Ultraism: characteristics and examples

Ultraism was a literary movement It began in Spain in 1918 and was based on the creationism of Vicente Huidobro. This artist confronted the noucentistas and modernistas writers who dominated all Spanish poetry, until the end of the 19th century. His main objective was oppose modernism and the literary works of the generation of '98, so it was a real revolution in the world of art and literature.

In this lesson of a PROFESSOR we want to explain what is ultraism, its characteristics and examples. In addition, we are going to give you some examples so that you can better understand this innovative concept at the time.

Index

1. What is literary ultraism
2. What are the characteristics of ultraism
3. Examples of ultraism

As we have mentioned above, ultraism is an artistic movement, in the branch of literature, which born in Spain in 1918 and what follows creationist movement by Vicente Huidobro. It emerges as a much-needed cry for renewal at this stage and is firmly positioned against modernism and social and religious commitments, such as Marxism and Christianity.

The name ultraism is created through the word "ultra", which means maximum. It was born as a hope that this movement would renew the literature known up to now, achieving the necessary impulse for this artistic discipline to reach its "ultra" or maximum.

The Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was one of the movement theorists and one of the greatest exponents of the ultraist innovative current, which gained a lot of strength in Argentina. In this country, ultraism was seen as the continuation of the simple current that emerged in 1915, also as opposition to Ruben Dario's modernism (1869 - 1916).

The characteristics of ultraism were exposed by Jorge Luis Borges himself in the magazine Us, published in 1922 in the Argentine capital. As you can see, the characteristics of this movement are centered on a protest to any type of decoration of the text, as well as the elimination of its structure and the banal sentimentality, so common in the literature of the time.

Here we leave you the main features of ultraism:

• The lyric begins to be the primary element in the literary compositions of ultraism and the term is often used. metaphorical language.
• Any kind of link is removed and only the striking and pure metaphors are written, one after the other. That is, no element is added that is not essential for the reader's understanding.
• with ultraism rhyme and punctuation disappear, making poetry remain as a simple skeleton, in which only the essence of the words matters.
• Any ornamental work is removed in which they circle around an idea, to arrive at a concrete concept. Ultraist poetry lacks bombastic verses.
• Ultraism sought to convey a positive ideological message and he was opposed to anecdotal facts and unsubstantiated preaching.
• Looking for the purest poetry and the only state that is accepted is that of irony.
• Ultraist literature is very subjective and individualistic since it leaves aside the sentimental, to focus on the logical discourse.
• Synthesis is always sought to express the images that the author has in mind. This made it a movement in which you could talk about anything that happened in society and, above all, those topics that were new.
• Don't talk about the past, but this type of poetry is solely focused on the present.

So that you can get to know the ultraist movement in all its essence, we suggest that you read these two poems, in which you will be able to verify that all the characteristics that we have taught you in the previous section are fulfilled.

nocturnal by Juan Larrea

"The night has opened its umbrella

It's raining

the birds of the rain

they peck the wheat from the puddles

the trees sleep

on one leg

Flutters, flutters

Wreck her a car

its final hendecasyllable crash

A man crosses like a bad thought

water mosquitoes

beehive lights

wing fires

flutters

It's raining"

Tomorrow by Jorge Luis Borges

"The flags sang their colors

and the wind is a bamboo stick in the hands

The world grows like a clear tree

drunk as a propeller

the sun hits the reveille on the rooftops

the sun with its spurs tears the mirrors

like a playing card my shadow

has fallen flat on the road

Up the sky flies

and the birds fly through it like wandering nights

The morning comes to perch fresh on my back."

We hope this lesson has helped you to know a little better ultraism and know what its main characteristics are. If you want to continue learning more about currents in Spanish literature, do not hesitate to consult our writing section, where we will try to solve all the doubts that may come up

If you want to read more articles similar to Ultraism: characteristics and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of history of literature.

• Rocca, P., de Torre, G., Nazaré, J., & Valdés, I. Q. (2002). The shores of Ultraism. Hispanamerica, 31(92), 21-48.
• Videla de Rivero, G. (1963). ultraism.