tratado de Urbanismo (Treaty of Urban Planning).
**Jaime Gil de Biedma:**
His writing is based on experience. He has three books: Compañeros de Viaje (Travel Companions), Moralidades (Moralities), and Poemas Póstumos (Posthumous Poems).
**Poetry from the 1970s to the Present Day**
From 1975 to the present, guidelines have multiplied, but there is a tendency to move away from earlier flows. Poetic vocabulary oscillates between elitism and prosaism, reflecting everyday life.
**Authors of the 1950s:**
- **José Hierro:** *Agenda* and *Cuaderno de Nueva York* (New York Workbook).
- **Gabriel Celaya:** Published more experimental avant-garde works in the 1970s, such as *Campo Semántico* (Semantic Field), *Función de Uno, Equis, Ene* (Function of One, X, N), and *Trayectoria Poética* (Poetic Career).
- **Blas de Otero:** Published *Historias Fingidas y Verdaderas* (False and True Stories) in the 1960s.
**Authors of the 1960s:**
- **José Ángel Valente:** *Mandorla*, *El Fulgor* (The Glow), *No Amanece el Cantor* (The Singer Does Not Awaken).
- **Ángel González:** Since the 1960s, he has produced playful works like *Canciones para una Biografía Breve* (Songs for a Brief Biography) and *Prosemas o Menos* (Prosems or Less).
In Deixis en Fantasma (Deixis in Ghost) and other works, he begins an elegiac meditation on the passage of time.
**The Decade of the 1970s**
A group of poets called the”Novísimo” (Newest) emerged, including Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Ana María Moix, José María Álvarez, Leopoldo María Panero, and Pere Gimferrer. Two features characterize these poets: a preference for mass culture and camp, and culturalism, with constant references to other works and authors. The Novísimos style is nourished by surrealism and incorporates techniques like collage and cinematic flash. Intertextuality became a key understood only by readers with similar training.
**Pere Gimferrer:**
A key figure of this generation, his works include Arde el Mar (The Sea Burns) and La Muerte en Beverly Hills (Death in Beverly Hills).
**Latest Trends from 1975**
Several trends exist in poetry: neo-surrealism, neo-romanticism, epic poetry, sensualist poetry, and perhaps the most impactful, the”poetry of experience” This poetry covers a range of topics, from daily events and urban reality to the deepest concerns about intimacy, time, and its influence on people and things. Its style is based on conversational language and dramatic monologue.
**Followers of this trend include:**
- **Luis García Montero:** *Rimado de Ciudad* (City Rhymes), *Habitaciones Separadas* (Separate Rooms), and *Completamente Viernes* (Completely Friday).
- **Jon Juaristi:** *Diario de un Poeta Recién Cansado* (Diary of a Newly Tired Poet) and *Paisajes Domésticos de un Tiempo Desapacible* (Domestic Landscapes of Unpleasant Weather).
- **Miguel d’Ors:** *Con el Cielo a Cuestas* (With the Sky on His Back) and *La Imagen de su Cara* (The Image of His Face).