The Silver Age or the Generation of 27 (mid-20th century)

What period of literature are you referring to? : The Silver Age or the Generation of 27 (mid-20th century)

The Generation of 27 refers to a group of authors who developed their work in the decades surrounding the middle of the 20th century. The event that brought them together and gave them their name was a tribute that the group paid to the writer Luis de Góngora in 1927 in Seville, when the third centenary of his death was commemorated.

The group is made up of Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda and Rafael Alberti.

Although each one has its own style, there are characteristics common to the whole group :

• Search for beauty through the image: what is not beauty is eliminated from the poem in order to achieve pure poetry.
• Use of cult vocabulary, colloquial words and terms far removed from poetry until then .
• The metaphor: it becomes the most important literary resource, since it is a very suitable figure to express surreal content.
• Metric freedom : use of classical stanzas such as the sonnet, the romance or the Christmas carol; although they also innovated with the use of white or free verses.
• Evolution from the thematic point of view: at first the main concern was the form of the poem, but little by little, the authors of the Group of 27 develop a more humanized poetry, more concerned with pain, joy, death, destiny or the memories. It should be noted that the Civil War accentuates this humanized vision of poetry.

What literary genres were cultivated?

As in other literary periods, works of all genres are written and published, but some works or genres stand out more than others. The Generation of ’27 is a generation of poets . Poetry lives its silver age.

Main works and most representative authors

Let’s see the most outstanding works of the members of the Poetic Group of 27:

• Pedro Salinas: Omens, Chance insurance,  Fable and sign, The voice due to you, Trust
  
• Jorge Guillén: On the sidelines, Very natural history
• Gerardo Diego: Angels of Compostela, The Moon in the Desert, Wandering Comet
• Dámaso Alonso: Pure Poems
• Vicente Aleixandre: Shadow of Paradise, Destruction or Love
• Federico García Lorca: Poem of cante jondo, Gypsy ballads, Poet in New York, Sonnets of dark love
• Luis Cernuda: Reality and Desire
• Rafael Alberti: Alba del alhelí, Sailor on land, Poet in the street, Between the carnation and the sword

The history of Spanish literature does not end here. Would you like to know the other periods?

Do not hesitate, improve your Spanish and your knowledge of this language through any of the most outstanding works in the history of Spanish literature, or look for a literature teacher who will tell you all the secrets of the Cervantes language. The Silver Age or the Generation of 27 (mid-20th century)