The Vitalism of Miguel Hernández: Life, Death, and Poetic Intensity

The Poetic Worldview of Miguel Hernández

If anything characterizes the poetry of Miguel Hernández, it is vitalism. In his poems are his life, blood, passion, war, and love.

He introduces the reader to all its unbridled intensity. The worldview of Miguel Hernández does not separate life from death, but rather sees death as just another name for the poetic world he inhabits. The world of Miguel Hernández can be specified in this formula of elements in mutual correspondence:

All of his lyrical work revolves around the mysteries of life, generation, and death. There is a process in his poetry by which life moves from being a mere excuse for elaborate poetry to becoming the central issue, almost eliminating literary development. In Cancionero y romancero de ausencias, life and death take on absolute significance through brief, simple, and direct speech.

Early Works and Inner Life

In Perito en lunas, MH takes the external field—the elements and everyday life of the shepherd—as poetic material. However, the process takes him inward, drifting into his own inner life, his pain, his love, his life, and his death, all linked to emotion.

Tragedy and the Unceasing Lightning

Starting with El rayo que no cesa (The Lightning That Never Stops), life becomes the great problem that overwhelms and shakes the poet. In this book, the relationship between life and death is expressed through the feeling of tragedy.

Life, in its intensity, becomes loving and threatening death. Thus, the tragic tone that characterizes the work is perfectly symbolized by the loving bull (Toro). The main protagonist of this book is the poetic "I," so the discussion of his friend's death also focuses on the poet's own feelings.

War, Heroism, and Cosmic Vision

With Viento del pueblo (Wind of the People), life continues to be central. MH finds heroic death, which is a natural assumption for the hero. What is most prominent in this life-death vision is the configuration of the cosmic and natural world in MH's design. The body of García Lorca becomes fertilizer. The death of the poet is not indifferent; the connection to the world makes everything narrow and vitalism move. The vitalism of MH, combined with the war, converts poetry into a vital and elementary matter.

In El hombre acecha (Man Lurking), the previous optimistic and heroic vitalism gives way to pessimism about death following the defeat of the war. The feeling of being so close to death separates man from nature.

Absence and Transformation in Prison

In Cancionero y romancero de ausencias, we see the vitality of poetry merge. When the war ended, and while in prison, MH uses poetry as the medium in which life is easily transformed into words, simply expressing his feelings.

The proximity of women is expressed without drama. Love overcomes death, passing through the child and the carnal in the cycle of life.