The Interplay of Life and Death in Miguel Hernández’s Verse
Themes in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
A basic “punishment” makes the poet burdened, sharing the pain of all the disinherited. Hence, it is a book of penalty, death, unrequited love, etc. The expressive tension occurs in formal structure, mostly using the sonnet. The existential tension is projected onto the issue of penalty; the penalty seems linked not to love itself, but to its absence or non-fulfillment. The central theme of rejected love, this frustration of being unable to procreate or extend the roots of man, comes through: the reader perceives the force of words within a mature style.
Life and Death in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
First Period: The Vital Impulse
In this first period of creation, a prevailing vital feeling permeates everything, but this changes after the death of Ramón Sijé. It is then that the poet begins to feel more intensely the presence of death and pain. However, it is important to note that ultimately, everything revolves around life and death for the poet Miguel Hernández. Almost all researchers have noted the close relationship between biography and lyrical creation. The life process that runs through the work of Miguel Hernández is overwhelming; most of the early poems contain a conscious disregard, some support of carefree vitalism, and even natural optimism. There is a contemplative life; in others, life throbs in his first poems. After the excitement of nature comes melancholy, which is an internalization of life: there is a death that fills the landscape with sadness. Miguel Hernández incorporates experience into his poetry. Life is always presented as threatened by uncontrollable forces. Miguel Hernández brought life to the center of his poetry. And life and death shaped the indissoluble association between biography and literary production. Everything is ultimately life and death in the poetry of Miguel Hernández; two elements make up the image Miguel possesses of the world. The fullness of life exists, but it is marked by a tragic fate; in the “man trap”, the poet offers everything in the name of freedom: eyes, hands, feet, arms, house. It is characteristic of the poet’s constant struggle to achieve the fullness of what continues living. In all that lives, there are deep wounds caused by hurricanes, storms, knives, swords, lightning, and uncertainties.
Second Period: The Shadow of Death
Death arrives when the poet is denied love, when the joyous fullness of love resists him. He will not confront that feeling until he learns the news of Ramón Sijé’s death. His verses then filled with rage, pain, and anguish. Death as a primary issue becomes a poetic theme, as it was in Quevedo. Death is not an event far from the experiences of the poet: the deaths of three of his sisters, the death of his eldest son, and known deaths among which that of Ramón Sijé stands out. The death of his son Manolillo was a blow for a man who loved children passionately and who was then surviving blows of misfortune. This child’s death would be a constant source of sorrow.
War and Imprisonment’s Toll
When war breaks out, the poems darken with disappointment and sadness. In jail, what constitutes a diary might be described as desolation, an epic poem close to the bare, harsher, and more terrible truth. But above all calamities stand love and freedom.
Final Tender and Melancholy Verses
The last poems are the most tender and melancholy of the entire Hernandian work. Loved ones appear constantly; love gives wings to the poet.