SPANISH LITERATURE UP TO THE CIVIL WAR

REVIEW EXERCISES

1. Read this poem by Antonio Machado and answer the questions:

XLIII

It was a morning and April was smiling.

In front of the golden horizon, it was dying.
the moon, very white and opaque; behind it,
what light chimera, was running
the cloud that barely obscures a star.

How the rose smiled tomorrow

to the sun of the east I opened my window;
and the east penetrated into my sad room
in the song of larks, in the laughter of a fountain
and in the soft perfume of early rose.
It was a clear afternoon of melancholy.
April was smiling. I opened the windows.
from my house to the wind... The wind brought
rose perfume, ringing of bells...
Distant, mournful bells toll,
fragrant rose-scented breath...
... Where are the flowering gardens of roses?
What do the sweet bells say to the wind?

I asked the dying April afternoon:

At last, happiness is coming to my house?
The afternoon of April smiled: The joy
passed by your door -and then gloomy:
It passed by your door. It doesn't pass twice.

a) Perform a metric analysis of the poem.

b) Identify the theme of the poem.
c) Highlight in this poem the use of rhetorical questions. Try
justify its appearance.
d) The Modernism of Antonio Machado is of a symbolist nature (use of
certain symbols taken from reality to mark feelings, the
interiority of the poet). Trace a symbol in the poem and explain it.
e) Antonio Machado acts as a bridge between Modernism and the Generation of
98. The previous poem falls within the modernist stage and this one that you are going to
To read now presents a theme typical of the Generation of '98. Which one?
There is already a Spaniard who wants to
to live and to live begins,
between a Spain that is dying
and another Spain that yawns.
Little Spaniard who comes
to the world, God keep you.
One of the two Spains
has made your heart heal.

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2. Within avant-garde poetry, we find these two examples that you
we present now. The first titled 'Route', by Vicente Huidobro, and the
Second titled 'Girándula', by Guillermo de la Torre:

Route
Last rain
The wounded angels
They will leave the hospital today.
I have forgotten the song that started

That bird that flew from my chest

He has lost his way
Under the bridges
the river dies from stretch to stretch

WHERE ARE YOU

Follow your march after my songs

The blind route
like dry lakes

All the stars have fallen

And those that hang on the branches
They will fall too
In the oblique thicket
my song stayed
Last rain
The moon and the handkerchief
They were drying in the sun.

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a) Justify the inclusion of these two compositions within the movement of
vanguard.

b) The first poem falls within the creationist movement. Explain why
what.

c) The second poem belongs to what is called Ultraism, which gathers influences from
Futurism, Dadaism, and Cubism. Find these three influences in the
poem.

d) Ramón Gómez de la Serna is regarded as a member of the generation

Novecentista but also a pioneer in the avant-garde, especially in the
conception of the literary work as a game, as something playful and in the use of the
metaphor. In his famous Greguerías both aspects are united. He tries to explain.
the metaphors of the following greguerías:

The lightning is a kind of enraged corkscrew.

The chestnut seller roasts the hearts of winter.

The pyramids are the humps of the desert.

The water lets its hair down in the waterfalls.

3. Now you are going to encounter a poem full of metaphors or poem

allegorical. It is a composition by Gerardo Diego dedicated to the cypress of
Silos Monastery.

The cypress of Silos

Elevated fountain of shadow and dream

that you sadden the sky with your spear.
Jet that almost reaches the stars
devoting oneself to mad effort.

Mast of solitude, island prodigy:

arrow of faith, dart of hope.
Today it arrived to you, shores of the Arlanza,
wandering at random, my soul without a master.

When I saw you, noble, sweet, steadfast,

what anxieties I felt of dissolving myself
and to ascend like you, turned into crystals.

Like you, black tower of arduous blades,

example of vertical delusions,
mute cypress in the fervor of Silos.

a) Mark all those references to the cypress that are mentioned in the poem and
they refer to their verticality. It also indicates in which verse the cypress and the self unite
lyrical.

b) Of the four characteristics of the Generation of '27, two are clearly manifested.
Which ones?

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4. Determine if the following statements regarding the theater of the early
The twentieth century is true or false.

a) Jacinto Benavente is the foremost representative of the theatrical movement in verse.

b) The most innovative theater of this era is attributed to the authors of 98 and 27.

c) The young lady of Trévelez The revenge of don Mendoso two framed works
inside the comic theater.

d) The theater that triumphs in the era is the renewing theater, as opposed to comedy.
burger, which barely had success.

e) In Valle-Inclán, there are four stages that, arranged chronologically, would be:
modernist, primitivist, of farces and esperpentic.

f) Bohemian Lights is the inaugural work of the esperpentic stage of Valle-Inclán, in

the one where the Galician writer stops at the most grotesque aspects of life through
of humor and mockery.

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 SPANISH LITERATURE UNTIL THE CIVIL WAR
Solution guide for the review exercises

1. Read this poem by Antonio Machado and answer the questions:

a) Carry out a metric analysis of the poem.

All the verses of the poem have the same syllabic count. It is about
dodecasyllabic verses (12 syllables). As for its stanzaic structure,
we found an initial quintet of scheme (AABAB). After the space in
White, there is a series of 13 verses. These 13 verses are grouped into a quintet.
an AABBA and two quatrains (CDCD) and (EFEF). The composition ends with another
quintet (ABAAB).

b) Identify the theme of the poem.

The theme of the poem is the passage of time, the fleetingness of life. It could be
summarize under the popular saying 'you only live once'. The voice of the poet uses the
Nature, specifically the passage of a day in April (from dawn to dusk), for
show the inevitable passage of time. The dawn can be identified with the
the birth of human beings and the decline would symbolize old age and death.

c) Highlights in this poem the use of rhetorical questions. Try

justify its appearance.

The appearance of rhetorical questions has an intensifying value of the

anguish over the passage of time. It arises from a widely disseminated theme in literature.
known as Ubi sunt?, which literally means 'Where are they?' and makes
reference to the fleeting nature of worldly glories, of the elements of the world
earthly and sensory. It is used to inquire about personalities and goods already
missing.

d) The Modernism of Antonio Machado is of a symbolist nature (use of

certain symbols taken from reality to mark feelings, the
interiority of the poet). Trace some symbol in the poem and explain it.

The main symbolism of the poem resides in the identification of dawn with the
birth and youth, from the sunset with old age, and from the twilight with death. To
dawn is associated with symbolic elements such as the rose (symbol of the
fugacity of life), the sunlight, the song of the larks, and the fountain. All
these elements emanate life. In contrast, the sunset (old age) is gloomy and
is full of lamentations. And the worst thing is that it doesn't give a second chance: the
sunset arrives inevitably.

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e) Antonio Machado acts as a bridge between Modernism and the Generation of
The previous poem falls within the modernist stage and this one that you are going to
Reading now presents a theme typical of the Generation of '98. What is it?

If in the first poem the concern was of an existential nature, in this second one
The poem concerns political and social issues. In a stroke, it offers us
a brutal critique against a part of Spanish society that views with absolute
indifference (yawning) as another part of society dies. It is an attack.
fierce against the indifference of a few that allows the suffering of many.

2. Within avant-garde poetry, we find these two examples that you

we now present. The first titled 'Route', by Vicente Huidobro, and the
Second titled 'Girándula', by Guillermo de la Torre:

a) Justify the inclusion of these two compositions within the movement of

vanguard.

Let us remember that the avant-garde seeks new aesthetic forms through
break. At first glance, we can already perceive that the graphic layout of the poems is
different from the conventional; in the first poem alternating uppercase and
lowercase, removing punctuation, playing with the margins...
In the second poem, the text itself is a drawing that relates to the
title (the girandola is a wheel full of rockets that spins launching them, the rays
of the sun, the fan...). This type of poem is called a calligram.

b) The first poem falls within the creationist movement. Explain why.
what.

After several readings, what we perceive is the difficulty in understanding it. It is

normal. The creationist poets sought to create new associations between
words with the purpose of inventing a language and some new meanings. For these
For poets, the important thing is how I construct a poem. However, it lacks
importance of what I want to say with this poem.

c) The second poem belongs to what is called Ultraism, which gathers influences from
Futurism, Dadaism, and Cubism. Find these three influences in the
poem.

From Futurism, we find numerous references to mechanical elements and

technicians (fan, rockets, projectiles…). Dadaism embraces the use of
an incoherent, irrational language, without any kind of emotion in the poet's voice.
Finally, from Cubism it rescues the use of the caligram, that is, the placement of the
verses in such a way that builds a drawing, an image (the verses are the
fans' blades, the sun's rays, rockets, projectiles...

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d) Ramón Gómez de la Serna is recognized as a member of the generation
nineteenth-century but also a pioneer in the avant-gardes, especially in the
conception of the literary work as a game, as something playful and in the use of the
metaphor. In his famous Greguerías, both aspects come together. It tries to explain
the metaphors of the following greguerías:

The lightning is a kind of enraged corkscrew.

Lightning = angry corkscrew (the shape of lightning is similar to that of a)

corkscrew and "enraged", due to the enormous noise of the thunder afterwards.

The chestnut seller roasts the hearts of winter.

Hearts of winter = chestnuts (the shape of the chestnut resembles a heart and
they are mainly eaten in winter).

The pyramids are the humps of the desert.

Pyramids = humps of the desert.

The shape of a camel's hump resembles the shape of a pyramid.
The camel is a very valuable and widely used animal in the desert.
In the desert are the pyramids of Egypt.

The water lets its hair down in the waterfalls.

Waterfall = straight and long hair (the shape of long hair is similar to
the one of a waterfall).

3. Now you are going to encounter a poem filled with metaphors or poem
allegorical. It is a composition by Gerardo Diego dedicated to the cypress of
Silos Monastery.

a) Mark all those references to the cypress that are mentioned in the poem and
they refer to their verticality. It also indicates in which verse cypress and the self are joined.
lyrical.

The cypress is compared to:

1. High-rise fountain.
2. Launch.
3. Stream.
4. Mast.
5. Arrow and Dart.
6. Sign (understood as a sign, flag, or banner).
7. Tower.
8. Example of vertical delusions.

The union occurs from verse 7, "Today it has reached you, [...] my soul without a master."

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b) Of the four characteristics of the Group of '27, two are clearly manifested.
Which ones?

Two are the characteristic themes of the Generation of '27 present in this.
poem; the first is the taste for metaphor: the whole poem is a metaphor, for
element taken from reality (cypress) is successively associated with others
imaginary elements (erect fountain, lance, jet, mast...)

The other characteristic of the 27 is the classical-Gongorist attitude. Classical attitude

for the use of a classical strophic composition such as the sonnet and Gongorian by the
game and the handling of words and images, through the transformation of reality
and due to the difficulty of comprehension (think about reading this poem without the title, without knowing
previously that is going to talk about a cypress...)

4. Determine if the following statements about the theater of the early

The 20th century are true or false.

a) Jacinto Benavente is the foremost representative of the theatrical movement in verse.

False, Benavente is the leading representative of the so-called bourgeois comedy.

b) The most innovative theater of this time is the responsibility of the authors of '98 and
27.

True.

c) The young lady of Trévelez The vengeance of don Mendoso two works
framed within comedic theater.

True.

d) The theater that triumphs in the era is the renewing theater, in contrast to comedy.
hamburger, which barely had success.

False, the renewing theater barely had success and the bourgeois comedy had
the overwhelming favor of the public.

e) In Valle-Inclán there are four stages that, ordered chronologically, would be:
modernist, primitivist, of farces and grotesque.

True.

Bohemian Lights is the inaugural work of the esperpentic stage of Valle-

Inclán, in which the Galician writer focuses on the most grotesque aspects of
life through humor and mockery.

True.