The Spanish Generation of '27: A Poetic Renaissance

The Spanish Generation of '27

A Poetic Renaissance

The Generation of '27, a prominent group of Spanish writers, emerged around 1927, coinciding with the tercentenary of Baroque poet Luis de Góngora's death. These writers, including Miguel Hernández, embraced Góngora's complex poetic style (culteranismo), which had been criticized in the 19th century. The tercentenary celebrations, including conferences and tributes at the University of Seville, served as a catalyst for the group's formation.

A literary generation comprises writers born around the same time, influenced by similar events, and sharing comparable perspectives on contemporary issues.

Defining the Generation of '27

• A Collective of Writers: Key figures include Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Dámaso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Miguel Hernández, and Luis Cernuda.
• Shared Timeline: The age difference between the youngest (Cernuda) and oldest (Salinas) was only nine years.
• Unifying Event: The 1927 tribute to Luis de Góngora in Seville marked the group's formation. The influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez is also notable.
• Shared Poetic Vision: The group sought a poetic language that effectively expressed their chosen themes.

Characteristics of the Generation of '27

• Tradition and Modernism: While exploring new poetic forms, they maintained a connection to Spanish literary tradition, admiring Góngora's poetic language, classical authors, and popular ballad forms.
• Avant-Garde Influence: Surrealism, in particular, significantly influenced the group. Surrealist writers explored the unconscious mind, seeking to achieve absolute beauty beyond the confines of reality.
• Aesthetic Focus: They pursued beauty through imagery, aiming to create pure poetry by eliminating non-essential elements.

As León Felipe expressed: "Deshaced this verse. Take away the fringes of rhyme, meter, cadence and even the idea itself. Throwing the words, and then you still something left, that is poetry."

Thematic Concerns

• Universal Themes: They explored fundamental human experiences such as love, death, and fate, drawing inspiration from traditional folk songs.

Rider's Song (Federico García Lorca)

In the black moon of the bandits,
spurs sing.
Black horse.
Where are you taking your dead rider? ...
The hard spurs
stationary bandit who lost the reins.
Cold horse.
What scent of the flower of a knife!
In the black moon bled the Sierra Morena.
Black horse.
Where are you taking your dead rider?
The night spurs its black flanks piercing stars.
Cold horse.
What scent of the flower of a knife!
In the black moon, a cry!
and the long horn of the fire.
Black horse.
Where are you taking your dead rider?

Style and Versification

• Lyrical Language: They prioritized lyrical expression, crafting a language rich in imagery and emotion.
• Diverse Forms: They employed traditional stanzas (romance, song), classical forms (sonnet, triolet), and free verse, finding rhythm through repetition of words, syntactic patterns, and parallelism of ideas.