Major Movements in 20th Century Spanish Poetry

Spanish Poetry: From the Fin de Siècle to the Post-War Era

The transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was marked by the crisis of bourgeois consciousness. In Spain, this led to a generation of authors, often termed the "Generation of the Century," who expressed their rejection of the bourgeois world in two distinct ways:

The Fin de Siècle Literary Movements

• Modernism

  Produced an aestheticism that cultivated poetic themes and environments posing an escape from the bourgeois world. Influenced by Rubén Darío, poets in this current include F. Villaespesa and E. Marquina.

• The Generation of '98

  Much more focused on narrative and lyrical essay, this group addressed the problem of the regeneration of Spain and human existence from a more restrained aesthetic and a deeper thematic perspective. A. and M. Machado, and Unamuno were key poets of this generation.

Above these two streams highlights the powerful and influential figure of Juan Ramón Jiménez, whose teaching and aesthetic principles profoundly shaped the next generation.

The Generation of '27: Synthesis and Innovation

Subsequently, under the dual influence of the breakthrough European avant-garde movements (isms) and the Spanish tradition, emerged a large and brilliant group of poets: the Generation of '27. Their aesthetic affinities were based on the search for a synthesis between various dichotomies:

• Between the traditional (Góngora, ballads, Garcilaso) and the avant-garde (isms).
• Between the cultured (pure poetry, Juan Ramón Jiménez, hermeticism) and the popular (romances, light verses).
• Between the universal (avant-garde movements, Valéry) and the Spanish castizo (authentic/traditional, such as flamenco in Lorca and Alberti).
• Between formalist aestheticism (Guillén, pure poetry) and human commitment (social poetry of Alberti).

The list of poets in this group is vast, as other poets of no small value focused around this core. This central group consisted of: Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, and Luis Cernuda. We should also add some excellent poets and imitators, including the important figure of Miguel Hernández.

Post-War Spanish Poetry (1940s–1950s)

After the terrible trauma of the Civil War, a painful post-war period followed, in which many of the best Spanish poets—almost all of the Generation of '27—went into exile. In exile, their subjects moved from mourning the defeat and criticizing the victors towards serene reflection and nostalgia.

As for those who remained in Spain, the poetry of the 1940s and 1950s is dominated by the Generation of '36, or the Split Generation, which offers two main trends:

• "Rooted" Poetry (Poesía Arraigada)

  A so-called 'rooted' poetry, using traditional meters and conventional topics (highly valuing the theme of God). Poets belonging to this group include Rosales, Panero, and Ridruejo.

• "Uprooted" Poetry (Poesía Desarraigada)

  The so-called 'uprooted' poetry, heavily influenced by Dámaso Alonso's Children of Wrath (Hijos de la ira). These are poets for whom the world is a painful chaos, expressed in a style far from any cultivated aestheticism, focusing basically on existential and social issues. Poets such as Blas de Otero and E. de Nora are part of this group.