The Generation of ’27: Spanish Poetic Innovation
The Generation of ’27 renewed Spanish lyric poetry, blending traditional and classical forms with the most innovative and cutting-edge techniques. Key members included Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Rafael Alberti, Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Vicente Aleixandre, Dámaso Alonso, Emilio Prados, and Manuel Altolaguirre.
Common Characteristics
- Similar ages
- Bourgeois family backgrounds
- Friendships formed through participation in tributes to Góngora
- Publication in influential journals like Revista de Occidente
Stages of Development
Training
A focus on technical perfection and formal purity, with a thematic emphasis on dehumanization.
Consolidation
Each member develops their own distinct poetic voice. Lorca stands out.
Disruption
Lorca’s assassination during the Civil War and the exile of others (Alonso, Aleixandre, Gerardo, and a portion of Prados faced internal exile) created a balance between modernism and tradition, dehumanization and humanization.
Synthesis
- Integration of different currents
- Revival of popular and traditional lyrical forms like the romance
- Emphasis on classical formal perfection, influenced by Góngora
- Incorporation of pure poetry and avant-garde sensibilities
Key Figures and Styles
Jorge Guillén: A leading exponent of pure poetry, emphasizing dehumanization. His conceptual and formal style produces a sense of coldness. His 1928 work, Cánticos, is a song to life and the world, a clamor against a world singing sorrow.
Gerardo Diego: Synthesizes different styles and currents, blending cultured classical elements with avant-garde approaches. He works with traditional metric forms and vanguardist poetry.
Rafael Alberti: Demonstrates a wide variety of topics, forms, and tones, ranging from landscapes and anguish to nostalgia and social commitment. He is capable of both cultivated and popular styles, traditional and avant-garde approaches.
Alberti’s Stages
- Neopopularism: A modern perspective on traditional popular lyricism (e.g., Marinera en tierra).
- Gongorism and Progressiveness: (e.g., Los ángeles).
- Personal Crisis: Resulting from a loss of paradise.
- Political Commitment: Reflected in works like Con los zapatos puestos tengo que morir.
- Exile: Expressed in works like Poeta en la calle.
Federico García Lorca: Possesses a passion for life and a conflict with the limitations of time. His poetry tends to be dramatic and his poetic drama is significant.
Lorca’s Stages
- First Stage: Formation and absorption of distinct currents, traditions, and avant-garde elements, blending cultivated and popular styles.
- Youth Work: Poema del cante jondo expresses personal pain.
- Gypsy Ballads: Represents the Gypsies who face social and moral norms.
- Phase Following Trip to New York and Cuba: Coincides with the crash of ’29.
Luis Cernuda: Develops a more intimate voice, rejecting rhyme and rhetorical excess in favor of natural and colloquial language. His early work displays a personal tone and surrealist influences (e.g., Un perfil del aire, Donde habite el olvido, Los placeres prohibidos).
Vicente Aleixandre: His surrealism is attenuated in works like Mundo a solas and Sombra del paraíso.
Dámaso Alonso: Finds his authentic poetic voice in distressed and uprooted times after the Civil War. His poetry becomes existential, as seen in Hijos de la ira, a protest against a senseless world.
Emilio Prados: Creates songs of social and popular type, including war poetry (e.g., La voz cautiva and Andando, andando por el mundo).
Manuel Altolaguirre: His pre-war work focuses on human life (e.g., Las islas invitadas).
Lorca’s Theater
Lorca’s theater uses a high dramatic and lyrical charge. The themes create characters whose passions clash with an implacable reality, condemning them to frustration and death.
Initial Stages
- La zapatera prodigiosa
- Mariana Pineda (1925)
Avant-Garde Influence
Psychoanalysis influences his work within 5 years.
Cycle Stage and Major Tragedies
Set in rural Andalusia, these tragedies of blood and barren weddings represent love thwarted by nature, social norms, and moral dramas (e.g., La casa de Bernarda Alba), highlighting the status of women in a society that frustrates and enslaves them.