Spanish Poetry: War, Post-War, and Blas de Otero’s Evolution
Spanish Poetry of War
The social conflict preceding the Spanish Civil War, and above all, the war itself, decisively influenced the course of poetry. Speaking of the Generation of ’27, we had seen how poetry suffered profound changes, from dehumanized formalism to “rehumanization.” During the war, this trend continued. In general, we can speak of an abandonment of aestheticism and a culture of poetry urgent, almost utilitarian in nature, oriented toward the propaganda of the ideals of both sides. On the Republican side, authors such as Alberti, and above all, Miguel Hernandez, cultivated social poetry during the war. But the camp of the rebels also had their poets and propagandists.
However, the first poems published after the war meant a return to conservatism, to the imitation of classical forms, and also to the themes of love and spirituality, unrelated to the reality of the moment. The artists representative of this trend joined in the publication of the journal Garcilaso, published in 1943. Vicente Gaos, a contemporary critic, described the work of these poets as “anachronistic poetry of evasion.” The group of poets united around that magazine launched a line of poetry that Damaso Alonso described as “rooted poetry,” contrasting it with what he began in 1944 with his book Children of Wrath, a perfect example of “uprooted poetry.” Given the impossibility of analyzing the drama lived by the country and the hardship of the post-war situation, this poetry faithfully reflected the poet’s existential angst. Along the same lines of uprooted, existential, and sometimes sensationalist poetry stood the group of poets united around Espadaña magazine. In their poems, they produced a reflection of the harsh reality and, above all, the anguish of the poet.
Blas de Otero
With this trend, uprooted poetry, which reflects the poet’s life crisis, ties in the early work of Blas de Otero. His early works reveal a strong influence of the classics of the Golden Age and are marked by anxiety. At first, this is a subjective existential angst, often related to the fruitless search for God, but it progressively guides the analysis of the situation of man in the world, opening up to the social. The poetry of Blas de Otero evolves from the individual to the social, and that evolution can be seen in his first major works: Angel Fiercely Human and Redoble de Conciencia, both from 1950, subsequently published in one volume under the title of Ancia.
Biography and Works of Blas de Otero
(Bilbao, 1916 – Madrid, 1979) Spanish poet. His work, which starts from metaphysical anguish to lead socially and testimonially, is one of the most important of post-war poetry and an example of the “internal exile” that characterized much of the resistance against Franco exercised from Spain itself. Educated by the Jesuits in Valladolid, he studied law, philosophy, and literature in Madrid. In 1951, following a trip to Paris, he joined the Communist Party. He lived for long periods in France and Cuba.
His first poems showed his religious concerns. In Spiritual Canticle (1942), the influence of the Spanish mystics is expressed through steadfast faith, but by Angel Fiercely Human (1950), metaphysical conflict dominated, with an exasperated dialogue with God in which alternate sore and appeal, and a bleak nihilism.
From Redoble de Conciencia (1951), the cry of anguish was screened individually in the universal and reflected the horror of armed conflicts occurring in Spain and Europe. Subsequently, Ancia (1958) appeared, a title that comes from the first and last syllables, respectively, of the two previous volumes, which included many unpublished poems. Ancia is perhaps the best part of his work: hoarse poetry, “uprooted” from a curse of intense religious and existential despair, also a powerful expression of verbal energy, predominantly classical forms, aggressive imagery and conceptist games, coexistence of different lexical levels, clever use of imitative harmony, and use of collage. This poetic language always singled out his poetry, despite the changes.
A Turning Point in Otero’s Poetry
But I Ask for Peace and the Word (1955) pointed out the book that more clearly marked a turning point in his lyrics. From that moment on, he put existential skepticism on a second plane to proclaim a new faith in human solidarity and affirm the necessity of redeeming hope. The primary task was “to show kinship with the tragedy alive,” which he accomplished through a combative and committed poetic creed. In Castilian (1960) was an extension of this social concern, while facing the “immense majority.” J. R. Jiménez stated that his verses, as the recipient of Otero, went to all the people with books as With the Immense Majority (1961) and Towards the Immense Majority (1962), a compendium of previous production. The rough and agitated voice of the author, recalling the often tense tone of Miguel de Unamuno, continued speaking out in This is Not a Book (1963), Que Trata de España (1964), Historias Fingidas y Verdaderas (1970), and Mientras (1970), and Poesia con Nombres (1977). He also addressed autobiographical prose in Historias Fingidas y Verdaderas (1970).