The Generation of ’27: Spanish Literary Avant-Garde
The Generation of ’27: A Centenary Commemoration
This year, we gather to commemorate the centenary of Góngora, a poet admired by all. This meeting takes place at the student residence, where some of the poets lived and where they met avant-garde figures like Juan Ramón Jiménez, who headed the residence for several years.
Aesthetics of the Generation of ’27
All sought to be innovators and shared some common features:
- They valued the Spanish literary tradition and did not break with it as radically as some avant-garde movements.
- They admired the classics.
- They were inspired by traditional and folk poetry.
- They did not despise immediately preceding poets like Bécquer or Rubén Darío, but preferred a more sober style than the modernists. Despite this, they continued to seek beauty.
- They aimed to end the flight from reality through surrealism, often expressed through hallucinations, dreams, and illogical images to create a sense of unreality.
- They continued metric experiments of the modernists (new verses, original combinations, free verse…) without forgetting traditional verses like the ballad.
Poetic Career Trajectory
One can identify a path with three stages common to all:
- Until 1927: They shared the quest for pure and dehumanized poetry. At this stage, they were strongly influenced by Juan Ramón Jiménez and the early avant-garde (ultraism and creationism).
- Towards the end of the 1930s: Surrealism opposed bursts of pure poetry, rehumanizing poetry and filling it with feelings. More or less all were committed in favor of the Republic at the beginning of the period.
- At the end of the war: The group dispersed. Lorca was murdered, and all but Gerardo Diego, Vicente Aleixandre, and Dámaso Alonso went into exile, where they wrote poetry full of sorrow and nostalgia. Those who remained in Spain wrote poetry of existential anguish.
Key Figures of the Generation of ’27
Pedro Salinas
Among his works, La voz a ti debida stands out, contemplative, clear, and confident. In his poetry, he explores human reality through reflection on the feeling of love.
Jorge Guillén
Guillén’s poetry celebrates the joy of life and presents the world as perfect, believing that life is worth living and that we must fight to heal injustices and human misfortunes. His books include Cántico and Homenaje.
Rafael Alberti
His first book, Marinero en tierra, won the National Prize for Literature, but perhaps his most important work is Sobre los ángeles, a sad and touching book that incorporates super-realistic trends of the moment. La arboleda perdida is his memoir.
Federico García Lorca
In his work, Lorca explores fundamental questions for humanity: love, desire, fertility, death, time, etc. The most intense surrealism appears in A Poet in New York, where he criticizes modern materialism and the mechanized and dehumanizing life of cities like New York. He also wrote songs and Gypsy Ballads. He also excelled as a playwright with works such as Mariana Pineda, Doña Rosita the Spinster, and tragedies like Blood Wedding, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Yerma.
Gerardo Diego
Diego began in the traditional and simple style with a strong modernist influence, but at the same time, he was already experimenting with the avant-garde creationist style. In his work, we find varied guidance: love in Romance de la novia, humor in Carmen jubilar, civil morality, landscape in Soria, bullfighting in El Cordobés, and musical pieces like Preludio, Aria y Coda de Gabriel Fauré.
Vicente Aleixandre
His poetry revolves around three themes: love, nature, and death. Among his works, we can highlight: Ámbito, Espadas como labios, and La destrucción o el amor. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Luis Cernuda
The outstanding feature of his poetry is the identification between life and work. His books of poems highlight reality and desire, forbidden pleasures, and Donde habite el olvido.