Contemporary Poetry Trends: 1975 to Present

Contemporary Poetry: 1975 to the Present

The 1980s and 1990s

Since the early 1980s, the prevailing aesthetics of the 1970s continued. The work of promoting poets from the 1960s continued, experiencing a stage of artistic fulfillment in book publishing. Different trends developed, among them, realistic poetry. The 1980s saw a recovery of the importance of poetic commitment and humor. Irrelevant matters of everyday life, contemporary, and urban realities appeared. The poetry of experience was the mainstream trend until the mid-1990s. There is great diversity of traits among the poets included in this trend, but we may cite the following general characteristics:

• Emphasis on the fictitious nature of the poem and the individual's experiences and visions of the world: loving relationships, disappointment and failure, and awareness of time. Reflection of the poetic voice and a narrative character are predominant.
• Credible and realistic aesthetics, which carries the preference for a literary representation of reality that can be easily identified by readers. In this aspect, the focus is on the city and everyday life.

Stylistically, it is characterized by features both prosaic and conversational, using the lexicon of urban culture, quotations, allusions, and humor. Traditional metrical forms are predominantly used.

Other Poetic Trends

• Poetry of Silence/Conceptualism: Linked to symbolism, pure poetry, and the work of Jorge Guillén, and, in others, with that of José Ángel Valente.
• Neo-Impressionist and Elegiac Poetry: Included in figurative poetry, the predominant theme is the passage of time, the description of landscapes and people, and a nostalgic vision of reality. Examples include Andrés Trapiello's *Easy Life*, and Eloy Sánchez Rosillo's *Elegies*.
• Epic Poetry: Encompasses different attitudes, retraces history, myths, and values of the past, and nature. Examples include Julio Martínez Mesanza's *Europe*, and Julio Llamazares's *Slow Oxen*.
• Neo-Surrealist Poetry: A minority tendency characterized by raw darkness and irrationality of images. Examples include Blanca Andreu's *Province of a Girl Who Came to Live in a Chagall*, and Miguel Velasco's *The Saloons of Sleep*.

From 1990 to the Present

This last period stresses the plurality of poetic trends and interests. General features include:

• Review and influence of different literary traditions, including the avant-garde.
• A decrease in the presence of the poetic "I", and the emergence of a nihilistic and despairing vision, alongside the importance of vitalism.
• A quest for transcendence through the analysis of mystery.
• Presence of grounds and signs of our time: advertising, media, sports, science, and new technologies.

Noteworthy trends include poetic criticism that denounces political injustices and the plight of victims of our time. There is also a renewal of language, a return to the importance of poetic language. A tendency towards condensation and the fragment is also highlighted.