The Generation of '27: Post-Civil War Poetry, Exile, and Existential Anguish

The Generation of '27 After the Spanish Civil War

The poets of the Generation of '27 first introduced new human themes, such as love. Some poets, driven by social concerns, became interested in politics. After the Civil War, the poetic group fractured. Federico García Lorca was shot in 1936, and the rest of the group dispersed. The exiled poets included Luis Cernuda, Rafael Alberti, Pedro Salinas, and Jorge Guillén. In their production, the subject of the lost homeland appears repeatedly.

In Spain, only Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso, and Vicente Aleixandre remained, writing poetry focused on existential anguish.

Jorge Guillén

Work: Aire Nuestro

Guillén's major work, Aire Nuestro, mirrors the life and work of Juan Ramón Jiménez. This extensive collection is divided into five cycles, though the first three are the most significant:

• Cántico (Song)
• Clamor (Story Time)
• Homenaje (Tribute)
• Other poems

Cántico: The World Is Well Done

In Cántico (three hundred poems), Guillén reaffirms his positive outlook toward reality, famously stating: “The world is well done.” This collection offers a worldview devoid of drama, where love is the zenith of existence. It speaks of light, birds, trees, the sea, and elements of everyday reality (such as an armchair or coffee). To designate these elements as current and actual, Guillén frequently uses the present tense.

Clamor: Story Time

Clamor is a cycle divided into three parts: Maremagnum (1957), Que van a dar en la mar (1960), and A la altura de las circunstancias (1963). These works show a change in subjects, focus, and style. Guillén becomes sensitized and protests against the pain caused by unfortunate historical circumstances, although, paradoxically, he maintains an underlying optimism.

Homenaje: A Celebration of Arts

Homenaje (Tribute) is a celebration of famous figures in the arts (such as Góngora and Fray Luis de León) who aided him in his intellectual maturity.

Style

Guillén is the highest representative of pure poetry in his generation. He uses a highly developed and condensed language which, despite its seemingly simple vocabulary, presents some difficulty due to a slightly convoluted syntax. Unlike Pedro Salinas, he is a master of the classic stanzas, especially the *décima* and the sonnet, though he also used free verse. Guillén believed that all verses of a poem should have the same emphasis, hence his practice of starting every line with an initial capital letter.

Dámaso Alonso

Work

Dámaso Alonso began his journey, like other members of the Generation of '27, following the paths of pure poetry (*Poemillas de la ciudad*). However, in the immediate postwar period, he published his most significant work: Hijos de la ira (Children of Wrath).

Hijos de la ira: Anguish and Disappointment

This book, written in free verse, stems from the belief that the world is not well done, which causes the poet anguish and disappointment. In these verses, the poet questions God without receiving a response.

In 1955, he wrote Hombre y Dios (Man and God), which is a recognition of a God who views creation through the eyes of man. Other works include *Tres sonetos sobre la lengua castellana* and *Poemas escogidos* (Selected Poems). We must also remember his masterful literary studies of Góngora and Quevedo.

Style

In his early work, Dámaso Alonso was influenced by Juan Ramón Jiménez. In later poems, particularly those written after the war, he adopted a harsher and more arid language, often religious in tone, while maintaining unquestionable formal rigor.