Differences between Spanish and Latin American modernism
Modernism is, in addition to a spiritual and artistic movement, a vital attitude and a way of seeing life. Rubén Darío is considered the creator of this movement, which is born with influences of Parnassianism, symbolism and also decadentism. He is the one who introduces this movement in Spain among the poets that this moment wanted a poetic renewal that would move them away from realism and prosaism, and as an unconformist attitude with the social, political and economic crisis. These poets look above all formal beauty, musicality, originality and freedom.
First, therefore, the creator of this movement, Rubén Darío, born in Nicaragua in 1867, stands out for his brilliant aesthetics, his orientalism and his metric variety. His work was always guided by his love of absolute beauty, for his enthusiasm and constancy and for his creative will. All the characteristics of modernism are given in it. The pagan, the legendary, the exotic, the cosmopolitan, the sensual, the frivolous and also the intimate, the reflective and the patriotic. The mastery in the use of different forms is also very important;used all kinds of meters and resources, especially synesthesia. His work is full of color, rhythm and loudness. Another essential idea in his poetics is that for him the melody should be inside the poet, since according to him and by influence of Verlaine, which was based on Pythagoras, the most important thing is the melodic value, ability to suggest and evoke. On the other hand, it is important to mention the use of mythology and symbols. In your case the most usual are Centaur, Swan and Venus.
On the other hand, Rubén Darío is not only the ornamental and most colorful facet. He also has a facet, which can be seen in many poems, especially towards the end of his life, of a deep melancholy and decay, in which he expresses his existential anguish. Additionally he expresses his concern for Latin America.
In Spain, Rubén Darío influenced many poets and writers. Among them we can mention Valle Inclán and Antonio Machado, as well as Manuel Machado and Jiménez.
The beginnings of Valle Inclán are modernists in their novels Sonata de Fall, Sonata de Summer, Sonata de Primavera and Sonata de Tinter. (1902-1905). These works represent an antirrealistic aesthetic, and reflect an environment of refinement, aristocratism and elegance, reaching culturalism. There are many characteristics of modernism such as rhythmic prose, parallels, synesthesia and very ornamental adjectives. Also suggestion and evocation, musicality and sensory. Valle Inclán also wrote modernist poetry in his work aromas of legend, and some play such as the Marqués de Bradomín.
As for Antonio Machado, its beginnings have modernist influences and this influence can observe it in some poem of solitudes and the expansion of this poems. However, Machado never felt well with the ornamental characteristics of this style. There are some modernist feature in poems such as "Fantasy of one night in April" and in others in which chromatic adjectives and night environments appear. It also has influences of symbolistic intimism and the melancholic and introspective tone that we see in some poems by Rubén Darío. Antonio Machado shows very soon from modernism because he seeks the "essential word in time" and the expression of feeling is more important than metric forms.
Spanish modernism differs from the American -American in which it is less bright externally and does not focus on oriental or mythological issues. References to distant and exotic cultures are replaced by a Spanish exotism, Andalusian folklore and the lands of Castile.
Leave feedback