Miguel Hernández's Poetic Journey: War, Prison, and Maturity

Miguel Hernández: Poetic Evolution and Themes

The Poet-Soldier and Stylistic Renewal

Miguel Hernández (MH) adopted the role of the "poet-soldier," drawn by war events, filling his images with poetry and the symbolism of hard iron: metallic elements and weapons. Unlike the surreal images found in the poetry of Neruda and Aleixandre, MH focuses on the winds of freedom, represented by peasants, workers, and fighters, as the only way for people to succeed.

At the same time, he carried out a measure of stylistic renewal, utilizing forms such as the smith (?), the décima, the quatrain, the sonnet, Alexandrian romances, and broken serventesios.

Pessimism During the Spanish Civil War

A pessimistic and negative tone lurks, as MH notes the sad and grim reality of the Spanish Civil War and the continuing famine.

Maturity in Prison: Cancionero y Romancero de Ausencias

The last stage of MH's poetic career corresponds to the period he spent in jail, where he died. Here, he wrote "Cancionero y romancero de ausencias" (Songbook and Romances of Absences), a sort of diary composed of 79 poems that collected, in a very intimate manner, though not without a certain resignation, episodes of his life.

In this book, where MH reaches his mature poetic expression, metaphor achieves its highest perfection and expressiveness, retaining a certain surreal flavor.

Poetic Style and Traditional Meters

This maturity is reflected in short poems and short verses, some of which could be considered authentic, quintessential maxims. He uses traditional meters, such as:

• Songs
• Ballads and Romances

These forms are characterized by frequent:

• Parallels and correlations
• Similicadencias and reduplications
• Verses used as refrains (choruses)

There is a clear predominance of assonance rhyme. All this contributes to the musicality of his poems and places them close to neo-populist inspired poetry, sometimes reminiscent of his admired Federico García Lorca.

Central Themes and Intimate Voice

Regarding the various issues addressed by the poet, those referring to family stand out:

• Kissing the woman he loved
• Absence and distance (amplifying the three famous wounds: love, death, and life)
• "The womb of the beloved"
• The death of his first child and the birth of the second
• War, prison, and hunger

All these issues endow his poems with a unique, intimate, and real voice, allowing the poet to move away from many literary influences and venture in pursuit of his personal roots in the depths of himself.