Basque Literature: From Traditional Ballads to Modernist Poetry
Lauaxeta (Stephen Urkiaga, 1905-1937)
Life
Born in Laukiz, Vizcaya, Lauaxeta studied high school in Durango and continued at Loyola. He connected with symbolism and modern trends through literature classes. His efforts then turned towards the Basque language. While working as a journalist in Gernika after the bombing, he was arrested by fascists and executed in Vitoria.
Works
Lauaxeta’s work was not limited to poetry. He also worked in journalism, essays, and plays, in addition to being involved in politics. However, poetry proved to be his most productive area.
He published two books of poems: Bide Barrijak (1931), considered one of the best expressions of the European modernist movement in Basque, and Arratsaldeko Sonetoak (1935), which shows the influence of Garcia Lorca and explores themes of love, death, and human responsibility.
A Critical Review
Lauaxeta’s poems, influenced by the Bizkaieraz Garbizaleen movement, can be difficult to understand at first glance. His rich language, modernist style, and use of synesthesia require careful and attentive reading.
In Bide Barrijak, he clearly acknowledges the need for Basque literature to be influenced by European literature. He states that “the poem is full and true reality.” Lauaxeta’s poetry is idealistic and symbolic.
Lauaxeta’s knowledge of Basque folk literature was limited due to his early death. The influence of Spanish krausismo is evident in his work from 1914, where he aims for didacticism.
His second book of poems, Arratsaldeko Sonetoak, is closer to the Spanish modernist poets and the Generation of 1927. The language in this work is more accessible than in his previous book. Romantic and epic poems, as well as narratives, occupy a significant space. While his first book is considered modernist in its romantic and poetic expression, the second one is seen as both modernist and neo-popularist.
Some of Lauaxeta’s poems have been set to music by Antton Valverde.
Orixe (Nicolas Ormaetxea, 1888-1961)
Life
Born in Orexa (Gipuzkoa), Orixe resided for a long time in Uitzi, Navarre. At 17, he joined the Jesuits at Xavier, where he studied classics and humanities. He left the Jesuits in 1923 and worked in Bilbao until 1931, heading the Basque language department with the help of Resurrección MarÃa de Azkue. He was also responsible for the Basque page in the newspaper Euzkadi from 1929 to 1931. Due to his support for the war, he had to live abroad. He died in 1954 in San Sebastian.
Works
Among his many works in various fields, two stand out:
- Euskaldunon Egunkari’a: A substantial work written at the request of an association. It was written during the war and wasn’t published until 1950. It includes a history of the Basque Country, presenting an underlying history of paradise or utopia.
- Barruko’ko Intxaurrak: A book of poems centered on internal themes. It is an intimate collection of poems with introverted or religious topics.
Among his other written works, Santa Cruz and Gurutze Gorrien Gerla are the most significant.
A Critical Review
Orixe had a deep knowledge of the Basque language, writing without excessive contamination from garbizalekeriak. Unlike Lauaxeta and Lizardi, he believed that the Basque language didn’t need external influences.
His work is not free from the influence of romanticism, particularly in its expression of feelings. He goes against radical materialism, embracing an idealistic-essentialist perspective. He saw the Basque Country’s idealism reflected in the great epic poems of Romanticism.
Century Narrative. Century Art
Introduction
While narrative prose existed, storytelling without paper, pencil, tape recorder, or video was very common. To facilitate the task of memorizing and reciting stories, storytellers used various resources such as repetition, parallelism, refrains, songs, and keywords.
Ballad
Features:
- Traditional stories organized with measured keywords.
- Can be epic (historical) or lyrical (including emotions).
- Bound by the life events of older generations.
- Most were collected in the 16th and 17th centuries.
- Some are fully known, others only partially.
- The same ballad may have more than one version, with dialectal variations.
The ballad Mutilik Ttipiena tells the story of a young boy abandoned at sea and the desperate crew of a ship who resort to cannibalism, killing and eating the captain. The ballad uses various techniques to describe the difficult situation:
- Numbers game.
- Passages highlighting despair.
- Realism through graphic descriptions.
- Fast-paced stylistic connections without explicit explanations.
Short words and a measured style are used. The ballad is a model of conciseness, rejecting unnecessary elements. There are no fillers, and the insertions serve as memory aids for the reciters.
The presence of rhyme in ballads is debated.
In Other Words
Short stories full of fantasy are another prominent characteristic of Basque literature, where animals and people often transform. These stories have a satirical and moral purpose, ending with lessons.
Storytellers use simple and understandable language for educational purposes. Basque storytellers work with both verse and prose, drawing inspiration from sources such as Aesop, Phaedrus, Iriarte, Samaniego, and Alava.
Juan Antonio Mogel (1745-1804)
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Antonio Mogel Vincent (1782-1854)
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