Miguel Hernandez: Poetry Between Tradition and Modernity
Miguel Hernandez’s life was marked by a strong contrast between tradition and modernity, as reflected in his poetry and personal circumstances.
Early Life and Traditional Influences
During his childhood, Miguel Hernandez attended the schools of Hail Mary in his hometown, Orihuela. This, together with his work as a pastor, endowed him with strong traditional cultural baggage. The pastoral life of his childhood and the religious education he received were the focus of his early works, including some
Read MoreSpanish Modernism and the Generation of ’98: A Literary Analysis
The Rejection of Reality in Modernist Literature
The rejection of reality led the authors to show their intimate feelings. Poets of melancholy and sadness, they turned to exotic worlds and distant times, to idealized worlds. Their literary language led to a revolution: the lexicon is very rich, with sound sensory adjectives (appealing to all senses) and a cult of metrics. Phonic resources and internal rhythms, as well as parallels and anaphora, favor the musicality of the texts. Synesthesia (attributing
Read MoreBlas de Otero’s Poetry: Spain, Memory, and Social Change
The poem “Rain / Away / Die” is part of Blas de Otero’s work “About Spain,” which concludes his social poetry phase. It focuses on the geographical space of Spain during his time.
Themes and Structure
The work originates from the poet’s personal feelings and shared experiences. It is thematically structured into five parts: The Forced Word, Songs, Geography, Common History, and Truth. Formal aspects are also significant. Traditional barriers between metric and free verse almost disappear, and the
Read MoreAvant-Garde Movements & Generation of ’27: Key Features
The Avant-Garde: An Overview
1 – What are the avant-garde?
The avant-garde encompasses a collection of literary and artistic movements that developed in Europe and America during the first third of the twentieth century.
2 – What was the most important feature of the avant-garde?
The most important feature is a break not only with prior art and literature, but with all accidental aesthetic tradition.
3 – Common features of the avant-garde:
There are four:
- Antirealism: a break with the idea of art and literature
Tarraco: Roman City’s Rise, Fall, and Transformation
Tarraco: A Roman City
Tarraco, now Tarragona, began as a Carthaginian camp during the Second Punic War (218 BC). Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio established it to reinforce Roman control from Empúries to the Ebro River. After the war, Tarraco became a key military base, strategically located near the Ebro port and the Balearic Islands, with connections to Italy and the Castilian plateau. This attracted traders from Italy.
In the second half of the 1st century BC, it gained official status as Colonia Iulia
Read MoreCatalan Literature: 14th and 15th Century Prose and Poetry
Religious and Moralizing Prose of the 14th Century
In the 14th century, the Church entered a deep crisis. The work of many authors was an attempt to overcome this crisis and restore the battered figure of papal prestige. Three major Catalan authors stand out:
- Francesc Eiximenis (Lo Crestià, a 13-book encyclopedia of which only four survive, expounding on Christian dogma and morality).
- Vincent Ferrer (author of numerous sermons).
- Anselm Turmeda, a Catalan who converted to Islam (Disputa de l’ase, a