Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

Bécquer has been labeled as a Romantic poet and as an initiating force, the father, of the modern Spanish lyric, a sort of bridge between the two poetic worlds. His poetry retains certain characteristics of Romanticism, such as an exploration of the role of inspiration and genius in the creation of poetry, a formal lyrical freedom and the ‘I’ subject. However, his posthumously published poetry can be seen as representative of his symbolic role as bridge, since he uses this metaphor in his Rimas to describe the need to mediate the gap between “el mundo de las ideas” and the poem itself. Bécquer was extremely influential for Juan Ramón Jiménez and many poets of the Generación ’27 (links which I want to further investigate once I delve further into their works); Dámaso Alonso called him a contemporary poet.

What are Bécquer’s poetics and how does this lead to us to consider him the father of modern Spanish poetry and not a latecomer to the Romantic movement? Poetry for Bécquer exists outside of the personal, subjective poet and is a ‘sentimiento’ that exists independent of poems and the poet. “Podrá no haber poetas, pero siempre/ ¡habrá poesía!” Rima IV. He does believe in poetic inspiration, but he allows this feeling (‘sentimiento’) to sit and does not write inspired. Bécquer explains, “…cuando siento no escribo”. This allows for de-individualization of the poetic self: rather than an expression of interior, subjective feelings and emotions per Romantics, avoiding an excessive sentimentality and relegating to a lower sphere the need for biographical resources. Once the poet has experienced this poetic inspiration and creates distance between himself and the feeling, then he utilizes reason and intelligence takes over. The poet employs language (incapable of truly expressing feeling) to attempt to capture and transmit the more objective, universal poetic feeling. This constant battle between the poet and his inspiration/reason can be seen in a few of his Rimas, especially in Rima III. That is another important characteristic of his poetry, the metapoetic concerns. In addition to his introduction to “La Soledad” and his various cartas, one can look to his poems to understand his poetics. This is one aspect that is taken up by the modern Spanish poets.

This process reminds me of how Baudelaire describes modern aesthetic production in “The Painter of Modern Life”. The painter sees figures in the streets during the day and feels inspiration, but he allows these forms to dissipate and disassociate from the actual object he saw. Then at night he paints the memories of the forms once viewed, turning a subjective view into a more objective one. The difference here would be that Bécquer is not necessarily taking objects from the outside world and transforming them into poems; on the contrary, this poetic feeling exists outside of his world.

One of the most important legacies that Bécquer passed down to future poets was the solution to the insufficiency of language: synesthesia. Rather than expressively name the object or idea that is impossible to express anyway due to language’s insufficiency in capturing the poetic feeling, suggestion of this thing allows for a closer approximation. This is apparent in Rima I: “con palabras que fuesen a un tiempo/ suspiros y risas, colores y notas.” Bécquer’s poetry appeals to the human senses of smell, touch, sight and sound, evoking instead of pronouncing. Another important point that should be mentioned is his interest in popular poetry (from Sevilla, Bécquer explored the popular form cantares), evident in shorter, concise poems, simpler language and the musicality and ease in remembering his poems. This aspect is important for many future poets such as García Lorca.