Poetry of the Generation of '98: Unamuno, Valle-Inclán, and Machado

The Poetry of the Generation of '98: Unamuno, Valle-Inclán, and Machado

The poetry of the Generation of '98 serves as a prime example of the lyricism and subjectivity inherent in the works of these authors. Key noventayochista poets include Miguel de Unamuno, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, and, above all, Antonio Machado.

Unamuno's Poetry

Unamuno shared the common goal of his contemporaries to liberate poetic language from the rhetorical emphasis that characterized Romantic lyricism. His work is defined by experience and expertise. His poetry focuses on three major themes:

• Family
• Country
• Religion

He also frequently incorporated the landscape—particularly of Castile and Vizcaya—aligning himself with the noventayochista movement. His major works include:

• Poems (1907)
• Rosario Lyrical Sonnets (1911)
• El Cristo de Velázquez (1920)
• De Fuerteventura a París (1925)
• Ballads of Exile (1928)
• Songbook (published posthumously in 1953)

Valle-Inclán's Poetry: From Modernism to the Grotesque

The lyrical work of Valle-Inclán is concise, consisting of 65 poems collected in the book Keys of Lyricism (1930), which is a trilogy comprising:

• Aromas of Legend
• The Passenger
• The Kif Pipe

His poetic evolution begins with the modernist clichés found in his early works, Aromas of Legend and The Passenger, before transitioning to a grotesque aesthetic. In his final work, The Kif Pipe, he utilizes tragic-grotesque prints and black humor to express human cruelty.

The Poetry of Antonio Machado: From Modernism to the Generation of '98

Antonio Machado is both a modernist and a noventayochista poet. His work harmoniously synthesizes the classicism of form, the symbolism of the sensory world, and an inquiry into his own interior galleries. His notable works include:

• Solitudes (1903): A work full of modernism.
• Solitudes, Galleries, and Other Poems (1907): Displays an intimate modernism focused on universal feelings such as time, death, God, and love.
• Campos de Castilla (1912): Marks his integration into the Generation of '98. This book observes the outside world to express thoughtful nonconformity and social maladjustment, while also addressing the sublimation of a dematerialized, idealized landscape.
• New Songs (1924): Features brief, sententious poetry.
• Songs of an Apocryphal Songbook: Blends prose and verse, featuring compositions of a new and late love.

At the dawn of the Spanish Civil War, he composed poems known as War Poetry, most notably the elegy written after the death of Federico García Lorca. These poems were later published in Complete Poetry.