Juan Ramón Jiménez and the Avant-Garde Movements: Poetry, Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism

Juan Ramón Jiménez

JRJ: Born in the town of Huelva and raised in Moguer. His wife Zenobia Camprubí gave him some stability. He was exiled, and his condition was recognized with the Nobel Prize.

In his work, the importance of style stands out, with a tendency to use the adjective in the infinitive form, seeking to dress things in the most essential way.

In the usual essence of his work, paradoxes, introductions and his spirit manifest themselves as unstable. The indecision of his work shows distinct combinations, although his poetry in its major phases achieved prose.

ETPs:

• 1st period, sensitive ETPA: From Ninfeas to Elegías. In these books, the romantic influence is still present, while the last ones establish a dialogue between the poet and the elements of nature, represented through the chromatic richness and brightness of the adjectives.
• 2nd period, intellectual ETPA: Independent of pure poetry, narration emerges (Diario de un poeta reciéncasado and Etrnidades).
• 3rd period, metaphysical ETPA: Sings of harmony through the universe and the poet's relation with Nature (La estación total).

Futurism

Marinetti was born, and his Manifiesto futurista was published in 1909, which constituted the first attempt at a radical break with the artistic values admitted until then. His proposal was the declaration of war on the past and the beauty of the search for modern forms, like those of machines and technical advances, and the style of scientific speech. He sought to exalt the world through speed and movement, in opposition to sentimentalism and artistic emotion.

Cubism

It is a movement that is found in principle in the plastic arts, born from the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso. It admits the calligrams of Guillaume Apollinaire as a cubist manifestation, which are appreciated as poetry. The text is arranged in graphics that represent different images, in illogical texts and incomprehensible verses.

Dadaism

T. Tzara proclaimed the hegemony of the absurd term Dada (from the babbling of a baby). Its iconoclastic intention means total disobedience of norms, aiming to undo discourse of coherence until it becomes unintelligible.

Surrealism

Going beyond the sensorial perception of reality, it resorts to the subconscious of dreams. Breton was its main promoter, who resorted to the psychoanalytic theories of Freud. It favors automatic writing as a manifestation of the interior world.