Spanish Poets of the Generation of ’27: A Literary Journey
**Pedro Salinas**
“The three basic elements: authenticity, beauty, wit.”
His first books are Presagios (1923), Seguro Azar (1929), and Fábula y Signo (1931), examples of “pure poetry” where the influence of Juan Ramón is perceived, along with futurist themes.
Masterpieces: La Voz a Ti Debida (1933) and Razón de Amor (1936). With them, Salinas acquires his original status: the great poet of love. His vision is anti-romantic.
After the war, he published two books of poems in America: El Contemplado (1946) and Todo Más Claro (1949). After his death, Confianza (1955) was published.
His poetic language is simple, but he almost always forgoes rhyme.
**Jorge Guillén**
He was the highest representative of pure poetry, but not dehumanized. His language waives music, and his poetry is difficult to understand and conceptual.
His work, Aire Nuestro, comprises five books: Cántico, Clamor, Homenaje, Y Otros Poemas, and Final.
Cántico is a song of praise, and Guillén’s poetry is an expression of enthusiasm for the world and for life. Life is beautiful simply because it is life.
The title Clamor is equivalent to cries of protest against the horrors and miseries of the historical moment.
Homenaje has very different content: it includes poems dedicated to various people in history, the arts, and letters.
Y Otros Poemas and Final attest to Guillén’s incessant creation but do not add anything special to his work.
**Gerardo Diego**
He surprised with the variety of themes, colors, and styles.
La Balada de la Novia is pervaded by a tone still very Bécquerian.
He started his avant-garde experiences and stood out as a representative of Creationism: Imagen and Manual de Espumas.
Versos Humanos collects songs, glosses, and sonnets.
**Dámaso Alonso**
He was a pioneer of pure poetry with his first significant book, Poemas Puros, Poemillas de la Ciudad.
In 1944, Dámaso Alonso unveiled a shocking book: Hijos de la Ira, “rooted poetry.”
Other existential books are Oscura Noticia, Hombre y Dios, Gozo de la Vista, etc.
**Vicente Aleixandre**
He received the Nobel Prize in 1977. The discovery of Surrealism marked much of his production. He conceives of poetry as communication open to others. His continued concern is where to place each word so that it appears as “necessary.”
The most characteristic features of his style are the visionary, spectacular metaphors. Along with this, he uses free verse or broad, long, dense verse.
Three stages can be distinguished in his career. In the first stage, his vision of man is radically pessimistic: man is the most painful creature of the universe, he is only imperfection, pain, and anguish. Ámbito. Surrealism: La Pasión de la Tierra.
In the second stage, he wrote Historia del Corazón.
In his third phase: Poemas de la Consumación. His last book: Diálogos del Conocimiento.
**Rafael Alberti**
A poet who surprised with the variety of themes, tones, and styles. His production alternates between pure, traditional, baroque, and avant-garde poetry.
The first three books of Alberti: Marinero en Tierra, La Amante, and El Alba del Alhelí. Some compositions from 1926 and 1927 highlight the bullfighting theme.
Between Cal y Canto, he wrote a book showing a substantial shift toward the baroque and the avant-garde at the same time: Sobre los Ángeles, his masterpiece. His attention is undeniable poetic language of the surreal. It symbolizes cruelty, sadness, despair, death, etc.
Alberti started social and political poetry, which he called “civil poetry.” It is usually emergency poetry, less attentive to aesthetics and sometimes demagogic. Some titles are El Poeta en la Calle, De un Momento a Otro, Entre el Clavel y la Espada.