Evolution of Spanish Poetry After the Civil War

Major Trends in Postwar Spanish Poetry

Apart from the poets of the Generation of '27, such as Rafael Alberti and Jorge Guillén, and those from previous generations like Juan Ramón Jiménez and León Felipe—who spent the first postwar decades in exile—the main trends in postwar poetry are as follows:

The Garcilaso Group and the Generation of '36

A group of poets known as the Generation of '36, including Luis Rosales, Luis Felipe Vivanco, Dionisio Ridruejo, and Leopoldo Panero, wrote poetry in traditional verse. In their work, there is no reference to the bleak surrounding reality of those years. Their themes are those of timeless poetry: love, death, and God. Books belonging to this trend include Ángeles de Compostela and Alondra de verdad by the poet of the Generation of '27, Gerardo Diego.

The Turning Point of 1944: Uprooted Poetry

In 1944, two pivotal books were published: Sombra del paraíso (Shadow of Paradise) by Vicente Aleixandre and Hijos de la ira (Dámaso Alonso's Children of Wrath). This established a tendency that remained in force for more than a decade. Written in free verse and containing allusions to immediate reality, this movement marked the start of the latest Spanish contemporary poetry. Compared to the formal constraints of the Garcilaso style, these books offered a tense and violent language.

Poetic Trends of the 1950s

By 1950, three distinct trends emerged: uprooted poetry, rooted poetry, and social poetry.

• Uprooted poetry: This trend presents the world as chaotic and filled with anxiety; through poetry, writers seek order and analysis. This stream was grouped around the magazine Espadaña (Cattail).
• Rooted poetry: This line includes poets who called themselves Creative Youth and published in the magazine Garcilaso. These poets sought their roots in God, the land, and the family. They maintained an optimistic and hopeful view of the world and life, preferring classical metrical forms.
• Social poetry: This was a poetry of objective denunciation, emerging from the climate created by the magazine Espadaña. The poets of this trend decided to become witnesses of everyday life, writing in accessible language and giving total dominance to the poem's content. They denounced social injustice and the political situation in Spain. This current included poets like José Hierro, Gabriel Celaya, and Blas de Otero.

The Second Postwar Generation

For later poets such as Ángel González, Claudio Rodríguez, José Ángel Valente, and Jaime Gil de Viedma, poetry was, above all, a method of knowledge, without relinquishing its role as a vehicle of communication. Although they often used free verse, they were more demanding regarding poetic language than the previous generation.

The Novísimos: A Break with Tradition

In 1963, Pere Gimferrer published Arde el mar (Burning Sea), which represented a break with preceding poetry. Around him, a number of poets grouped together, later featured in the 1968 anthology Nueve novísimos poetas españoles (Spanish Novísimos). The main concern of their poetry was form. Moving away from social and political concerns, their poems were filled with constant references to exotic motifs and cultural relations, featuring an artificiality reminiscent of Modernism and Surrealist procedures.

Contemporary Poetic Generations

The latest generations of poets are difficult to classify. They are generally characterized by a very carefully crafted poetic language, fleeing from committed poetry and attenuating the Baroque influence and culturalism of the Novísimos generation.