Symbols in the Poetry of Miguel Hernández
Imagery and Symbolism in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
The poems of Miguel Hernández in his formative years (1924-1931) present images taken directly from his environment in Orihuela. In the words of José Luis Ferris, these are “the lemon, the well, the fig tree, the string, or the backyard.” Such symbols are clearly visible in the poem “Insomnia” and, especially, in its more refined version, “I Remember…” The image of the shepherd poet would always accompany Hernández.
Early Poems and Erotic Desire
“Lust” and “Is Your Mouth…” are two poems in this early stage that introduce important themes in Hernandian poetry. “Lust” speaks of erotic desire in the guise of pastoral poetry. “Your Mouth…” presents features of a woman’s face through metaphors, in which a soft and gentle tone sometimes predominates, and at others points to coldness and hardness.
Perito en Lunas (1933)
Perito en Lunas (1933) was published in Murcia. Consisting of 42 octaves in the style of Góngora’s Polyphemus. The tribute to the culteranismo poet is seen in some quotations and the final verse of “(Rooster)”, taken from Góngora’s Solitudes: “a battle of love, gulf of feathers.” The poems are a sort of guessing game, the “lyrical puzzles”—as Gerardo Diego defined them—whose solution must be found in the titles. Among the symbols, we see the bull, signifying sacrifice and death. The palm, an element of the Mediterranean landscape, is compared to a jet. Moreover, images and symbols are very much of their time, as when he describes the weather vanes “dancing in Christian corners / grafted: Baker plus widows,” referring to the dancer Josephine Baker, also a black widow. And an air of Lorca’s Poet in New York (1929-1930) has “(Black Hanged for Rape), where there are many symbols referring to males: “the most confusing leg.” Finally, “(Sex and the Moment, 1”), a song of impure intercourse, masculinity is expressed through “the brunette perpendicular before / bisector of zero-zero.”
El Rayo Que No Cesa (1936)
El Rayo Que No Cesa (1936). The underlying theme of the poems is love, and all the symbols revolve around it. Thus, lightning, fire, and burning represent desire, linking in turn to our literary tradition (Living Flame of Love, San Juan de la Cruz). Blood is sexual desire; the shirt, male; and the lemon, the female breast. The poet’s frustration at the elusiveness of his beloved (Josefina Manresa) results in death, one of the major themes of this book. The character of the beloved who, like Garcilaso, restrains the heart, can be appreciated in the sonnet “Less punishable if not / your complexion, nard, for my view, tuberose,” so bold in its use of epanadiplosis, where the beloved is represented by metaphors of a soft nature (tuberose, nard, juniper).
Some poems of El Rayo Que No Cesa speak of a more fulfilling sexual relationship, so there are critics who do not identify it with Josefina Manresa, but with a fleeting relationship Hernández had with the painter Maruja Mallo.
Viento Del Pueblo (1937)
In Viento Del Pueblo (1937), the wind is the voice of the people embodied in the poet. The cowardly and resigned people, who do not fight, are identified with the ox. The lion, however, is the image of rebellion and nonconformity.
The contrast between rich and poor is given in “Hands,” a poem in which Miguel Hernández symbolized the two Spains. According to the poet, “some are pure hands of the workers,” which “lead forges, hoes, looms.” The others are “livid hands of stone and avaricious, / landscape murderers” who “wield crucifixes and hoard treasure.”
After his marriage, he no longer sings to the beloved with as much desire, but now the emphasis is on maternity. The symbol will be the belly.
El Hombre Acecha (1939)
El Hombre Acecha (1939) is a title that suggests that man is a wolf to man. As noted by Leopoldo de Luis and Jorge Urrutia, we will find the theme of man and beast, and consequently, fangs and claws.
Final Poems
In prison, the recent war is like a bad dream that has sown Spain with the dead and prisoners (poem “Sad Wars”). In prison—or in successive prisons Miguel Hernández must suffer—he longs for his lover (poem “Absence in Everything I See”). Death, symbolized here by the sea, as in Jorge Manrique, is becoming the only certainty for the poet: “Wife, your spouse’s steps sound on the sea.”