The 10 main CHARACTERISTICS of the GENERATION of 27

It is known as Generation of 27 to a movement that took place in Spain in 1927 in which authors and artists began to cultivate a series of aesthetics and ideology that fulfilled very similar characteristics. In addition, it is also considered as a generation since the vast majority of the participants in it were friends and were part of the same group of intellectuals. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to discover main characteristics of the Generation of 27 So that, in this way, you can discover the most outstanding elements shared by these great authors who have become essential in the history of Hispanic literature. With the death of García Lorca in 1936 this generation was terminated.

We will begin by talking about the historical context of the Generation of 27 to better understand why it arose and what ideology the different artists who were part of this movement shared. The political and social situation of the Spain of the moment was very convulsed: in a few years the First Spanish Republic, the Second Republic, the coup d'etat of Primo de Rivera and the reign of Alfonso XIII had broken out. All these changes created a great impact on the society of the time, something that can be perfectly seen in the artistic cult of the time.

We find the origin of the Generation of 27 in the tribute paid to Luis de Góngora on the occasion of the commemoration of the 300 years of his death. This meeting is, for many scholars, the beginning of the friendship between the members of this generation who began to exchange ideas and visions about the world and art creating, thus, a revolutionary literary and cultural movement plagued of talent.

The political situation in the country made the authors stop writing sentimental literature and bet on texts more committed with reality and with overtones of social denunciation. The writers not only wrote for the mere artistic pleasure, as the modernists did, but they began to create works more committed and with a will for renewal and progress.

Let's dive right into the content of this lesson to discover what are the most important characteristics of the Generation of 27. The most striking was the break with sentimental literature prevailing at the time. What the authors sought was to create a balance between the elevated literary style and the intellectual character of their pieces, thus being able to renew Spanish letters without losing their essence.

Authors of the same generation

Although it is somewhat obvious, the truth is that one of the characteristics of the Generation of 27 more important is that the authors who comprised their ranks were all born in the same generation and, so much, they had similar ages and similar ideologies. They had been raised and raised in the same historical context and, therefore, they were people of their time. At most there was an age difference of 15 years between the authors of the Generation of 27. In addition, many of them were part of the Residencia de Estudiantes, a cultural association that had a shared aesthetic and philosophical line.

Political and social commitment

We have already commented above that the authors of this generation had a strong political and social commitment. They did not write only for the mere artistic pleasure but also did it to communicate, as a means of expression and social denunciation. Works created by authors can be viewed as a protest of a whole generation of people who were born and lived at a specific time in the history of Spain. They wanted a society with more rights, more progressive and open to the world.

Progressive literature

Therefore, the authors had a progressive mindset Of art. They wanted to find new literary forms and new expressions to be able to give a new air to the letters and renew them. But they did not lose contact with tradition, they did not want to break with it, but what they wanted was to renew it. Therefore, starting from tradition, they looked for new, more innovative forms; This made the avant-garde current appear, a movement loaded with subgenres that offered new stylistic and philosophical proposals (surrealism, Dadaism, etc.).

Avant-garde movement

It is important to note that the authors of the Generation of 27 joined the avant-garde literary trend, one of the more groundbreaking and innovative movements Of art. It is formed by what has been baptized as artistic "isms", that is, currents and ideologies such as surrealism, impressionism, expressionism, futurism, cubism, and so on. All this arose as a reactionary movement to the established reality and the artists looked for another way to understand and conceive the reality of the world.

Creative freedom

Another of the most outstanding characteristics of the Generation of 27 is that the authors broke with all norms to create a new way of making art. The literati wrote with total freedom, both on a metric and stylistic level. In general they used to cultivate a neat and embellishing style of language but that hid a powerful message in its content. One of the literary resources most used by members of this generation was the metaphorsince it allowed to give a more surreal and forceful touch to a message. Free verse was also a constant among the authors of this generation.

Influence of the Spanish Golden Age

As we have already commented, the members of this generation were betting on a renewed literature that was based on tradition. Therefore, they looked at own authors of the Golden Age as was Góngora, Quevedo, Garcilaso de la Vega and Lope de Vega. Based on these classics, they created new styles that mixed with the different avant-garde ideologies to create a new literature.

In addition to the main characteristics of the Generation of 27 that we have already mentioned, we believe that it is also important to emphasize other characteristics that greatly defined the members who were part of this literary group.

Humanized poetry

At the beginning of the Generation of '27, the authors who were most influenced by Modernism cultivated a poetry that focused on the artistic fact; However, with the influence of Avant-garde and Surrealism, the authors began to focus more on pain and more human feelings. They were betting on a poetry that was more human in which aspects such as the country, love, nature, etc. were emphasized.

Linguistic mix: classic and current

The interest of the authors in classical Spanish literature meant that the language used in literary texts also had this duality between tradition and modernity. That is why in the texts we can find lexicon and forms typical of classical poetry but also with innovative and unique elements typical of the avant-garde movements literary.

Emotion and intellectuality

Although his first goal was to stop cultivating a type of sentimental literature, this was not a drastic break. The authors of this generation sought a balance between emotions and intellectuality to create texts loaded with humanity, beauty but also with a strong content and message.

Taboo topics

And we finish this compilation of the most outstanding Generation of 27 characteristics to tell you about an aspect that is also key to understanding the essence of this artistic movement. The authors broke with some of the taboo topics to talk about them openly and openly in their works. One of these themes was that of homosexuality, something that clearly reveals the progressive and modern attitude that the literati of the time had.

And we will finish this lesson on the Generation of 27 and its characteristics to briefly mention the names of the most prominent authors of this movement.

• Pedro Salinas: essayist and poet was one of the highest representatives of the Generation of 27. He created his own concept of poetry and considered it as a journey towards the absolute. His poetic style was characterized by short works and free verse, poems that sought beauty and naturalness at the same time. He excelled in the poetic field but also wrote narrative, essays, and theater.
• Jorge Guillen: he lived in the Madrid Student Residence and received his doctorate from the university for a study he did on Luis de Góngora. His work falls within what is known as "pure poetry", a type of poetic style that has a complex and highly elaborated language. His style is characterized by the use of exclamations, short verses and high language. "Canticle" is one of his most important works.
• Damaso Alonso: he was a poet who stood out a lot for his creativity and aesthetic originality. His clearest influence is the Spanish writer Juan Ramón Jiménez and his work "Hijos de la ira" is the one that has achieved greater recognition among the public and critics.
• Vicente Aleixandre: this author was very influenced by the artistic avant-gardes and, above all, by the surrealist current.
• Federico Garcia Lorca: he is one of the highest representatives of the Generation of 27 and whose death marked a before and after in the history of literature. He is considered the most influential poet of the 20th and also did a very outstanding job in the theater; some outstanding works are Bernarada Alba's House, for example. A very careful style and a complete mix between folklore and modernity is what we find in this author who, in addition, is a master in the use of symbolism.

These are just some of the names but there are more: Rafael Alberti, Gerardo Diego, Luis Cernuda, Emilio Prados or Manuel Altoaguirre.