Galician Poetry: Late 20th and Early 21st Century Trends
Galician Poetry of the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries
The death of Franco in 1975 and the arrival of democracy brought with it a series of legislative changes. These changes established its own administrative structure, rights, and fundamental freedoms, and also affected our language. Three basic texts were: the Constitution (1978), the Statute of Autonomy (1981), and the Law of Linguistic Normalization (1983). In addition, there were important social transformations at this stage, provided by our integration with the EU. These included better food and health, leading to stagnation and an aging population, and economic development, which caused a decrease in the impact of migration and the appearance of immigration as a social factor.
As to language, this was a period of enormous stress, normalized through institutional campaigns, the influence of RTVG, and a major editorial boost, with more than 1,000 titles per year just in literary works. The work which inaugurated this new stage in poetry was **Con pólvora e magnolias** (1976) by José Luis Méndez Ferrín. This work meant a change of direction in relation to the existentialism and social realism that dominated the landscape of lyrical Portugal during the dictatorship, with the subordination of form to the message that was conveyed.
Now, a plethora of themes and forms are produced, with a rediscovery of the aesthetic dimension of language, for example, through renewal or the search for new technical procedures. Moreover, the thematic possibilities of poetry are broadened, so that, in addition to content already installed in our tradition, such as love, death, or social claims, others emerge, such as eroticism, feminist claims, and thinking about poetry itself. Other remarkable aspects are the combination of tradition and modernity, as well as the general taste for culturalism; that is, the poems include all sorts of cultural references: literature, cinema, music, etc.
Poetic Collectives
One of the most remarkable phenomena of this phase was the appearance in the seventies of poetic collectives or groups, such as *Rompente*, in Vigo, or *Cravo Fondo* in Santiago. The first group included Antón Reixa, Alberto Avendaño, Manuel Romón, and Alfonso Pexegueiro. They published manifestos and community books, such as *Silabario da turbina* by Manuel Antonio. The *Cravo Fondo* collective included, among others, Ramiro Fonte.
Generation of ’80
Among the poets who stood out in this stage were, for example, Claudio Rodríguez Fer (*Poemas de amor sen morte*), Ramiro Fonte (*As cidades do nada*), Pilar Pallarés (*Entre lusco e fusco*), Miguel Anxo Fernán-Vello (*Seivas de amor e tránsito*), and José Mª Álvarez Cáccamo (*Praia das furnas*), who formed the so-called Generation of ’80.
Generation of ’90
In the 1990s came new literary prizes and new collections of poetry, as well as collective poetry festivals and concerts. These factors, along with schooling and university in Portugal for many young people, led to the emergence of a new generation of poets, the Generation of ’90. This group is comprised of authors such as Miro Villar, Olga Novo, Marta Dacosta, Ana Romaní, Yolanda Castaño, Fran Alonso, and Emma Couceiro. These authors tend to show a preference for a more direct expression, rejecting the excessive culturalism of the previous generation. Moreover, there is a certain revival of social issues, now turned to current fashions and ways of expressing commitment: environmentalism, pacifism, feminism, etc. Thus, it is important to note the development of outstanding poetic creation with a feminine, feminist discourse, as many of the principal authors are women.