Tradition and Modernity in Miguel Hernández’s Poetry
Miguel Hernández
Tradition and Modernity
Miguel Hernández’s poetic journey began as an apprentice, deeply influenced by classical authors. His evolution can be divided into several stages:
The Apprentice Poet (1910-1931)
Born in Orihuela, Alicante, Hernández’s limited formal education ended in 1924. Working as a cattle herder provided ample time for reflection, shaping his early poems. These oscillated between local themes and idealized styles, reflecting influences from Rubén Darío, Juan Ramón Jiménez, and Bécquer. His self-education included dictionaries of mythology, rhyme, and language. His friendship with Ramón Sijé provided mentorship and guidance, particularly towards classical literature and Catholicism. Early works often featured mythological scenes and eastern environments.
On the Road to Modernity and the Avant-Garde (1932)
Hernández’s 1931 trip to Madrid marked a shift towards modernism. He embraced avant-garde movements, renewing his language and style, particularly through metaphor. The commemoration of Góngora’s death in 1927 exposed him to the poetry of Alberti, Gerardo Diego, and Jorge Guillén, influencing his concept of pure poetry. Perito en lunas, originally titled Polyhedra, showcases neogongorismo, sensuality, and metaphorical riddles reminiscent of Gómez de la Serna. The book features objects and scenes from daily life, imbued with lunar and symbolic imagery.
The Discovery of Love (1934-1936)
El rayo que no cesa reveals the influence of Quevedo and Garcilaso, expressing Hernández’s passionate love for Josefina Manresa. This period also shows the impact of Neruda and Aleixandre, particularly the aesthetic of “impure poetry.” Love, life, and death become central themes. The book explores the pain of love, solidarity with friends, and communication with fellow poets.
Revolutionary Poetry (1937-1939)
The Spanish Civil War radically transformed Hernández’s poetry. Viento del pueblo and El hombre acecha reflect his deep connection to the people, employing epic tones and revolutionary imagery. Poetry becomes a weapon, with metaphors of metal, weapons, and death. Surrealism flourishes, expressing both optimism and the harsh realities of war.
Prison and Death (1939-1942)
Cancionero y romancero de ausencias, Hernández’s final work, remained unpublished for years. It comprises intimate poems reflecting on personal experiences, including the death of his first child, the birth of his second, and the consequences of war. This collection marks the peak of his poetic maturity, with metaphors reaching new heights of expressiveness.
Spanish Poetry from the Early 20th Century to the Post-War Period
The late 19th century saw a stagnation in Spanish poetry, prompting calls for renewal. The Symbolist movement in France, with its focus on synesthesia and symbolism, offered a new direction. Rubén Darío introduced these ideas to Spain with Azul (1888), influencing figures like Juan Ramón Jiménez and Antonio Machado. The avant-garde movements further challenged established norms, with figures like Ramón Gómez de la Serna translating Marinetti’s futurist manifesto. The Generation of 27, influenced by Juan Ramón Jiménez’s pursuit of pure poetry, sought to synthesize tradition and innovation.
Miguel Hernández and Nature
Nature played a crucial role in Hernández’s life and work. His rural upbringing in Orihuela provided intimate knowledge of the natural world. This connection is evident throughout his poetry, from early pastoral poems to later works incorporating symbolic natural imagery. His love for the land, particularly the landscapes of his homeland, permeates his verse.
Literary Style
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We may refer to poetry Hernandiana in terms of visual poetry,
like photographs, descriptions of nature are taken to paper
in writing. Metaphors have the peculiar quality of stress situations and
common objects of everyday life and get with them a rhetorical
unique, since they start from a cult of the humble, and this is where the originality lies
the author. So are metaphorized the bull, the palm, the Scarecrow, the wheel …
In his lament for the death of the poet Garcia Lorca, the cousin says
apples, you can not sap your woodworm / may not with the language of your death
Worm / and give your health fierce poma / choose your bones the apple. With this
beautiful metaphor tells us that death will not silence the voice of the poet and quoted bones
as a more resistant to decomposition of the body to express the permanence
Garcia Lorca.
In the famous poem Nanas de la cebolla, a reference to the bulb is metaphorical,
and, in turn, is the description of a reality, he tells his wife about
of hunger in your child. The onion is frost shut in and poor, frost
of your days and my nights, hunger and onions, black ice and frost black
round.
Another metaphor is the image of the sun, engine life, which is responsible for
account of the event of reproduction: the great time of delivery, the most emphatic