Jorge Guillén
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Jorge Guillén Álvarez (; 18 January 18936 February 1984) 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 writte ...
, 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. ...
, a university teacher, a scholar and a literary critic. In 1957-1958, he delivered the
Charles Eliot Norton lectures The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard University was established in 1925 as an annual lectureship in "poetry in the broadest sense" and named for the university's former professor of fine arts. Distinguished creative figures ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, which were published in 1961 under the title ''Language and Poetry: Some Poets of Spain''. The final lecture was a tribute to his colleagues in the Generation of '27. In 1983, he was named Hijo Predilecto de Andalucía. He was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
four times.


Biography

Jorge Guillén was born in
Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...
where he spent his childhood and adolescence. From 1909 to 1911 he lived in Switzerland. He studied at the universities of Madrid – lodging in the
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 ...
– and
Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
, where he took his ''licenciatura'' in philosophy in 1913.Connell p 168 His life paralleled that of his friend
Pedro Salinas Pedro Salinas y Serrano (27 November 1891 – 4 December 1951) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27, as well as a university teacher, scholar and literary critic. In 1937, he delivered the Turnbull lectures at Johns Hopkins ...
, whom he succeeded as a
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
''lector'' at the
Collège de Sorbonne The College of Sorbonne (french: Collège de Sorbonne) was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 (confirmed in 1257) by Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), after whom it was named. With the rest of the Paris colleges, ...
in the
University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...
from 1917 to 1923. While in Paris, he met and, in 1921, married Germaine Cahen. They had two children, a son Claudio born in 1924 who became a noted critic and scholar of comparative literature, and a daughter Teresa who married the Harvard professor Stephen Gilman. He took his doctorate at the University of Madrid in 1924 with a dissertation on Góngora's notoriously difficult and, at that time, neglected long poem Polifemo.Havard p 18 This was also the period when his first poems were starting to be published in ''España'' and ''La pluma''.Connell p 168 He was appointed to the chair of Spanish Literature at the
University of Murcia The University of Murcia ( es, Universidad de Murcia) is the main university in Murcia, Spain. With 38,000 students, it is the largest university in the Región de Murcia. The University of Murcia is the third oldest university in Spain, after t ...
from 1925 to 1929, where, with Juan Guerrero Ruiz and José Ballester Nicolás, he founded and edited a literary magazine called ''Verso y Prosa''. He continued to visit the Residencia de Estudiantes although his academic responsibilities limited his attendance to vacations. This allowed him to make the acquaintance of the younger members of the Generation – such as
Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numerou ...
and
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 ...
. He became a regular correspondent of the latter and, on the occasion of a visit by Lorca to the Arts Club of Valladolid in April 1926, Guillén delivered an introduction to a poetry reading which was a considered and sympathetic appraisal of a man whom he considered to be already a poetic genius, although he had only published one collection.Gibson p 162 He also participated in the Tercentenary celebrations in honour of Góngora. The volume of ''Octavas'' that he was supposed to edit, however, was never completed but he did give a reading of some of his own poems at an event in Seville with great success.Alberti p 254 He became the ''lector'' at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
from 1929 to 1931, and was appointed to a professorship at the
University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, it has a present student body of over 69.200, and is one of the top-ranked universi ...
in 1932. On 8 March 1933, he was present at the premiere in Madrid of García Lorca's play ''Bodas de sangre''.Gibson p348 In August 1933, he was able to attend performances at the Magdalena Palace in Santander by the travelling theatre company ''La Barraca'' that Lorca led.Gibson p359 On 12 July 1936 he was present at a party in Madrid that took place just before García Lorca departed to Granada for the last time before his murder. It was there that Lorca read his new play ''La Casa de Bernarda Alba'' for the last time.Gibson p442 On the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
in July 1936 he was back in Valladolid and was briefly imprisoned in Pamplona for political reasons.Havard p 67 He returned to his post in Seville and continued there until July 1938, when he decided to go into exile in the USA together with his wife and two teenage children. Apart from the turmoil in Spain itself, the fact that his wife was Jewish might have caused him concern.Havard p 67 He joined Salinas at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
and stayed there as the Professor of Spanish from 1941 to his retirement in 1957. He retired to
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. In 1958 in Florence he married Irene Mochi-Sismondi, his first wife having died in 1947. He continued to give lectures at Harvard, Princeton and Puerto Rico, and for a spell was Mellon Professor of Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh, until he broke his hip in a fall in 1970. In 1976 he moved to the city of
Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...
. In 1976, he was awarded the
Miguel de Cervantes Prize 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 most prestigious prize for Spanish-language writers, and in 1977 the Premio Internacional Alfonso Reyes. He died in Málaga in 1984, aged 91 and was buried there in the Anglican Cemetery of Saint George.


Analysis of his work


Cántico


1928 edition

Although a glimpse at the collected poems of Guillén suggests that he was a prolific poet, he was slow to get started. He only seems to have started writing poems when he was in Paris in 1919 when he was already 25. Over the next 10 years he published quite frequently in the small magazines of the day and began to build a name for himself amongst the members of his generation, including
Dámaso Alonso Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas (22 October 1898 – 25 January 1990) was a Spanish poet, philologist and literary critic. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards. Early life and ed ...
and Federico García Lorca.Havard p 11 As early as 1923 Pedro Salinas urged him to publish a collection but he would not be hurried. Two of his key character traits are revealed by this long gestation period: his quest for perfection and an innate reserve. He was in fact the last of the major figures of the generation to gather together a collection, the first instalment of ''Cántico''- at this stage a collection of 75 poems – which was published by the ''Revista de Occidente'' (a journal edited by
Ortega y Gasset Ortega is a Spanish surname. A baptismal record in 1570 records a ''de Ortega'' "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain. The toponym derives from Latin ''urtica'', meaning "nettle". Some of the Ortega spel ...
) in 1928. He was by this time 35. Correspondence with García Lorca shows just how painstaking he was, spending months polishing, revising and correcting poems that he had already written and published, to a point where they were practically unrecognisable from the way they had first appeared in public.Havard p 11 Clarity and coherence were his major objectives but he also seemed to wish to avoid obvious self-revelation and any hint of sentimentality. Lorca's reaction in a postcard to Guillén written on 27 December 1928 captures the elements that dominate most critical responses to the latter's poetry: an opposition between the jubilant, physical celebration of reality that his poems try to capture and, on the other hand, its extreme technical purity, which can seem cold and overly intellectual.Havard p 9 During his time in Paris, Guillén had come under the influence of
Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...
. Valéry was closely associated with the ideal of pure poetry and Guillén later recalled him saying that "Pure poetry is what is left after the elimination of everything that is not poetry."Havard p 18 He was also inspired by Valéry's belief that a poet should only write one book – ''Un, qui est le bon et le seul de son être'' - a remark that makes sense of Guillén's career, both of the accretive process that led ultimately to the finished ''Cántico'', and also of the impulse that led him to combine all his published poetry into one collection ''Aire nuestro'' in 1968. He also translated four of Valéry's poems, including the celebrated "Le Cimetière marin," into Spanish. However, in ''Language and Poetry'', he also recorded a debt to the poetic rigour of Góngora, showing that he could trace this concern for stylistic purity back much further than Valéry. Even in his earliest poems, such as "Gran silencio", the language is impersonal; the poet does not make any appearance in the poem. His poems offer an ecstatic reaction to the geometrical forms or the objects they describe but this is a generic reaction not Guillén's personal response. He is like an aesthetician or philosopher presenting things for the reader's edification. In "La salida", the only verbs that occur are infinitives. This means that what is described has no specific agent or time, again helping Guillén to become anonymous and guard against sentimentality.Havard p 14 Like Valéry, he also writes poems that reflect upon poetry itself, for example "El ruiseñor" and "La rosa", both written in Guillén's favourite form, the ''décima'', typically a stanza of 10 octosyllabic lines rhyming ABBAACCDDC, although he used many variations, such as a rhyme scheme borrowed from the French ''dizain'', ABABCCDEED. However, although Valéry,
read and reread with great devotion by the Castilian poet, was a model of exemplary elevation of subject matter and of exemplary rigor of style,Guillen L and P p 208
Guillén concludes by saying that ''Cántico''
can be defined negatively as the antithesis of Valéry's Charmes.Guillen L and P p 208
Guillén stresses a ''determination to treat poetry as creation, a poem as a world in quintessence.''Guillen L and P p 208 For Valéry, poetry is a process of self-discovery, an exercise in consciousness, working out what it means to be an individual poet exploring reality. Guillén accepts reality for what it is and he wants to show what he has in common with other humans in the timeless experience of being.Havard p 25 It is a phenomenology that derives from
Ortega y Gasset Ortega is a Spanish surname. A baptismal record in 1570 records a ''de Ortega'' "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain. The toponym derives from Latin ''urtica'', meaning "nettle". Some of the Ortega spel ...
as exemplified in his work ''Meditaciones del Quijote''.


1936 edition

The next edition of ''Cántico'' contained 125 poems. It was published by ''Cruz y Raya'' – a journal edited by
José Bergamín José Bergamín Gutiérrez (Madrid, 1895 – Hondarribia, 28 August 1983) was a Spanish writer, essayist, poet, and playwright. His father served as president of the canton of Málaga; his mother was a Catholic. Bergamín was influenced by bot ...
– in 1936. While many members of his generation had suffered some form of crisis towards the end of the 1920s – amongst them Alberti, Garcia Lorca, Aleixandre, Cernuda – there were no signs of personal upheaval or radical change in Guillén's approach to poetry. Instead there is a deepening of the approach to reality contained in the first edition. Reality is potentially perfect. All it requires is the active participation of an onlooker to raise it to its full potencyHavard p 39 as explained by Ortega in the ''Meditaciones''. There is stylistic development as well in that some of the new poems are lengthy; "Salvación de la primavera" amounts to 55 quatrains (220 lines) and "Más allá", which eventually became the very first book in the collection, consists of 50 quatrains. There are also more medium-length poems of around 40-50 lines, such as "Viento saltado" and "El desterrado", most of which were written or started during Guillén's period of residence at Oxford. The collection is grouped into 5 sections, frequently book-ended by these longer poems, so that it has a more formally pleasing shape. The versification is also more varied; there are many more ''romances'' (octosyllabic lines with assonance in the even-numbered lines); Guillén starts to write sonnets; he introduces longer lines and also the assonantal quatrains of the longer poems. The longer poems are inevitably less abstract and impersonal but they do not show any real break with his approach to poetry. In place of the concentrated focus on one object or small group of objects, the longer poems have scope for a more comprehensive assessment of exterior reality. Instead of flashes of ecstasy, the pursuit of plenitude and essence is an ongoing quest. The poetry continues to avoid anecdotal narrative but the greater circumstantial and temporal definition of the longer poems gives this edition an enhanced awareness of human contact with the real world.Havard p 41 There is in addition a far more detailed examination of big themes such as love – "Salvación de la primavera" – and death – "Muerte a lo lejos" – although the poet takes a very detached view of death. It will happen one day and until then, he can enjoy life in the present. Some of the new poems have epigraphs from
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
, such as "El desterrado". He might have come across Whitman during his time in France but his interest seems to have been consolidated during his Oxford period.Havard p 42 There are overlaps between Whitman's poetry and the thinking of Ortega as enshrined in his famous formula ''Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia'' from the ''Meditaciones'', in other words ''I am the sum of my individual self and the things that surround me/that I perceive''. This is perhaps explained most fully in "Viento saltado", which he began in Oxford in 1931.Havard p 51 It is a clear example of one of Guillén's stylistic characteristics, the use of exclamations. Everything in the poem is an exclamation as he displays an almost childlike delight at being buffeted by a blustery wind.


1945 edition

A lot happened in Guillén's life before he published the next edition of ''Cántico'' in Mexico in 1945. By now the book had more than doubled in size, to 270 poems. A reader would expect events such as the mysterious death of his friend García Lorca, the Spanish Civil War, exile to the USA and the Second World War to have an effect on Guillén's poetry. Exile in particular seems to have hit him hard because he did not speak very good English and he remained very attached to his Spanish background.Havard p 68 But biographical references in his poems remain elusive. There is in this edition an increase in the number of poems that deal with pain and death. He also oscillates between extremes in a new and different way; some poems are stridently affirmative of his values while others are far more meditative and tranquil than hitherto. There are poems that deal with simple domestic pleasures, such as the home, family life, friendship and parenthood, which do not have any counterpart in the earlier editions. There are stylistic innovations. In ''Language and Poetry'', one of the lectures is about the prosaic language of the mediaeval poet
Gonzalo de Berceo Gonzalo de Berceo (ca. 1197 – before 1264) was a Castilian Spanish poet born in the Riojan village of Berceo, close to the major Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He is celebrated for his poems on religious subjects, written ...
, whom Guillén admired for his humility and faith. In the poem "Equilibrio", there is a plainness of syntax, compared with earlier poems, that seems to suggest that he is trying to emulate this. There are poems which suggest that Guillén feels that he is now living in an alien environment, such as "Vida urbana".Havard p 84 There is also the emergence of the theme of pain and suffering. Sometimes pain prevents the realization of plenitude, as in "Muchas gracias, adiós"; sometimes awareness of pain and death can help to remind the poet of the importance of fighting for life. Although there are very few autobiographical references in ''Cántico'', in this edition it is tempting to see references to the protracted illness and frequent hospital visits of his wife before her death in 1947, as well as the poet's own bouts of ill health. In "Su persona", he argues that loneliness is not to be defeated by turning to memories of shared joys, because they are merely phantasms. Instead, you have to face reality and find the good that exists there. In this edition, Guillén acknowledges that reality has a dark side but affirms that it can be resisted and must be resisted.Havard p 90


1950 the final edition

The completed version contained 334 poems and was published in Buenos Aires. Amongst the new poems are ten very long ones that exemplify Guillén's search for clarity and cohesion. "A vista de hombre", for example, was begun in a New York hotel and deals with a view of an unnamed metropolis from a skyscraper. It develops the poet's thoughts on his relationship with the mass of people living and working in this city until it closes with the poet retiring to his bed. Unlike García Lorca in ''Poeta en Nueva York'' or countless other poets, the city is not inhuman, cold, abstract. The emphasis is on the mass of humanity it holds.Havard p 93 The city is a mix of good and evil, man's heroic endeavours and barbarity – a reality that has to be embraced in totality even when you cannot understand it. The poet is both an isolated individual in a hotel room and a member of this society. Others of the new poems also echo this theme, showing that Guillén does not want to reject modern urban life but instead to find a way of incorporating it into his affirmative scheme. Although various poems evoke Murcia, Oxford and Manhattan, "Luz natal" contains the only place name in the whole of ''Cántico'', el cerro de San Cristóbal, a hill outside Valladolid which he visited in 1949 to see his sick father. It is a meditation on the significance of this place, from which he began his journey towards reality and from which he still takes his bearings. It adds a new dimension to Guillén's poetry – history. The protagonist is also a product of history and he has to come to terms with the good and the bad sides of his culture's history, just as he has to accept the good and bad of the reality that faces him.Havard p 106 In this final edition, Guillén completes his task of showing that human life is charged with structure and meaning which we need to explore in all its fullness.Havard p 118 A passage from ''Language and Poetry'' seems to sum up his poetics in this collection: :Reality is depicted in the poem, but not described in its external likeness. Reality, not realism. And feeling, without which there is no poetry, has no need of gesticulation. …..This restraint in the displaying of emotions retains their vehemence, and indeed doubles their intensity. But for ears that hear not, harmonies such as these are almost confused with silence. That is why some of these poets were tried and found wanting for their coldness, even though they were dedicated to declaring their enthusiasm for the world, their fervour for life, their love for love.Guillen L and P p 205 :


Clamor

It was seven years before Guillén published another collection of poems, ''Maremágnum'' in 1957. This was the start of his second portmanteau collection, ''Clamor''. The other two constituent parts were ''Que van a dar en la mar'' (a quotation from
Jorge Manrique Jorge Manrique (c. 1440 – 24 April 1479) was a major Castilian poet, whose main work, the ''Coplas por la muerte de su padre (Verses on the death of Don Rodrigo Manrique, his Father)'', is still read today. He was a supporter of the queen I ...
's ''Coplas por la muerte de su padre'') in 1960 and ''A la altura de las circunstancias'' in 1963. It is not clear when he started work on these collections. The long gap between the final edition of ''Cántico'' and the first volume of ''Clamor'' suggest that the bulk of the work was done in the 1950s especially in view of the number of poems that were added to the two later editions of ''Cántico''. This collection is almost the antithesis of ''Cántico''. The continued optimism and delight in life that the poet had shown despite the upheavals in his personal life and the turmoil of world events must have begun to seem an inadequate response. So there are poems such as "Los intranquilos" which use much simpler, less distanced language and convey a sense of unease, dissatisfaction, uncertainty. In this poem, the only escape from all this is into the oblivion offered by drink or the television.Connell p 171 In ''Cántico'', there were many poems about awakening and how wonderful it is to return into consciousness. In ''Clamor'', dawn brings a desire to sink back into sleep and find oblivion. "Del trascurso" compares with "Muerte a lo lejos" from ''Cántico'' and not just because both poems are sonnets. In the earlier poem, death was somewhere in the future and life was to be enjoyed. In the later poem, the poet looks back to his past where the good memories are. He then clings to the present but cannot avoid the sense of a future that is shrinking every day. In "Viviendo", the poet is in the city, walking in the twilight surrounded by the hum of traffic. The poet feels part of a machine that is slowly ticking away time. He reaches the realization that the individual can die without the machine either slowing or stopping, regardless of whether the individual has completed his part of the work of that machine. As time goes by, the sight of tables on a café terrace remind him that there is after all a human component to this machine. The conclusion that emerges is again resignation to the inevitability of death but there is no sense of consolation, merely an unconvincing stoicism of a man journeying from nothingness to nothingness.Connell p 172 It is a very different feel to "A vista de hombre". In "Modo paterno", lacking any definite faith in God or an afterlife, the poet tells himself that something of his will be saved and projected into the future by his children. This belief acts as a counterbalance to the sadness and pessimism of most of the collection.


Homenaje

It seems that this collection, although published in 1967, gathers together poems written between 1949–66, so it overlaps with the final stages of the writing of ''Cántico'' as well as with ''Clamor''. It contains much ''occasional'' poetry, recording Guillén's readings, his friends, places visited, favourite painters etc. It also contains translations of French, Italian, German, English and Portuguese poetry. However, there are also more personal reflections. "Al márgen de un Cántico", for example, shows his response to critics who had accused him of writing in abstractions – such as
Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of high ...
among others. "Historia inconclusa" recalls some of the writers who have meant most to him, including a subtle tribute to García Lorca. And there are also poems which show a new-found resignation or acceptance of life, free from the ambiguities and uncertainties of "Viviendo".Connell p 172 Guillén gave the title ''Aire nuestro'' to the compilation of his three great poetry books prior to 1968. He would later publish ''Y otros poemas'' (1973) and ''Final'' (1982).


Guillén and Salinas

These two poets have often been compared to each other.Morris To some extent this is because they were good friends and slightly older than most of the other leading members of their generation, as well as sharing similar career-paths, but they also seemed to share a similar approach to poetry. Their poems often have a rarefied quality and tend not to deal with "particulars", readily identifiable people and places. However, they did differ in many respects as exemplified by the titles they gave to their published lectures on Spanish poetry. At Johns Hopkins, Salinas published a collection called ''Reality and the Poet in Spanish Poetry'', whereas Guillén's Norton lectures were called ''Language and Poetry''. Both devoted single lectures to Góngora and
San Juan de la Cruz John of the Cross, OCD ( es, link=no, Juan de la Cruz; la, Ioannes a Cruce; born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and a Carmelite friar of converso origin. He is a major fig ...
and the comparisons between them are instructive. Salinas seems to want to show us the poetic reality behind or beyond appearances, to educate us into how to see whereas Guillén gives us an account of the thoughts and sense-impressions going through his own mind: the reader is a viewer of this process not a participant in it.Connell p 168
Vicente Aleixandre Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo (; 26 April 1898 – 14 December 1984) was a Spanish poet who was born in Seville. Aleixandre received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977 "for a creative poetic writing which illuminates ma ...
recalled visiting Salinas and finding him at his desk with his daughter on one knee and his son on the other and stretching out a hand clutching a pen to shake hands with his visitor. Although he was also devoted to his family, Guillén probably worked in a secluded study.


Poetic work

*''Cántico'' (75 poems), M., Revista de Occidente,
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
*''Cántico'' (125 poems), M., Cruz y Raya,
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
*''Cántico'' (270 poems), México, Litoral,
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...
*''Cántico'' (334 poems), Bs. As., Sudamericana, 1950 *''Huerto de Melibea'', M., Ínsula,
1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
*''Del amanecer y el despertar'', Valladolid,
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
*''Clamor. Maremagnun'', Bs. As., Sudamericana,
1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
*''Lugar de Lázaro'', Málaga, Col. A quien conmigo va,
1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
*''Clamor... Que van a dar en la mar'', Bs. As., Sudamericana,
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...
*''Historia Natural'', Palma de Mallorca, Papeles de Sons Armadans,
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...
*''Las tentaciones de Antonio'', Florencia/Santander, Graf. Hermanos Bedia, 1962 *''Según las horas'', Puerto Rico, Editorial Universitaria, 1962 *''Clamor. A la altura de las circunstancias'', Bs. As., Sudamericana,
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
*''Homenaje. Reunión de vidas'', Milán, All'Insegna del Pesce d'oro,
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
*''Aire nuestro: Cántico, Clamor, Homenaje'', Milán, All'Insegna del Pesce d'oro,
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...
*''Guirnalda civil'', Cambridge, Halty Eferguson,
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
*''Al margen'', M., Visor,
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
*''Y otros poemas'', Bs. As., Muchnik,
1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
*''Convivencia'', M., Turner,
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
*''Final'', B., Barral,
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
*''La expresión'', Ferrol, Sociedad de Cultura Valle-Inclán,
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
*''Horses in the Air and Other Poems'', 1999


Popular culture

*
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...
's Spanglish novel
Yo-Yo Boing! ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) is a postmodern novel in English, Spanish, and Spanglish by Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. The cross-genre work is a structural hybrid of poetry, political philosophy, musical, manifesto, treatise, memoir, and dra ...
(1998) features a debate about the creators versus the masters of
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and
Latin American poetry Latin American poetry is the poetry written by Latin American authors. Latin American poetry is often written in Spanish, but is also composed in Portuguese, Mapuche, Nahuatl, Quechua, Mazatec, Zapotec, Ladino, English, and Spanglish. The unific ...
. The debate discusses Jorge Guillén along with
Vicente Aleixandre Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo (; 26 April 1898 – 14 December 1984) was a Spanish poet who was born in Seville. Aleixandre received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977 "for a creative poetic writing which illuminates ma ...
,
Vicente Huidobro Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández (; January 10, 1893 – January 2, 1948) was a Chilean poet born to an aristocratic family. He promoted the avant-garde literary movement in Chile and was the creator and greatest exponent of the literary m ...
,
Luis Cernuda Luis Cernuda Bidón (September 21, 1902 – November 5, 1963) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. During the Spanish Civil War, in early 1938, he went to the UK to deliver some lectures and this became the start of an exile t ...
, Alberti,
Pedro Salinas Pedro Salinas y Serrano (27 November 1891 – 4 December 1951) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27, as well as a university teacher, scholar and literary critic. In 1937, he delivered the Turnbull lectures at Johns Hopkins ...
, as the great masters. *
Eduardo Chillida Eduardo Chillida Juantegui, or Eduardo Txillida Juantegi in Basque (10 January 1924 – 19 August 2002), was a Spanish Basque sculptor notable for his monumental abstract works. Early life and career Born in San Sebastián (Donostia) to Ped ...
created the monument entitled ''Homage to Jorge Guillén'', which stands outside National Sculpture Museum in Valladolid, Spain. * Luis Santiago Pardo created a monument called ''Jorge Guillén and Childhood'' in Poniente Gardens in 1998. * The Spanish government has issued postage stamps featuring his portraits in 1993.


See also

*
Miguel de Cervantes Prize 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 ...
*
Pedro Salinas Pedro Salinas y Serrano (27 November 1891 – 4 December 1951) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27, as well as a university teacher, scholar and literary critic. In 1937, he delivered the Turnbull lectures at Johns Hopkins ...
*
Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of high ...
*
Spanish poetry This article concerns poetry in Spain. Medieval Spain The Medieval period covers 400 years of different poetry texts and can be broken up into five categories. Primitive lyrics Since the findings of the Kharjas, which are mainly two, three, o ...


Notes


References

* * * * * *(Library of Congress Catalog Card Number) *


External links


The Jorge Guillén Foundation


{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillen, Jorge 1893 births 1984 deaths People from Valladolid Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United States Burials in the Province of Málaga University of Paris faculty University of Murcia faculty Wellesley College faculty Harvard University faculty Premio Cervantes winners Generation of '27 Spanish male poets 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish male writers