Modernism in Hispanic Literature: Styles and Key Authors

Modernism in Hispanic Literature

Stylistic Periods

Modernism in Spanish literature distinguishes two phases:

• 1888–1896: From the publication of Azul... to Profanas by Rubén Darío.
• Post-1896: Focus shifts to Symbolist influence and intimate creation, seen in authors like J.R. Jiménez and Machado.

Modernist Poetry: Characteristics and Themes

Modernist poets rejected vulgar reality, creating new, artificial worlds filled with beauty. Key themes include:

• Evasion and ideal paradises.
• Sensuality, eroticism, and the femme fatale.
• Mythology and spiritual crisis.
• Cosmopolitanism and confrontation with the bourgeoisie.

Stylistic Features

The style is marked by:

• Recourse to alliteration and strongly marked rhythm, conferring musicality.
• Use of cultisms, foreign words (extranjerismos), exotic adjectives, and neologisms.
• Dual use of synesthesia to reveal a hidden reality through symbols.
• Preference for the sonnet form.

Modernism in Latin America: Rubén Darío

Modernism began in Hispanoamerica with authors like Rubén Darío, who introduced it across several Latin American countries and Spain. His poetic production was prolific and unique.

Major Works:

• Azul... (1888): Creates a world of fairies, princesses, and centaurs. It features an exotic, aristocratic vocabulary and the Parnassian cult of "art for art's sake," reflecting Darío's rejection of bourgeois reality.
• Cantos de vida y esperanza: Manifests a more sober tone, though metric innovations remain. Themes address the problems of the Hispanic world and meditation on the poetic voice's existence.

Modernism in Spain: Manuel Machado

Manuel Machado admired Rubén Darío and followed his metrical innovations, though he lacked Darío's rhythmic impetus.

• The Modernist influence is evident in his first poem, "Alma."
• He later produced works of a different nature, such as poems reflecting urban life and cante jondo (Andalusian folk song), incorporating motifs of the guitar and the sad copla style in Ars Moriendi.

Juan Ramón Jiménez

J.R. Jiménez's early works were influenced by late-century trends: aestheticism, decadence, and Symbolism, marking his first Modernist phase.

• Early Themes: Longing, the pursuit of the mysterious, and the presence of death, connecting with the decadent climate.
• Second Phase: The aestheticism and melancholy of the first stage evolve into a vitalism influenced by Góngora and Garcilaso.
• Maturity: He reached his summit with the new conception presented in Diario de un poeta recién casado (Diary of a Newlywed Poet), which allowed him to tour his own consciousness. The sea becomes the backbone of the work, written in free verse. The verse lines reflect the poet's internal evolution, while the prose is more descriptive with objective references to the itinerary.
• Later Work: Jiménez continued the search for the definitive word to account for his new reality. In his final works, the poet searches for the universal consciousness and welcomes the findings of that search.