Contemporary Spanish Poetry: From the 70s to the Present

Spanish Poetry from the 1970s to Today

In the 1970s, the Generation of '68 was born, also known as the Venecianos. The Novísimos (the newest poetry) was characterized by the assimilation of various currents:

• Rejection of social realism: They oppose the concept of poetry as a witness to reality.
• Integration of influences: They combine diverse cultural currents such as film, Anglo-Saxon literature, surrealism, and pop art.
• Select style: This involves the use of diverse cultural sources and the rejection of realism.
• Culturalist content: Artistic, mythological, and historical references abound, showing the refined sensibility of the poet.
• Metapoetry: A concern for style that creates reflections on the creative process itself.

Poetic Trends of the 1980s

There are several poetic trends from the 1980s, but the most important include:

• Poetry of experience: This is a poetry that recovers a realistic willingness to compromise, following the ethical poetic trends of the 50s and 60s.
• Poetry of Silence (Neopurismo): This style is akin to mysticism, pure poetry, and aesthetics.
• Neosurrealism: This movement recovers long verses, neo-Romantic sentimentality, innovative metaphors, and the world of hallucinations and dreams inherited from surrealism.
• New Epic: These poets treat the problems of the community from a realistic perspective.
• Classical poetry and criticism: Moved by the desire for beauty, these authors compose poems with many mythical references.
• Neoeroticism: This trend transforms the male subjects of love poetry, reversing perspectives and destroying the traditional image of women produced by previous poetry.

Key Figures in Contemporary Spanish Poetry

Luís García Montero

He is the most renowned poet and theorist of the Poetry of Experience. He advocates for the recovery of the everyday as poetic material. His work is characterized by achieved metaphors and a great mastery of rhythm.

Roger Wolfe

An English-born author who began a movement of critical and bitter realism called Dirty Realism. He covers topics such as drugs, boredom, or vital loneliness, often using an ironic tone.

Luis Antonio de Villena

His work covers topics such as death, eroticism, youth as a lost paradise, hedonism, and cultural themes. These issues are discussed from a critical stance that rejects prevailing morality.

Ana Rossetti

She creates sensual atmospheres populated with erotic symbols to parody and transgress the canons of love poetry drawn from the male perspective, effectively making women the protagonists of the narrative.