Gerardo Diego Cendoya (1896-1987) was a Spanish writer and poet who was part of the Generation of 27. His work was influenced by his friend Juan Ramón Jiménez, and was characterized by his inclination towards popular and avant-garde aspects.
The writer carried out his poetic work from two perspectives. The first was related to the relative and traditional, where the romance and the sonnets stood out; and secondly he dealt with absolutism, which referred to the meaning of poetic language itself, pure poetry, so to speak..
Gerardo Diego began his literary activity when he published, in 1918, Grandfather's box, work that belonged to the narrative genre, in the short story category. The writer also served as a professor, and was a tireless traveler in search of new experiences, knowledge and learning.
Article index
Gerardo Diego was born on October 3, 1896 in the city of Santander, Cantabria. His parents were Manuel Diego Barquín and Ángela Cendoya Uría. The writer was the youngest of seven children from this marriage. His father had three children from a previous relationship.
The poet's childhood was spent in his hometown, doing activities as a child, playing and learning. At the age of six he began to study singing, and made his first communion in the village church. He was characterized by being thin and tall, at times reserved and withdrawn.
Gerardo Diego attended his elementary and high school studies in Santander, was a diligent student and obtained good grades. From an early age he demonstrated his taste for reading. At the age of fourteen he had already begun to write, inspired by authors of the time.
When he got his bachelor's degree in 1913, he still wasn't sure which college degree to study. So, with the help and enthusiasm of his parents, he went to Madrid where his brother was already there. Some time later, he decided to study philosophy and letters at the University of Deusto..
He finished his degree and the title was awarded to him by the University of Madrid. From that moment he began his activity as a professor of Language and Literature in several houses of study in the country, such as the universities of Soria and Santander..
Gerardo Diego had to go to Salamanca on several occasions to take exams, because the University of Deusto was not authorized to do so. It was there that he fell in love with a young teacher, a friend of his sisters, who inspired him in one of his works..
The youth romance was short, however, it motivated the writer to dedicate many verses to it, and even one of his first works., Romance of the bride, 1920. Just as the name of the beloved was not known, the cause of the separation of that love loaded with letters and secret encounters was not known..
The first publication that Gerardo Diego made was in 1918 in The Montañés newspaper with a story titled "Grandfather's box." In addition, he began to collaborate in print media such as magazines Grail Y Castilian, and in others of avant-garde character such as Greece, Cervantes Y Reflector.
During the time he was in the city of Gijón working as a university professor, Diego made the decision to found Carmen Y Lola, two magazines with literary and cultural content. In addition, he became a faithful follower of Spanish avant-garde poetry..
The firm steps of the writer and poet in the ways of literature made him worthy of the National Prize for Literature in 1925. On the other hand, his permanent contact with members of the Generation of 27 made him produce Anthology, a poetic work that allowed many writers of this organization to be known.
On one of the poet's trips to Paris he met Germaine Marín, a young French student. They married in 1934, and she became his life partner and main and supporter. Fruit of love the marriage had six children.
In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War broke out, Gerardo Diego was in France, in the city of Sentaraille, on vacation with his wife. There he remained until 1937. He did not have the need to leave the country unlike many colleagues; he sympathized with the rebels.
Upon returning to Spain, he resumed his work as a professor, but this time as a professor at the Beatriz Galindo Institute in Madrid. The war and postwar period did not prevent him from continuing to write. In 1940 it came to light Angels of Compostela, and a year later Real lark.
The writer and poet was always active in his work, achieved recognition and prestige. In 1947 he held a place in the Royal Spanish Academy, in addition he won several awards, including the Cervantes, in 1979. He died on July 8, 1987 in Madrid.
Gerardo Diego's poetic work was characterized by having two forms or variants. The first was related to traditional elements where the sonnet, the tenth and romance stood out as styles of verses. On the other hand, the second had to do with the innovation of the avant-garde current.
The language he used was clear and simple, with a constant use of symbols and metaphors. In many of his verses he left aside punctuation marks, and also devoted himself to developing varied themes such as music, love, art, nature and religion..
Within his style the writer also developed relative and absolute poetry. Relative poetry was the one he raised from the need to express the circumstances as they were; applied it to social, religious, artistic and loving arguments.
In the case of absolute poetry, he left reality in second order to connect with the creative, that is, with what came out of himself. The works Evasion, Foam Manual Y Poems on purpose, just to mention a few.
Below are some of Gerardo Diego's outstanding quotes or phrases as a sample of his philosophical thought and poetic sensitivity:
- "My thoughts are mountains, seas, jungles, blocks of blinding salt, slow flowers".
- "Poetry is the incorruptible language".
- "Your figure was the flower of a dreamy nimbus".
- "Raise your eyes towards me, your slow eyes, and close them little by little with me inside".
- “I am not responsible for being attracted to the countryside and the city, tradition and the future simultaneously; that I love the new art and be ecstatic about the old one; that the rhetoric made makes me crazy, and I take the whim of making it again -new- for my private and non-transferable use ".
- "At the moment of truth, which is to search for oneself in the objective, one forgets everything and prepares to be faithful only to his own sincerity".
- "Drawn I carry in my blood and my body, body and blood of my country".
- "If you are the rosebush and the roses, the night of my verse and the stars, to whom will I dedicate this brief sky, this bush, this fountain, this wakefulness?".
- "The guitar is a well with wind instead of water".
- "And through your eyes the storm and the blizzard and the fear of fairies".
The following are the most important works of Gerardo Diego's abundant literature:
- The romance of the bride (1920).
- Picture. Poems (1918-1921).
- Soria. Gallery of prints and effusions (1923).
- Foam manual (1924).
- Human verses (1925, work with which he won the National Prize for Literature).
- Way of the Cross (1931).
- Fable of Equis and Zeda (1932).
- Poems on purpose (1932).
- Angels of Compostela (1940).
- Real lark (1941).
- Anthology (1941).
- Romances (1918-1941).
- Poems on purpose (1943, complete edition).
- The surprise (1944).
- Until forever (1948).
- The moon in the desert (1949).
- Limbo, Las Palmas de Gran Canarias (1951).
- Visitation of Gabriel Miró (1951).
- Two poems (1952).
- Incomplete biography (1953).
- Second dream: homage to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1953).
- Variation (1954).
- Amazon (1956).
- He continued with: Eclogue to Antonio Welcome (1956).
- Landscape with figures (1956).
- Only love (1958).
- Songs to Violante (1959).
- Glosa a Villamediana (1961).
- The branch (1961).
- My Santander, my cradle, my word (1961).
- Sonnets to Violante (1962).
- Luck or death. Bullfighter poem (1963).
- Chopin's Nocturnes (1963).
- Jandal (1964), Love poetry 1918-1961 (1965).
- The elucidated cordovan and the pilgrim's return (1966).
- Moral odes (1966).
- Variation 2 (1966).
- Second anthology of his verses, 1941-1967 (1967).
- The foundation of wanting (1970).
- Among his latest writings were: Divine verses (1971).
- Civil cemetery (1972).
- Carmen jubilar (1975).
- Wandering kite (1965).
As can be seen, the literary work of this Spanish author was constant, prolific and full of varied themes. The most representative works of this writer will be described below:
This work was a book inspired by love, where the author made his personality manifest. The verses that make up the poems fall within the meter of octosyllables and hendecasyllables. The stanzas also present an assonance rhyme and are traditional in nature, on the other hand, they have quite a few autobiographical elements.
"Last night I dreamed of you.
I no longer remember what it was.
But you were still mine,
you were my girlfriend, what a beautiful lie!
Last night maybe i saw you
leave church slowly,
in the hands the rosary,
crestfallen and recollected.
Who could be your boyfriend
(soul, dress up)
in an eternal and sweet dream,
white as the stars! ".
This book was the grouping of a set of poems in which Gerardo Diego separated from his conception of reality, to write from his feelings. The verses are more complex because the theme became connected with emotions and a high level of sensitivity.
"Bridge up, bridge down
the rain is walking
my wings are born from the river
and the light is from the birds.
We are sad,
you are too,
when will spring come
to skate on the platform ...
Cross the rain to the other shore.
I will not mistreat her,
she speeds the mill
and regulate the clock.
The sun will rise upside down tomorrow
and the empty rain
will fly to take refuge in the hood ".
This writing was a representation of the stories of mythology, where creativity and passion are observed. Gerardo Diego made use of his freedom to compose it, through metaphors, and with a structure of six verses and six stanzas, with a greater art meter.
Let us remember, when appreciating the poem that will be presented below, that the author decided, on many occasions, to dispense with punctuation marks, hence the “free” structuring of many of his writings.
"She wore a combo dress
an archangel project in relief
from shoulder to foot its exact line a rhombus
that to harmonize with the carnation dares
in its path in two moons or in two fruits
absolute spaces opened.
Love love obesity sister
Bellows puff until the hours bulge
and meet when leaving one morning
that God is God without co-workers
and that the cabin boy's hand is blue
-love love love- from six to seven ...
And summing up the lover his saying
picked up the round sighs
and abandoned to the smoke of whim
slipped down two rails
a circus session started
in the eighteenth constellation ".
This work was one of the author's most recognized books, and it also notably influenced the work of the poets who made a name for themselves after the war in Spain. It was the combination of avant-garde with manners, in a full act of creation by the poet.
The weight of this manuscript is such that it allowed Diego to be considered one of the most representative figures of the Generation of 27.
"Let me caress you slowly,
let me slowly check you,
see that you really are, a continue
from yourself to yourself extensively.
So I want you fluid and successive,
you spring from you, furtive water,
lazy touch music.
That is how I love you, in small limits,
here and there, fragment, lilies, rose,
and your unit later, light of my dreams ".
Yet No Comments