Spanish Poetry After 1936: Key Movements and Influences

Spanish Poetry After 1936: Key Movements

Miguel Hernández: War Poetry & Transition

Miguel Hernández's poetry, inspired by the poets of the Generation of '27, represents a transition and significant influence in war poetry. The author reflects the experience of war and its hardships, which deeply moved him. His poetry employs few clever tricks, focusing instead on metaphor and symbolism. Thus, the poet's procedures and feelings are inseparable.

Rooted Poetry: Optimism and Tradition

The poets of this trend were creative youth themselves. They grouped around the journal Garcilaso. They exhibit great optimism, clarity, and order in their poetry, sharing a coherent, orderly, and calm worldview, free from chaos and distress. They live in the contemplation of unmoved beauty. They treat traditional subjects (landscapes, love, beautiful things) and religion. Some poets include:

• Luis Rosales
• Leopoldo Panero
• J. Grace Nieto

Uprooted Poetry: Anguish and Existentialism

They are far from the harmony and serenity of the above. They are possessed by a dramatic distress. They are grouped around the journal Cattail. Their poetry adopts a tragic tone, facing a chaotic world. This poetry is full of suffering and anguish stemming from that chaos. The main issue is concern for humanity. The style is rougher, more straightforward, with fewer aesthetic concerns. These poets are in contact with existentialism and will lead to social poetry. Poets:

• Dámaso Alonso
• Eugenio G. de Nora
• Blas de Otero

Social Poetry: A Tool for Transformation

Coinciding with the movement of the novel, poetry takes a new stance on societal problems, becoming a tool to transform the world. Political and social objectives dominate over aesthetic ones. Themes include Spain, social injustice, and the world of work. The language is clear, intentionally prosaic, and colloquial in tone. Poets:

• Blas de Otero
• Gabriel Celaya
• Eugenio de Nora

Group of 50: Personal Experience & Intimacy

They do not reject social poetry but aim to boost the individual being beyond it. They do not intend to transform society and therefore lose some of the ideological component of poetry. It is a poetry of personal experience rather than realism. Subjects return to the intimate (nostalgia, family, love, ...). Poets seek a more refined and concentrated style, with greater rigor in their poetic work, using a more personal, warm, and cordial language. Poets:

• José María Valverde
• J. Gil de Biedma
• J. A. Goytisolo

The Last Things: New Sensibility & Experimentation

The importance of this trend lies in its break with traditional aesthetics. Because poets are born after the war, a new sensibility emerges. They are poets of great culture and international influences. They deal with social issues and personal tones, sometimes frivolous. They are mavericks with reality and re-examine poetic aesthetics. They connect with surrealism and use various experimental procedures (line-break and punctuation). The goal of these poets is the renewal of poetic language.