The Poetry of Spain’s Generation of ’98: Key Figures & Themes
The Poetry of the Generation of ’98
For Spain, the nineteenth century ended with a serious crisis: the end of its colonial empire in 1898. This event sparked a wave of indignation and protest that appeared in literature through the writers of the Generation of ’98.
It is not exactly a literary movement, but a group of writers emerging in the aftermath of ’98 representing a desire for political renewal and social roots in the regeneration. They coincide in their tracks: the Castilian landscape, interest in people’s daily life, and a return to the classics. They are also in search of simplicity in form and in the use of direct language.
The main components of the generation are: Miguel de Unamuno, Valle-Inclan, Antonio Machado, and Pío Baroja. Azorín is also considered a key figure. Baroja and Azorín did not focus on poetry.
Miguel de Unamuno
He is the most representative writer of ’98. His literary output is vast, touching all literary genres and through them expressing their philosophical concerns: the fear of death, the desire for eternity, the search for faith, and so on.
His poetry, very personal, serves as a vehicle to express his religious concerns and interest in Castile: landscapes, people, cities, and his love of family, her feelings about artistic expression.
Although he wrote poetry from an early age, he did not publish it until very late, so he was best known as a novelist and essayist than as a poet.
His first book, Poems, is steeped in mystical concerns of affection for the homeland, visions of art. Rosario de sonetos líricos contains lyrical sonnets, and El Cristo de Velázquez is regarded as his finest poetic work. This is a very long poem which arises from the contemplation of the painting by the Spanish artist. It is a celebration of divine love, centered on the figure of Christ, source of love and forgiveness. Teresa is a romantic poem where the influence of Bécquer is noticeable.
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
The importance of his work as a playwright and novelist makes his poetry go unnoticed. Claves líricas is the title which contains the bulk of his poetry.
His first book, Aromas de leyenda, is very close to the aesthetics of the Sonatas, with an ingenious vision of the Galician landscape. In El pasajero, he reflects the decadence of his era. His masterpiece is La pipa de kif, where the modernist elements deform until the grotesque, pairing this book with their nonsensical drama. The last poem of the book, Tienda de herbolario, is a celebration of what Cernuda later called artificial paradises.
Antonio Machado
He is the great poet of the generation and one of the most important Spanish poets of all time.
Although his first poems are close to the aesthetics of modernism, he suddenly leaned towards an intimate Bécquerian tone, full of symbols and extremely simple form. His membership in the Generation of ’98 is evidenced by the appreciation of the landscape, the fear of the passage of time, concern for the Spanish state and its future, skepticism, and affirmation of the supremacy of the spiritual over the material.
There are three main themes of his work:
- The intimacy of the poet: memories, dreams, sense of time.
- The landscape: Castile and Andalusia. The people of Castile, the historical past, the present reality, and the national situation with a critical view.
- Love.
In his poetic evolution, we can distinguish the following stages, each represented by a book:
- Soledades, the book nearest to Modernism: There are typically Machado symbols: water, fountains, twilight, evening. The formal simplicity and an insistent yearning of childhood are more personal notes now.
- Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas, represents a rejection of modernism. Contact with Soria and love makes the Castilian landscape. His aesthetic is a poetry increasingly sober and simple. They begin to appear the characteristic poems where the poet converses with himself.
- Campos de Castilla, is the book closest to the ethics and aesthetics of ’98 of its entire production. The poet identifies with the land of Castile and his poetry tends to be more objective, without losing the intimate approach.
- Nuevas canciones. Underground Poetry short, within the current neopopularista or short poems with philosophical reflections.
- Last stage. This is the time when Antonio Machado is committed to the Republic. Socio-political poetry appears in his Poems of war.