The Generation of ’27: Key Authors, Aesthetics, and Stages

Posted on Nov 8, 2025 in Latin

The Generation of ’27: Spanish Literary Movement

Under this name are grouped a number of writers who combined the Spanish literary tradition (songbooks and poets of the Golden Age) with new avant-garde trends. The reference date was 1927, marking the three hundredth anniversary of the death of Góngora, a time used to re-evaluate the Baroque poet.

The most important authors in this group were: Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Vicente Aleixandre, Federico García Lorca, Dámaso Alonso, Luis Cernuda, Rafael Alberti, Emilio Prados, and Manuel Altolaguirre. Miguel Hernández is considered a follower of the Generation of ’27 because, although his membership might correspond to the Generation of ’36, his aesthetics, ideology, and life align him with the last members of the Generation of ’27.

Key Characteristics and Context

  • Close birth dates among members.
  • Góngora served as a central reference figure.
  • Strong friendship among members.
  • Common meeting places, such as the Student Residence, where they met Dalí and Buñuel.
  • Collaboration in publications such as Revista de Occidente and La Gaceta Literaria.
  • Gerardo Diego included them all in an Anthology.

Aesthetic Tastes and Influences

  • Similar aesthetic tastes, valuing aesthetic purity and human nature.
  • A mix of religious and popular literary influences, inspired by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Gómez de la Serna, Unamuno, Machado, Rubén Darío, Bécquer, Góngora, Manrique, Garcilaso de la Vega, San Juan de la Cruz, and Quevedo.
  • Special interest in popular culture, adopting traditions and expressions from the ballad, songbooks, and songs, combining this with the idea of renewal and modernity.
  • Poetic renewal, seeking a special vocabulary, usage, and the reinvention of the metaphor.
  • Development of free verse and recovery of classic rhyme schemes.
  • Influence of the **vanguard** (avant-garde), approaching foreign writers and European trends of the time, especially the **Surrealist** stream.

Central Themes

  • The city: The idea of progress in new inventions and transportation; symbols include New York and Moscow.
  • Nature: Bringing it closer to the city and the everyday world.
  • Love: Linked to the idea of human nature and the individual.
  • Social engagement: Social issues proliferated during and after the Civil War.

Evolutionary Stages

  1. Initial (until 1929): The authors balanced the influences of popular and traditional poetry with admiration for the classics; cultivated pure poetry in the line of Juan Ramón Jiménez.
  2. Before the Civil War: Greatly influenced by Surrealism, mainly incorporating unique images, metaphors, and the unconscious.
  3. After the Civil War: The war resulted in the disappearance of the Generation of ’27, either through exile (where they wrote about their longing for Spain) or death (Lorca), leading to poetry focused on existential anguish.

Key Authors and Works

Pedro Salinas

Works include: Presagios, Seguro azar, La voz a ti debida, Razón de amor, and El contemplado. His style is characterized by the search for the essence of life and formal beauty.

Jorge Guillén

His major work is characterized by a highly developed form of expression.

Gerardo Diego

Highlights Versos humanos.

Vicente Aleixandre

His world view is based on love, nature, and death. In his three stages, the most important is the first, which highlights Espadas como labios (Swords and lips) that addresses the pervasive theme of love that drags man to his destiny, along with Destrucción o el amor (Destruction or Love) and Sombra del paraíso (Shadow of paradise).

Rafael Alberti

  • Popular Poetry: Marinero en tierra
  • Surrealist Poetry: Sobre los ángeles
  • Social and War Poetry: El poeta en la calle
  • Poetry in Exile: Retornos de lo vivo lejano

Federico García Lorca

Works include: Libro de poemas (Book of poems), Canciones (Songs), Poema del cante jondo (Poems of Cante Flamenco), Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads), Poeta en Nueva York (Poet in New York), and Diván del Tamarit.

Luis Cernuda

Works include: Donde habite el olvido and the collection of poems La realidad y el deseo (Reality and Desire).

Miguel Hernández

Works include: Perito en lunas (Proficient in Moons) and El rayo que no cesa (The Unceasing Ray), which contains the Elegía a Ramón Sijé.