María Victoria Atencia and José Ángel Valente: Poetic Analysis

María Victoria Atencia: Life and Works

María Victoria Atencia was born in Malaga on 28 November 1931. She published her first book of poetry, Tierra mojada (Wet Earth), in 1953. Following Arte público in 1961, she entered a long parenthesis in her creative work. In 1971, she qualified as a pilot and resumed her literary career, collaborating with the magazine Concha. She is an Academic of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes.

Analysis of Venice

• Structure: Two triplets with free rhyme; verses are 14 syllables (Alexandrian).
• Rhetorical Figures: Metaphors and anaphora.
• Topic: Admiration of a city (Venice) and the Locus amoenus ("pleasant place").
• First Verse: Fear of the beauty of the place, which compels one to stay.
• Second Verse: Comparison between her soul attached to a marble column and Ulysses tied to a mast; the lion serves as the symbol of the city.

José Ángel Valente: Poetry and Society

José Ángel Valente (Orense, 25 April 1929 – Geneva, 18 July 2000) was a Spanish poet, essayist, and lawyer. He taught at the University of Oxford and was a member of the "Generation of 50," writers who identified as "sons of the Civil War."

Thematic Analysis

In this poem, Valente defines the purpose of poetry and the responsibility of poets to influence society. Key themes include:

• Verses 1–7: If weapons were not created, those who profit from them would not exist, leading to a better life.
• Verses 8–14: Weapons incite violence and hatred, which manifest in murder.
• Verses 15–20: The act of killing reflects intense internal hatred.
• Verses 21–32: The absence of weapons would eliminate death and suffering, allowing humanity to be happier and "own" the land without violence.

Technical Aspects

• Topical: Contemptus mundi (contempt for the world).
• Rhetorical Figures: Metaphors and anaphora.
• Structure: 32 verses, high art, irregular and free verse.