Rubén Darío and modernism

Rubén Darío and modernism have a very intimate relationship. For many scholars, this movement that began to have a great presence worldwide at the end of the 19th century has its origin in the publication of Blue…, the work of poems by the Nicaraguan writer. And, despite the fact that this is the starting point, and also despite the fact that Darío was much more than a modernist, since his extensive and talented work sublimates the limits of any movement, it is true that he is considered the main representative, and in his writings many of the elements that made the world famous are observed. modernism.

So, to get to know this relationship in depth, start here a new lesson from a TEACHER in which we leave at roots of Darío's poetry and its relationship with the aforementioned movement.

To know well the relationship between Rubén Darío and modernism, it is important to first know the particularities of the movement. Once we have them clear, it is much easier to find similarities in the work of the Nicaraguan poet.

We can consider modernism as a artistic movement that renewed the international cultural scene through the work of European and Hispanic-American authors. For this, his literature and art exalted harmony and beauty, and fled from a certain vulgarity that they found in the Industrial Revolutionthat was happening at the time, and that it was having a great impact at the time.

Thus, both in modernist works and in Rubén Darío's own poems and writings, we can find a series of characteristics or traits that are common to all the authors of the movement to a greater or lesser extent:

• There is clear opposition to everything considered in bad taste or vulgar, such as the figure of the bourgeois as a result of industrialization.
• There is a very clear interest in him exoticismThe history of eastern or pre-Columbian cultures gaining a lot of presence, a fact that is found in all of Darío's work and his work in relation to their origins.
• He is a cosmopolitan movement, little regionalist. Darío traveled all over the world and his poetry has mainly French influences.
• The Free verse, not subject to any rhyme or convention, something that Rubén Darío also worked on in his poetic works.
• Are introduced non-traditional ways of writing in the lexical sense. Archaisms, Latinism, etc. are used. It is popularly commented that Federico García Lorca heard Darío recite and only understood one conjunction.
• Modernism was nourished by many other currents, such as the romanticism. In fact, two major influences on Rubén Darío's work were the Verlaine symbolism and the Gautier's Parnassianism.
• There is patriotic sentiment, very clear in the work of Darío, who rejects the bourgeois world, but defends the natives of Nicaragua, and even from his writings a certain need for a return to Spanish imperialism and Catholic. Some scholars observe this hidden sentiment, compared to other modernist authors such as the Cuban Jose Marti, which rejects it outright and is more akin to the Bolivarian movement.
• It should be noted that modernism was extrapolated to all the arts. A good example of this is the gaudí architecture. In addition, it received various names, such as Art Nouveau or Modern Style. He even manifested himself in disciplines such as jewelry.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the most important works of Rubén Darío.

Be that as it may, Rubén Darío and modernism will be eternally unitedDespite the fact that the Latin American author is difficult to describe, especially as his extensive work, full of influences from all the corners of the world to which he traveled, evolved.

Blue…, published in 1888, was the starting point from which many other modernist authors looked to write. From its exotic and exquisite aesthetic, with French influences, others such as José Santos Chocano or Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera.

Darío was very influential in poetry, and new emblematic styles were born from his work, such as the metric of the Alexandrine in French adapted to writing in Spanish.

He is also considered to be the first poet to articulate the movement innovations with consistency. This fact is found mainly in his work Profane prose, which soon became the visible head of modernism in its time. Although the poet did not want to set a style or direction, his influence was enormous on the authors of that time.

At the national level, his influence in Spain was great, and in fact, poets and authors of the Generation of '98 as Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez or Ramón del Valle-Inclán They drank from his singular style, since not a single writer of that time was able to escape the powerful influence that Rubén Darío marked internationally.

Finally, add that Darío also marked the evolution of the movement. While in Profane prose, of 1896, the aestheticism, in 1905, mainly with Songs of life and hope, 1905, is a final phase of modernism much more intimate, what many experts call the beginning of the postmodernism.