Juan Ramón Jiménez: Life, Work, and Poetic Evolution

Juan Ramón Jiménez: Biography

Juan Ramón Jiménez was born on December 23, 1881, in house number two in the street of the Bank of Moguer [1]. He was the son of Víctor Jiménez and Purificación Mantecón, who were successfully engaged in the wine trade. In 1887, his parents moved to an old house in the Rue Neuve, and he attended elementary school at the First and Second Education of San José.

Literary Work and Poetic Stages

His extensive body of work is generally divided into three distinct stages:

1. Sensitive Stage (1898–1915)

This first stage is marked by the influence of Bécquer, Symbolism, and Modernism. The landscape descriptions reflect the soul of the poet, conveying feelings of laziness, melancholy, music, and color, along with loving memories and fantasies. It is an emotional and sentimental poetry where the poet's sensibility shines through a perfect formal structure.

2. Intellectual Stage (1916–1936)

The poetry of this stage is more conceptual and "difficult" than the previous period. These works are dedicated "to the minority forever."

Key works from this period include:

• Diary of a Newlywed Poet (1916)
• Eternities (1916–1917)
• Stone and Sky (1917–1918)

The symbol of the sea, prominent in Diary of a Newlywed Poet, is particularly highlighted. It symbolizes life, the poet's loneliness, and simultaneously, his joy. It is a symbol of the eternal present, the unity of the cosmos, and the longing for eternity.

3. Last Stage or Sufficient Stage (Post-1936)

Juan Ramón is obsessed with the themes of "poetic life," eternity, and the desire for permanence in his work. His longing for transcendence leads him to identify with God. He seeks beauty and perfection, utilizing fluid, free verse. These are works of fullness, where this absolutely new experience requires a capable new language for expression.

Notable works from this stage include:

• On the Other Side (1936–1942)
• Animal Background (1949)
• Desired and Desiring God (1957)
• Third Anthology of Poetry (1957)

This stage emphasizes the poem Space: a continuous poem, without specific divisions, supported only by rhythm, surprise, discovery, light, illusion, and the desire to know and be known. It represents essentialized poetry.