Vicente Aleixandre

Vicente Aleixandre

Vicente Aleixandre and Merlo. (Seville, April 26, 1898-Madrid, December 14, 1984). Poet belonging to the Generation of '27, he receives the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. His childhood takes place between Malaga and Madrid. He studied Law and Commerce, and for a few years he is a professor at the School of Commerce of Madrid, specializing in Commercial Law. His friendship with Dámaso Alonso and his literary concerns lead him to read and study the great poets of universal literature, such as Bécquer and Rubén Darío. He suffers a serious illness and during his recovery he writes poems that are published in the most important cultural magazines of the time, achieving great success. There begins his friendship with the other components of the Generation of '27, such as Federico García Lorca and Luis Cernuda. In 1934 he received the National Prize for Literature. After the Civil War remains in Spain and his work takes a very personal trajectory. In 1949 he was appointed Academician of the Language and since then he has become the teacher and protector of the young Spanish poets, who come to visit him frequently at his home in Madrid, where he often organizes literary gatherings. His work is characterized by the use of metaphor and is recognized as the main Spanish surrealist poet. It is said that his career is divided into three stages: a first of pure poetry (with influences by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Pedro Salinas and Jorge Guillén), another of surrealist poetry and a third of anthropocentric poetry. In 1977 he receives the Nobel Prize, with which his work is universally recognized and, in a certain way, that of the entire Generation of 27.