Tradition and Avant-Garde in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
Tradition of Spanish Literary Classics
Miguel Hernández admired and read poets like Lope de Vega, Garcilaso, Góngora, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Rubén Darío, Antonio Machado, and especially Gabriel Miró, who greatly influenced him before 1932. Later, Calderón and Quevedo became influential. His early poems showcase a deep connection to the pastoral world and his homeland, combining influences from Fray Luis de León and Renaissance tradition. Whistle Violated and Image of Your Fingerprint pay homage to San Juan de la Cruz and Cervantes’ pastoral poetry. This stage, influenced by Ramón Sijé, fostered his Catholic activism and love for classic authors. His later poetry features a pagan and erotic reworking of Garcilaso and Quevedo’s pessimism. The pain of love in his work echoes Vicente Aleixandre. His pre-Civil War love poetry follows the courtly love tradition: the beloved is virtuous and beautiful, causing the poet’s sorrow. After 1927, Góngora’s influence emerges, leading to a Catholic-influenced poetry seen in Perito en Lunas.
Avant-Garde Influences
Hernández’s contact with the avant-garde was limited. His connection to pure poetry is evident in Perito en Lunas. The avant-garde’s pursuit of a unique language based on metaphors, influenced by Ultraísmo and Creacionismo, is reflected in his work. Hernández and the Generation of ’27 embraced these avant-garde elements. Perito en Lunas, rooted in pure poetry, draws from the poet’s immediate reality, merging avant-garde metaphors within traditional octaves reales. The poem Ray that Continues marks a personal and literary shift, moving away from Sijé’s classicism and pure poetry towards influences like Neruda and Aleixandre.
Exaltation, Lament, and the Popular Tradition
Exaltation dominates Wind of the People, with an anthemic voice present in many early poems. Hernández identifies with a collective, suffering with the exploited child laborer. Despite being a “nightingale of the oppressed,” his commitment lies in the trenches, as expressed in the final stanza of Wind of the People. Lamentation also features prominently, with the lyrical subject often mystified. In social poems, lamentation expresses solidarity with victims of exploitation. The popular tradition influenced Hernández through oral transmission and readings. His aim was to aesthetically renew the campesino image. During the war, he became a soldier-poet, his poetry committed to solidarity with the oppressed. His poetry sought directness, recreating oral traditions while employing solemn meters and an epic tone, blending avant-garde imagery and surrealist metaphors with neopopularismo in ballads and songbooks. Songbook with Absences reflects the poet’s desolation, blending popular and learned traditions. Hernández’s intimate poetry explores the human condition, drawing on symbols, poetic images, and surrealist forms.
Social and Political Commitment
Hernández’s social and political commitment stemmed from his context. His limited education clashed with his father’s views. Ramón Sijé and his Catholic schooling exerted a Christian influence. His 1934 trip to Madrid marked a new phase, engaging with the capital’s intellectuals. His involvement in educational missions, promoting culture and civic education in areas with high illiteracy, solidified his social commitment. The Smile of the Pomegranate represents a shift in his thinking. The Civil War spurred his political commitment. In Wind of the People, poetry becomes a weapon for social justice, fighting for freedom. The lyrical yields to the epic, the poet assuming a prophetic role. His poetry, while lyrical, emphasizes the collective “we.” Propaganda and apostrophe are dominant features. Three key themes emerge: exaltation (heroic exaltation of justice and freedom), lament (mourning for the oppressed), and curse (condemnation of oppressors and exploiters).