The Poetry of Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Unit 8: The Poetry of Modernism
Modernism
Modernism is primarily a renovation of the language of poetry, arising from a synthesis of Parnassianism and Symbolism.
This creative power, introduced by Rubén Darío, is essentially characterized by the pursuit of absolute beauty as an escape from everyday reality. The movement presents the following characteristics:
- Discomfort in society and inclination towards solitude.
- Exploration of intimacy and distance from everyday reality.
- Anti-bourgeois, anti-realist, and anti-vulgar stance.
- Aristocratic, elegant, and cosmopolitan art.
- Exotic settings, with a preference for classical antiquity, the medieval world, and the Orient.
- Expression of inner nostalgia and anxieties.
- Cult of formal beauty through the idealization of reality.
Renovation Focus
| Topics | Description |
|---|---|
| Themes | Modernists embraced a range of themes from classical to modern, including medieval romance. |
| Attitudes | Symbolist vision and interpretation of reality. |
| Poetic Tendencies | Modernist poetry is a sensual explosion of colors, sounds, aromas, and flavors that permeate the evocation of landscapes, people, animals, and things through extreme stylization and idealization. It also introduces gray tones and intimate awareness of moods or individual worldviews. |
| Language | Modernist language is lush and romantic, open to all kinds of expressions that approach its ideal of literary beauty. |
| Meter | Modernist poets explore the aesthetic ideal of rhythm and musicality in the metric field. They rescue forgotten meters or venture into a relentless pursuit of variations. |
Key Figures in Modernism
Manuel Machado
Influenced by Darío, Parnassians, and Symbolists. His lyrical and graceful work is best remembered for Andalusian songs and light poems.
Rubén Darío
Considered the originator and leading representative of Hispanic Modernism. His book Azul… (1888) is seen as the starting point of the movement. He was the first to articulate Modernism’s innovations into a coherent poetic style.
Juan Ramón Jiménez
A driving force in Modernism and a great innovator in contemporary Spanish poetry. He won the Nobel Prize and died in exile in Puerto Rico. His poetic evolution can be described in three stages:
- Sensitive Poetry: Bright Modernist style with gray and intimate tones, exploring the passion for beauty and nature.
- Pure Poetry: Stripping the image of the sensory, becoming timeless in the form of knowledge and symbol, and identifying with beauty and eternity.
- Sufficient and True Poetry: Intensifies and deepens the path of knowledge and aspiration, particularly in his works written in exile.
The Poetry of the Generation of ’98
The Generation of ’98, a term accepted by contemporary literature, is controversial due to its blurred boundaries with Modernism. Both movements arose from dissatisfaction with existing literature, and Modernism served as the generational language for many ’98 writers.
Common features of this generation include progressive ideology and concern for the state of crisis in Spain. The Generation of ’98 encompasses two trends: Symbolism and ideological heritage. Its language removes the rhetorical brilliance of Modernism while maintaining the impressionistic character of descriptions and the idealization of nature and the Castilian landscape.
| Characteristics | Linguistic Features |
|---|---|
|
|
Antonio Machado
With progressively radical ideology and deep existential humanism, he left Spain at the end of the Civil War and died in France. His poetry synthesizes classicism, Symbolism, and the exploration of his inner world. Recurring themes include nostalgia for childhood, lost love, and the correspondence between landscape and emotional state. His work can be divided into three stages:
- Loneliness and Solitude: Focuses on the writer’s inner world, melancholy, and the transience of life.
- Integration with the Generation of ’98: Expresses thoughtful nonconformity and maladjustment to social reality, along with the sublimation of an idealized landscape.
- Thoughtful and Judgmental: More reflective and critical, including the work of Juan de Mairena.
Miguel de Unamuno
Also a playwright, novelist, and essayist, he expressed his inner existential restlessness and aesthetic vision of Castile in his poems.
The 19th-Century Avant-Garde Poetry
The term “Novecentismo” encompasses essayists and novelists considered close to Modernism in their concerns, although differing in their literary expression. This differentiation is based on two aspects:
- Social: Adoption of an intellectual and minority attitude in their concern for Spanish regeneration.
- Literary: Defense of pure art and literature as an intellectual exercise based on 19th-century language.
Ramón Gómez de la Serna
His varied and complex work, characterized by disagreement and dissent, constantly experimented with literary forms and genres. He was a significant promoter of the avant-garde spirit in Spain.
The Modernist and ’98 Theater
Valle-Inclán
Commercial theater thrived in the early decades of the 20th century. The works of Carlos Arniches, idealizing Madrid and Andalusian society, continued to be successful. Jacinto Benavente’s initial stage, influenced by Modernism, broke with the 19th-century melodrama tradition. He later transitioned to high comedy with elegant and refined language.
Among the Modernist and ’98 playwrights are:
- Miguel de Unamuno: His dramas, like his novels and poems, dealt symbolically with existential conflict.
- José Martínez Ruiz “Azorín”: Created plays such as The Invisible.
- Jacinto Grau: Sought to renovate the theater of his time, which he accused of being commercial and unoriginal.
- Ramón María del Valle-Inclán: A great innovator of Spanish theater, he rejected bourgeois realism and offered a total renovation of the Spanish stage. His extensive production can be divided into cycles:
| Cycle | Description |
|---|---|
| Mythical Cycle | Consisting of barbaric comedies set in a timeless, archaic, and superstitious Galicia. Characters lack morals, and the plays explore themes of sacrilege, ferocity, and the supernatural. |
| Cycle of Farce | Valle contrasts the sentimental and the grotesque to confront reality differently and demystify traditional society with increasingly grotesque language. |
| Cycle of the Hollow | Absurdity arises from a particular historical situation and continues the tradition of Quevedo and Goya. It involves a systematic distortion of reality to offer a grotesque image. Absurdity becomes a new aesthetic, a critical vision of the world protesting against bourgeois society. |
Avant-Garde Theater and ’27
García Lorca
The Generation of ’27, known for its poetry, also produced playwrights:
- Rafael Alberti: His theater reflects the concerns of his poetry.
- Max Aub: Started with avant-garde works but later wrote testimonial theater committed to reality.
- Alejandro Casona: Recreated a poetic, stylish, and mysterious reality, often exploring the opposition between fantasy and reality.
- Federico García Lorca: The most internationally renowned Spanish playwright. He believed that theater should raise awareness and that poets could transform reality with words. His dramatic production can be classified into:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Farces | Used this approach in four plays, blending the lyrical and the grotesque. |
| Impossible Comedies | Two symbolic, surreal, and difficult-to-interpret works. |
| Tragedies of Social Issues | The most representative of Lorca’s work, including Mariana Pineda and Yerma. The House of Bernarda Alba is considered his masterpiece, exploring the drama of women in rural Spain. |
The European Avant-Garde
The avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, originating mainly in France and Germany, impacted all artistic manifestations. They were heirs to Symbolism, Impressionism, and Modernism, exaggerating their innovative spirit and experimenting with literary forms and language. They showed extreme interest in the inner world and believed that art was a reflection of the self. Among the most representative avant-garde movements are:
- Cubism: Emphasized the artist’s intellect and knowledge over the sensory vision of reality. It introduced concepts like the autonomy of the artwork, simultaneity of ideas and perceptions, and collage.
- Futurism: Proposed the simultaneity of sensations, celebrating energy, progress, industrialization, and the machine.
- Expressionism: Focused on the artist’s creative subjectivity to capture the spiritual essence of reality. It employed exaggerated forms and experimented with elements from medieval, baroque, and romantic styles.
- Creationism: Claimed that the poem does not imitate or reflect nature but exists as an autonomous entity.
- Dadaism: A movement of anti-art that challenged established artistic conventions.
- Ultraísmo: Incorporated elements of Futurism and proposed metaphors and images as the axes of poetry.
- Surrealism: Considered the most important avant-garde movement. Surrealists sought to unravel the ultimate meaning of reality through automatic writing, expressing the subconscious without the intervention of logical reason. It influenced many poets of the Generation of ’27.