Social and Political Themes in the Poetry of Miguel Hernandez

Miguel Hernandez: Social and Political Commitment

Miguel Hernandez was socially and politically committed in his life, his poetry, and his plays, but we will focus primarily on his poetry.

Hernandez's Theater of War

Regarding his dramatic work, although he wrote other works, Theater of War, written in prose, lacks dramatic entity and could be considered propaganda speeches and an invitation to fight.

Poetry Collections with Military Themes

In the poetry of Miguel Hernandez, his poetry collections include military themes: Wind of the People, Man Stalks, and, in some ways, Songbook and Ballads of Absences.

Commitment Beyond Verse

Miguel Hernandez's commitment goes beyond his verse; it is part of his life. His poems are a reflection of his life convictions. Because of his humble origins, he had a social commitment. He always considered himself part of the town. When war breaks out, true to his ideas, he takes part in it as a Republican. Wind of the People from this period is where the combative tone prevails, near the speech, the 2nd person, the vocative, and imperative. The tone of the poems is hortatory and asks poets and intellectuals to leave their shelters to fight with the word, verse, and literature, when people asked commitment and courage against the enemy. But later, the poet's soul is found sensitive to the pain of others, and there is a change from such exalted social poetry to a record of poetry in which the pain reaches a great sensitivity and lyrical beauty.

Evolution of Social Poetry

In Man Stalks, social poetry has evolved, going from that found in Wind of the People to a less combative, more tired tone. To Miguel Hernández, the war has lost its meaning and has become death, hatred, and pain. Also becomes important the absence of loved ones, suffering from the distance. Thus opens the way to his latest book: Songbook and Ballads of Absences. This collection has a more profound Wind of the People, the less militant but equally it's broken and the poet ends the cycle of his career: the self to us and back to me.

Final Years

When the war ends, he is on the side of the vanquished. And after going through various Spanish prisons, he was finally transferred to Alicante Adult Reformatory, where he got sick and, because of medical neglect, died in 1942.

Legacy

In short, the poet, through his poetry, attempts to raise the morale of soldiers, attempts to show the need for the fight, he discovered the presence of pain and death, but above all shows of solidarity. His poems want to be like the voices of all those who have been or will be mired in the most terrible silence of death.