Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas (22 October 1898 – 25 January 1990) was a Spanish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

. Though a member of the

Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 ( es, Generación del 27) was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. ...

, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards.

Early life and education

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on 22 October 1898, Alonso studied

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

and

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

before undertaking research at Madrid's Centro de Estudios Históricos. An enthusiastic participant in the cultural and literary life at the famous

Residencia de estudiantes The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. The Residence was founded to provide accommodation for students along the lines of classic colleges at Bologna, Salamanca, Cambridge ...

(which at this time counted among its residents

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

, amongst others), Alonso also wrote for the literary magazines ''Revista de Occidente'' ('Western Review') and ''Los Cuatro Vientos'' ('The Four Winds').

Academic career

Alonso was to become an academic of great renown: he taught Spanish language and literature at several foreign universities, including the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and took up a chair at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

between 1933 and 1939 before moving to the University of Madrid. He was elected to the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

in 1945 and served as its director between 1968 and 1982, when he was named director emeritus.

Literary career

Alonso's literary career can essentially be split into two convenient blocks. As a poet his early work (such as 1921's ''Poemas puros; Poemillas de la ciudad'' and 1925's ''El viento y el verso'') is widely considered inferior to that of his fellow poets in the Generation of '27, and he himself acknowledged his limitations by referring to himself as a 'poeta de rachas' or 'part-time poet'. His mature work, however, particularly ''Hijos de la ira'' ('Children of Wrath', 1944, 2nd ed. 1946), is recognised as fundamental in the literature of the post-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

years. Alonso's later poetry is also full of agnostic anguish—of a man in search of God, yet fearful of the implications were this God not to exist. As a literary critic Alonso's impact was substantial; in particular he is credited with revolutionizing the study of Spanish

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

poetry, particularly the work of Góngora, and his critical work was praised for its intellectual rigour. Highlights include ''Poesía de San Juan de la Cruz'' (1942), ''Poesía española: Ensayo de métodos y límites estilísticos'' (1950) and ''Estudios y ensayos gongorinos'' (1955).

Awards and Honors

Alonso was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1962. In 1978, he was awarded the

Premio Cervantes The Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( es, Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. History The prize was established in 1975 ...

, the Spanish literary world's highest honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Damaso 1898 births 1990 deaths People from Madrid Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish philologists Premio Cervantes winners Members of the Mexican Academy of Language Generation of '27 Complutense University of Madrid alumni Burials at Cementerio de la Almudena Spanish male poets 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish male writers 20th-century philologists Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Members of the American Philosophical Society

Early life and education

Academic career

Literary career

Awards and Honors

See also

References