Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: Legends, Themes, and Enduring Poetic Legacy

Themes in Bécquer's Legends

In most of the legends written by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, the main character violates a taboo and is punished for it. This action is usually caused by love, as the protagonist is seduced by a young woman who brings ruin. She is sometimes presented as a cruel or capricious woman. This evil woman is often condemned for her pride, or her treachery is exposed. However, women are not always the sole cause of the protagonist's downfall, as she doesn't attract all male figures in the legends.

Instead, it is often a spectrum invented by Bécquer himself, embodying the ideal woman, beauty, and love—as impossible to achieve as the essence of poetry itself. In other legends, the author examines the relationship between the artist, with an unattainable sensitivity, and the difficult creative process. He manifests a difference between the true creative artist and mediocre imitation. This mirrors Bécquer's own titanic search to achieve the true essence of poetry, much like a musician's failed attempt to capture an elusive melody.

Structure of Bécquer's Legends

Bécquer's legends are generally structured in three parts:

1. Presentation or Prologue: Often written in the first person, setting the scene or introducing the narrative.
2. Narrative: The main story, usually involving other characters, told in the third person.
3. Conclusion: Represents a return to the author's reality, written in an alternating first person.

Bécquer demonstrates great ability to handle suspense, evident in his Legends, through a language that alternates between colloquial, plausible, and fantastic lyricism.

Bécquer's Legacy in Contemporary Poetry

Bécquer's footprint is present in post-Romantic writers of his time and prominent modern poets. The Becquerian imprint permeates Spanish poetry, notably in Rubén Darío and other representatives of the Modernist movement. We also acknowledge his presence in some verses of Antonio Machado.

The authors of the Generation of '27 admire Bécquer's evocative power and the sober, intimate lyricism of his verses. Pedro Salinas inherits Bécquer's purified simplicity, but perhaps it is Luis Cernuda who most profoundly understands the tormented soul of the romantic poet. When Cernuda sought a title in 1932 for a book of love poems, he selected a verse by Bécquer. In the poems of both Luis Cernuda and Bécquer, there is a resigned acceptance of death, solitude, and oblivion.

Pablo Neruda also shows significant Bécquerian influence; both poets compared the fullness of past love with present loneliness and sadness, and the pain that looms in the future. This parallel extends not only to their themes but also to their treatment of pain in the absence of love.

In short, Bécquer is a pivotal figure whose influence anticipates and shapes our contemporary authors.