Generation of '27: Vanguard Poetry and Lorca's Drama

Vanguard Poetry and the Generation of '27

The vanguard movements that influenced the Generation of '27 were Creationism, Ultraism, and the profound influence of Surrealism. Key figures like Gerardo Diego utilized these styles in works such as Imagen and Manual de espumas. Surrealism's greatest influence lay in the use of illogical images, as seen in the works of Luis Cernuda and Vicente Aleixandre.

Luis Cernuda: Desire and Reality

Luis Cernuda (1902-1963) was born in Seville, moved to Madrid, and devoted himself to being a professor of Spanish literature before dying in exile in Mexico. His poetic production is collected in The Reality and the Desire (La realidad y el deseo), which includes his late work Desolation of the Chimera (1962). In Forbidden Pleasures (1931), written in free verse, Cernuda identifies desire and pleasure as supreme aspirations where love often remains impossible, leaving only loneliness.

Vicente Aleixandre: Nobel Prize in Literature

Vicente Aleixandre (1898-1984), born in Seville, studied law and business. He received the National Literature Award in 1934 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1977. His major works include Swords like Lips (1932), Destruction or Love (1935)—where love equals death and the exaltation of the wild—Shadow of Paradise (1944), and History of the Heart (1954).

Prose and Drama in the Generation of '27

Members of the Generation of '27 also excelled in prose, literary essays, and outstanding drama. Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti (director of La Barraca) were pivotal. Lorca created a new conception of theater, conjugating dramatic tension with intense poetry. He began in modern theater with The Butterfly's Evil Spell (1919) and Mariana Pineda (1923). He also wrote farces such as The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife (1929) and The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden (1933), as well as surrealist-influenced dramas like The Public (1933).

Key Features of Lorca's Drama

Lorca's plays are characterized by themes of frustration, love, and death, expressed through intense lyricism, symbolic characters, and a mix of songs, verse, and prose.

Major Tragedies and Dramas

• Blood Wedding (1932): Amorous yearning faces social norms. The bride runs off with Leonardo, a former love, on her wedding day. Her boyfriend pursues them, leading to a confrontation where both men die.
• Yerma (1934): Depicts the frustration of a woman due to infertility. Yerma yearns to be a mother, but her husband does not want children. When she discovers this, she kills him, rebelling against her destiny.
• The House of Bernarda Alba (1936): This play raises the issue of family honor and social barriers. Bernarda Alba imposes eight years of mourning and seclusion on her daughters after the death of her husband. Her youngest daughter, Adela, rebels against this situation to live her passion for Pepe el Romano, who is promised to her sister Angustias. Upon being discovered and believing her lover is dead, Adela kills herself.