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Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the
Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 () was an influential group of poets that arose in Spain, Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first form ...
. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numerous prizes and awards. He died aged 96. After the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, he went into
exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
because of his
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
beliefs. On his return to Spain after the death of Franco, he was named Hijo Predilecto de Andalucía in 1983 and Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad de Cádiz in 1985. He published his memoirs under the title of ''La Arboleda perdida'' ('The Lost Grove') in 1959 and this remains the best source of information on his early life.


Life


Early life

El Puerto de Santa María at the mouth of the Guadalete River on the Bay of Cádiz was, as now, one of the major distribution outlets for the sherry trade from
Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Sp ...
. Alberti was born there in 1902, to a family of vintners who had once been the most powerful in town, suppliers of
sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...
to the crowned heads of Europe.Alberti p 20 Both of his grandfathers were Italian; one of his grandmothers was from
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
, the other from Ireland.Alberti p 19 However, at some point, while they were handing down the business to the next generation, bad management resulted in the ''bodegas'' being sold to the Osbornes.Alberti p 58-9 As a result, Alberti's father was no more than a commercial traveller for the company, always away on business, as the general agent for Spain for brands of sherry and brandy that had, before, only been exported to the UK.Alberti p 21 This sense of belonging to a "bourgeois family now in decline" was to become an enduring theme in his mature poetry. At the age of 10, he entered the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
''Colegio San Luis Gonzaga''Alberti p 39 as a charity day-boy. During his first year, Alberti was a model student but his growing awareness of how differently the boarders were treated from the day-boys, together with the other ranking systems operated by the Jesuits, inspired in him a desire to rebel. In his memoirs, he attributes it to growing
class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...
.Alberti p 42 He began to play truant and defy the school authorities until he was finally expelled in 1917. However, his family was then at the point of moving to Madrid which meant that the disgrace did not register on Alberti or his family as strongly as it might have done. The family moved to Calle de Atocha in Madrid in May 1917. By the time of the move, Alberti had already shown a precocious interest in painting. In Madrid, he again neglected his formal studies, preferring to go to the Casón del Buen Retiro and the Prado, where he spent many hours copying paintings and sculptures.Alberti p 105-6 It was as a painter that he made his first entries into the artistic world of the capital. For example, in October 1920, he was invited to exhibit in the Autumn Salon in Madrid.Alberti p.133 However, according to his memoirs, the deaths in 1920 in quick succession of his father, the matador Joselito, and
Benito Pérez Galdós Benito María de los Dolores Pérez Galdós (; 10 May 1843 – 4 January 1920) was a Spanish Spanish Realist literature, realist novelist. He was a leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Mi ...
inspired him to write poetry.Alberti p 138


Life in Madrid

In 1921, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and he spent many months recuperating in a sanatorium in the Sierra de Guadarrama where he read avidly among the works of
Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...
and Juan Ramón Jiménez,Alberti p 144 as well as various Ultraist and ''Vanguardista'' writers. At this time, he also met Dámaso Alonso,Alberti p 150 at that time a poet rather than the formidable critic he would become, and it was he who introduced Alberti to the works of Gil Vicente and other Golden Age writers. He began to write poetry in earnest and submitted a few, successfully, to various avant-garde magazines. The book that resulted from this activity, ''Marinero en tierra'' (Sailor on Dry Land), submitted at the last minute, won the National Poetry Award in 1925.Alberti p 191 He enjoyed great success over the next few years in the sense of artistic prestige: he was still financially dependent on his family. The new literary magazines were eager to publish his works. He was also starting to make friends with the people who would eventually get grouped together as the
Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 () was an influential group of poets that arose in Spain, Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first form ...
. He already knew Dámaso Alonso and, on one of his returns to Madrid, he met Vicente Aleixandre,Alberti p 162 a resident of the ''Salamanca'' district. It was probably in October 1924 – Alberti's memoirs are vague on this and many other details – that he met
Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...
in the
Residencia de Estudiantes ESO Hotel at Cerro Paranal (or Residencia) is the accommodation for Paranal Observatory in Chile since 2002. It is mainly used for the ESO ( European Southern Observatory) scientists and engineers who work there on a roster system. It has been ...
.Gibson p 139 He was known to have a rocky relationship with him, since Lorca was gay and Alberti didn't approve of his sexuality. They weren't best of friends, but when Lorca finally died, in 1936, he dedicated a poem to him. During further visits to the ''Residencia'' - it seems that he never actually became a member himself - he met Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, and
Gerardo Diego Gerardo Diego Cendoya (October 3, 1896 – July 8, 1987) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. Diego taught language and literature at institutes of learning in Soria, Gijón, Santander and Madrid. He also acted as lite ...
along with many other cultural icons such as
Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
, and
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
. The kind of folkloric/''cancionero'' poetry he had used in ''Marinero'' was also employed in two further collections – ''La amante'' ('The Mistress') and ''El alba del alhelí'' ('Dawn of the Wallflower') – but with the approach of the Góngora Tercentenary he began to write in a style that was not only more formally demanding but which also enabled him to be more satirical and dramatic. The result was ''Cal y canto'' ('Quicklime and Plainsong'). Alberti himself was present at the meeting at a Madrid cafe in April 1926, when the plans for the tercentenary were first sketched out - along with Pedro Salinas, Melchor Fernández Almagro and Gerardo Diego. Before the Tercentennial celebrations were over, Alberti was starting to write the first poems of ''Sobre los ángeles'' ('Concerning the Angels'), a book that showed a complete change of direction in the poetry of not only Alberti, but also the whole Group, and is generally considered his masterpiece. His next collections, ''Sermones y moradas'' ('Sermons and mansions') and ''Yo era un tonto y lo que he visto me ha hecho dos tontos'' (' I was a fool and what I have seen has made me two fools'), together with a play ''El hombre deshabitado'' ('The Empty Man'), all showed signs of a psychological breakdown which, to the surprise of everyone who knew him, had overwhelmed Alberti and from which he was only saved by his elopement with the writer and political activist María Teresa León in either 1929 or 1930 – again his memoirs are not clear on the date.Alberti p 287


Marriage, conversion to Marxism, civil war and exile

The inference from his memoirs is that she played a key role, along with his continuing bitter memories of the ''Colegio'', in the process that converted the easy-going, carousing bohemian of the early books into the committed Communist of the 1930s. The establishment of the
Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...
in 1931 was another factor that pushed Alberti towards Marxism and he joined the
Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...
. For Alberti, it became a religion in all but name and there is evidence that suggests that some of his friends tired of his unceasing attempts to "convert" them.Gibson p. 440 As a Party emissary, he was finally freed from financial dependence on his family and he made several trips to northern Europe. But when Gil Robles came to power in 1933, the violent attacks that Alberti launched against him in the magazine '' Octubre'' ('October'), which he had founded with María Teresa, led to a period of exile. At the start of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
he was imprisoned in
Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...
and released in August 1936 when the island returned to Republican control. By November 1936 he was in Madrid having commandeered an aristocrat's palace (Palacio de Zabálburu) near Retiro Park as headquarters of his Alianza de Intelectuales Anti-fascistas (Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals), which became a second home to Gerda Taro. During the Spanish Civil War, Alberti became the poetic voice of the left and he made frequent broadcasts from the capital during the
Siege of Madrid The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Second Spanish Republic, Republican-controlled Spain, Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, ...
by the Francoist armies, composing poems in praise of the defenders of the city. He published them in a magazine entitled '' El Mono Azul'' which he cofounded with his wife. There was scarcely an edition of the XV International Brigade newspaper, ''Volunteer for Liberty'', which did not contain one of his poems. He also took part in a commission in charge of the purge of the Alliance members. In early 1939 he and his wife were in
Elda Elda (; , ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Alicante, Spain. , it has a total population of 55,618 inhabitants, ranking as the 7th most populous city in the province. Elda joins together with the town of Petrer to form a ...
running a large country house as a hotel, at which many Republicans gathered considering exile. These included La Pasionara, Enrique Líster and Juan Modesto. After the defeat of the
Spanish Republican Armed Forces The Spanish Republican Armed Forces () were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic: * Spanish Republican Army (''Ejército de la República Española'' (1931–1936) and ''Ejército Popular ...
and the disbandment of the Republic by the rebel faction, Alberti and María fled to Paris via
Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...
and moved into an apartment together with
Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...
on the Quai de l'Horloge.Neruda p.126 They lived in Paris until the end of 1940 working as translators for French radio and as announcers for the broadcasts of ''Paris-Mondial'' in Latin-America. After the
German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...
they sailed from
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
on the SS Mendoza. They lived in Argentina until 1963. Amongst other activities – he worked for the Losada publishing house and continued writing and painting - Alberti worked in the Argentinian film industry, notably as the adaptor of a play by
Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (17 January 160025 May 1681) (, ; ) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, and writer. He is known as one of the most distinguished Spanish Baroque literature, poets and ...
, ''La dama duende'' ('The Ghost Lady') in 1945. They then moved to Rome. On 27 April 1977 they returned to Spain. Shortly after his return Alberti was elected deputy for
Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
in the constituent Congress of the Spanish parliament on the Communist Party Ticket. His wife died on 13 December 1988 from Alzheimer's disease. He died at the age of 96 from a lung ailment. His ashes were scattered over the Bay of Cádiz, the part of the world that mattered most to him.


Other awards that he earned

He was also awarded
Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel ...
for the year 1964 - after lobbying from Pablo NerudaNeruda p. 204 - and Laureate Of The International Botev Prize in 1981. In 1983, he was awarded the Premio Cervantes, the Spanish literary world's highest honour. In 1998, he received the America Award for his lifetime contribution to international writing.


Poetry


The early phase

Although ''Marinero en tierra'' is generally referred to as Alberti's first book, it was in fact his second; an earlier book, ''Giróscopo'' ('Gyroscope'),Alberti p 158 having been lost, although it seems probable that some of its contents were included in a volume of ''Poesías anteriores a Marinero en tierra'' ('Poems before ''Marinero en tierra) that he compiled during his time in Rome. ''Marinero'' shows a compendium of different influences: the style of Gil Vicente and the mediaeval ''cancioneros'', to which Alonso had introduced him; a highly organised, formal, baroque style derived from
Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
's Modernismo - and ultimately from the poetry of Garcilaso de la Vega, Pedro Espinosa, and possibly Góngora;Alberti p 163 along with traces of Ultraism. Linking these various influences together are the poet's facility – writing poetry seems to come to him very easily – and an air of naivety and innocence that are in fact carefully contrived.Morris "Generation" When the book was submitted for the Premio Nacional, the book was called ''Mar y tierra'' ('Sea and land') and the title ''Marinero en tierra'' was reserved for one single series of poems inside the whole collection. This is the most close-knit series of poems in the entire collection and deserves consideration as a single long poem. It also introduces two enduring themes in his work – his love of his native sea and nostalgia for his childhood. The poems in this sequence are nearly all written in lines of irregular length and irregular assonances and derive most obviously from the ''cancionero'' tradition. ''La amante'' (1925) and ''El alba del alhelí'' (1926) followed in quick succession. These early works were influenced by traditional songs and folklore. Alberti had settled on a style and was writing fluently within it. He was working on the poems which would form ''El alba'' when he was invited by his brother, who had succeeded their father as a wine-salesman, to take a trip with him to the Cantabrian coast. Alberti had never before visited northern Spain and the car-trip through the villages and mountains made a strong impression on him. In ''La amante'', his brother is replaced by the figure of an imaginary girl-friend and he assumes the persona of a troubadour, writing short and generally light-hearted verses about the sights they saw. ''El alba'', on the other hand, was written mainly during holidays he spent with two of his married sisters in Málaga and Rute, a claustrophobic Andalusian mountain village. He had by now met García Lorca and seems to be trying to emulate him. However, what in Lorca is tragic, violent and death-laden tends to seem false and melodramatic in Alberti.


Maturity

His next collection, ''Cal y canto'' (1926-8), is a big departure. He rejects some of the folkloric influences of the previous two works and picks up again the baroque forms, such as the sonnets and tercets, and also the Ultraist thematic material of ''Marinero''. He had been placed in charge of collecting the poems dedicated to Góngora as part of the Tercentenary celebrationsAlberti p 234 and there are many signs of Góngora's influence on this work. Alberti's technical versatility comes to the fore as he writes sonnets, ballads, tercets and even a pastiche of the intricate style of the Soledades. More significantly, there is a sense of unease hanging over the whole collection.Morris "Generation" Traditional values – myths, religion, convention – are found wanting, but more modern values such as speed, freedom and iconoclasm are also found to be hollow. The nymphs, shepherdesses and mythological figures of renaissance and Baroque poetry are brought into contact with department stores and other aspects of modern life only to appear banal. There is a sense in this collection that Alberti is writing in this collection as himself, not as the sailor, the troubadour or the tourist of his earlier books. He even wrote a poem about a heroic performance by the goalkeeper of
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
- "Oda a Platko" - in a match against
Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...
in May 1928. ''The violence displayed by the Basques was unbelievable'', he wrote in his memoirs. ''At one desperate moment Platko was attacked so furiously by the players of the Real that he was covered with blood and lost consciousness a few feet from his position, but with his arms still wrapped around the ball.''Alberti p 262 The most significant poem in the collection is probably the final one, "Carta abierta" ('Open Letter'). He makes it clear that he is writing as Rafael Alberti, child of the Bay of Cádiz and the twentieth century. He contrasts the confinement of the classroom with the freedom of the seashore, the excitement and novelty of the cinema with the boredom of lessons, the conventions of traditional literature and ideas with the revolution of radio, the aeroplane, the telephone. In the confusion caused by the clash of old and new values, the poet has a premonition of the feelings of emptiness and desolation that were soon to assail him but he decides to align with the new.


''Sobre los ángeles'' and the works of breakdown

Picking up on the sense of unease that hangs over ''Cal y canto'', Alberti now begins to mine a vein of deep and anguished introspection. He has lost his youthful high spirits and finds himself ''deshabitado'' ('empty'). An unhappy love affair seems to have been the immediate catalyst but the pit of despair into which Alberti plunged was peopled also by deeper-rooted shadows of his life, notably recollections of his rebellious childhood and the hell-fire sermons of the Jesuits at the ''Colegio'', a friend's suicide, and a full awareness of his own position at the age of 25, misunderstood by his family, penniless, still living at home (it was only after he met María Teresa that he finally moved out) and with no other way of earning a living other than through his poetry. In this black mood, :''What was I to do? How was I to speak or shout or give form to that web of emotions in which I was caught? How could I stand up straight once again and extricate myself from those catastrophic depths into which I had sunk, submerging and burying myself more and more in my own ruins, covering myself in my own rubble, feeling my insides to be torn and splintered? And then there was a kind of angelic revelation – but not from the corporeal, Christian angels found in all those beautiful paintings and religious icons, but angels representing irresistible forces of the spirit who could be moulded to conform to my darkest and most secret mental states. I released them in waves on the world, a blind reincarnation of all the cruelty, desolation, terror and even at times the goodness that existed inside of me but was also encircling me from without.'' : :''I had lost a paradise, the Eden of those early years....''Alberti p 259 : The first section of ''Sobre los ángeles'' (1927-8) consists almost entirely of poems on the loss of love and the poet's consequent feeling of being emptied. The metres are short and contain many irregular lines while still retaining an overall regularity of assonance and rhythm. The central section explores a sense of betrayal by religion. His childhood beliefs were dispelled very early by his fanatical aunts and the Jesuits of the ''Colegio'' but he still needs to find something to believe in to dispel his feelings of emptiness and rootlessness. The third and final section sees a radical change of style. The short lines of the previous sections give way to much longer lines that grow into the tangled webs of surreal imagery that he was to use in his next few works – ''Sermones y moradas'', ''Con los zapatos puestos....'', and ''Yo era un tonto......''. The key to understanding this collection is probably the poem "Muerte y juicio" ('Death and Judgment'). The child has lost his innocence and belief in a way that was almost predestined before his birth. He recalls one specific incident from his schooldays, when the day-boys played truant and went to the beach to bathe naked and masturbate. They were spotted by a Jesuit teacher and subjected to agonising and humiliating sermons convincing them that they would lose their souls by doing such things.Alberti p 54 ''Sermones y moradas'' (1929–31) was neither clearly conceived as a unified work nor ever completed. It consists of poems in free verse, full of complex surrealist imagery that is almost impenetrable. They convey an atmosphere of helplessness and total desolation. ''Yo era un tonto y lo que he visto me ha hecho dos tontos'' (1929) is Alberti's homage to the American silent comedians whose films he admired so greatly –
Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...
,
Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many Silent film, silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influent ...
,
Harry Langdon Henry Philmore "Harry" Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American actor and comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', December 27 ...
etc. MorrisMorris "Darkness" has been able to track down some of the specific scenes that inspired these poems but the poems themselves are still in the dense style that Alberti had adopted. ''Con los zapatos puestos tengo que morir'' ('With My Shoes On I Must Die') (1930) – a quote from Calderón – is his final work in this style. Written in the aftermath of the exhilaration of being involved in the anti- Primo de Rivera riots, whilst still impenetrably dense at times, it shows the beginning of the socially aware poetry that would be the next direction he would take.


Poetry of the 30s

In July 1936, there was a gathering to hear García Lorca read '' La casa de Bernarda Alba''. Subsequently, Dámaso Alonso recalled that there was a lively discussion about a certain writer - probably Rafael Alberti - who had become deeply involved in politics. "He'll never write anything worthwhile now," was Lorca's comment.Gibson p 442-3 This is probably an unduly sweeping comment to make. Alberti's political commitment manifested itself in two distinct ways: an unoriginal party-line verse whose only saving grace is the technical skill and fluency that he could bring to bear even on such routine exercises, and a far more personal poetry in which he draws from his memories and experience to attack the forces of reaction in a more direct, less opaque way than in his earlier collections. ''De un momento a otro'' ('From One Moment to the Next') (1932-8) contains the poem "Colegio (S.J.)" which yet again revisits his memories of his schooldays. Here, however, the Jesuits' treatment of the day-boys is analysed in a way that shows the poet's newly acquired class consciousness – it is depicted as a systematic way of indoctrinating a sense of inferiority. ''13 bandas y 48 estrellas'' ('13 Stripes and 48 Stars') (1935). During the 1930s, Alberti was able to make many journeys under the sponsorship of the Communist Party. This book is an account of a visit to the Caribbean and the US, which gave him ample scope to write poems denouncing capitalism. ''Capital de la gloria'' ('Capital of Glory') (1936-8). This collects the poems that he wrote in commemoration of the siege of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. It includes heartfelt but dull tributes to various Republican generals and to the
International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...
as well as poems about the peasant-soldiers that can come across at times as patronising. Alberti himself saw little or no action – he was either abroad or in the comparative safety of offices or broadcasting-studios – but there are some forceful poems for reciting to the troops that might have been inspiring. It is also worth noting that this collection shows a return to more tightly disciplined verse forms. ''Entre el clavel y la espada'' ('Between the Carnation and the Sword') (1939–40). This collection gathers the poems that Alberti wrote in France and Argentina at the start of his long exile. It marks a change in style, the feel for a need to regain his discipline as a poet. As a result, it resembles ''Marinero en tierra'' in its formal approach – sonnets, ''cancionero''-style poems etc. A key theme that emerges in this collection is a deep and abiding nostalgia for Spain, the land from which he has been exiled.


Later works

''A la pintura'' ('On Painting') (1945- ). During his exile, Alberti took up painting again and began a series of poems to draw together his thinking on this subject, to which he continued to add over a period of many years. He wrote a series of sonnets about the raw materials – the retina, the hand, the canvas, the brush etc.; a series of short poems in free verse about colours; and finally a series of poems in homage to various painters such as
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
,
El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...
etc. ''Ora Maritima'' ('Maritime Shore') (1953). This is a collection dedicated to Cádiz, in recognition of its antiquity. The poems take as their subject-matter the historical and mythological past of the city – Hercules, the Carthaginians etc. – as well as bringing into play the poet's childhood across the bay. ''Retornos de lo vivo lejano'' ('Memories of the Living Distance'') (1948–52) and ''Baladas y canciones de la Paraná'' ('Ballads and Songs of the Paraná') (1955). These collections contain poems of memory and nostalgia in a highly lyrical style. Once again he recalls his schooldays but this time in a mood of sadness. He also recalls his mother, his friends – especially Vicente Aleixandre who was too ill to leave Madrid during the Civil War - the death of Lorca and he also supplies a moving tribute to his wife.


Other works

Alberti was not especially interested in writing for the theatre but he managed to make a big impact with at least two plays. The first was one of the outputs of his breakdown at the end of the 1920s, ''El hombre deshabitado'' ('The Empty Man', 1930). This is like a modern auto sacramental with five characters: Man with his Five Senses in allegorical reincarnation, The Maker, The Wife of Man, and Temptation, the last-named a woman who plots the downfall of both protagonists in complicity with the Senses. On the opening night, 26 February 1931, it met with a stormy reception from a sharply polarised audience.Alberti p 289 Shortly afterwards, he began to write a ballad on the life of Fermín Galán, an army captain who had tried to launch a coup to establish a Spanish Republic in December 1930 and who was executed by firing-squad. Alberti converted the ballad into a play which was performed during June 1931, again to sharply mixed reactions.Alberti p 299 His other plays did not achieve such fame or notoriety. They include: ''De un momento a otro'' ('From One Moment to Another', 1938–39), ''El trébol florido'' ('Clover', 1940), ''El adefesio'' ('The Disaster', 1944) and ''Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado'' ('A Night of War in the Prado Museum', 1956), as well as adaptions and other short pieces. Alberti also wrote several volumes of memoirs under the title ''La arboleda perdida''. Portions have been published in English as ''The Lost Grove''.


Legacy

* There is a Rafael Alberti bookstore in the centre of Madrid, in the Argüelles district, since 1975. * There is a Rafael Alberti Museum that operates as a legacy foundation in the poet's hometown of El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz. * The Spanglish novel Yo-Yo Boing! (1998) by Puerto Rican poet
Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include '' Empire of Dreams'' (1988), '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998), '' United States of Banana'' (2011), and '' Putinoika'' (2024). ...
features a debate about the creators versus the masters of Spanish and Latin American poetry. The debate places Rafael Alberti along with Vicente Aleixandre, Vicente Huidobro, Pedro Salinas, and Jorge Guillén as masters of poetry.


Poetry collections

* ''Marinero en tierra'', M., Biblioteca Nueva, 1925 (Premio Nacional de Literatura). * ''La amante'', Málaga, Litoral, 1926. * ''El alba de alhelí'', Santander, 1927 (Printed privately by José María de Cossío). * ''Domecq (1730–1928). Poema del Ilmo. Sr. Vizconde de Almocadén'', Jerez de la Frontera, Jerez Industrial, 1928. * ''Cal y canto'', M., Revista de Occidente, 1929. * ''Yo era un tonto y lo que he visto me ha hecho dos tontos'', originally published in various numbers of La Gaceta Literaria, 1929. * ''Sobre los ángeles'', M., CIAP, 1929. * ''El poeta en la calle (1931–1935)'', Aguilar, Madrid, 1978. * ''Consignas'', M., 1933. * ''Un fantasma recorre Europa'', M., La tentativa poética, 1933. * ''Poesía (1924–1930)'', M., Ediciones del Árbol( Cruz y Raya), 1935. * ''Versos de agitación'', México, Edit. Defensa Roja, 1935. * ''Verte y no verte. A Ignacio Sánchez Mejías'', México, N. Lira, 1935. * ''13 bandas y 48 estrellas. Poemas del mar Caribe'', M., Manuel Altolaguirre, 1936. * ''Nuestra diaria palabra'', M., Héroe, 1936. * ''De un momento a otro (Poesía e historia)'', M., Europa-América, 1937. * ''El burro explosivo'', M., Edic. 5º Regimiento, 1938. * ''Poesías (1924–1937)'', M., Signo, 1938. * ''Poesías (1924–1938)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1940. * ''Entre el clavel y la espada (1939–1940)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1941. Illustrations by Rafael Alberti. * ''Pleamar (1942–1944)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1944. * ''Poesía (1924–1944)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1946. * ''A la pintura'', Bs. As., Imprenta López (Private edition). * ''A la pintura. Poema del color y la línea (1945–1948)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1948. * ''Coplas de Juan Panadero. (Libro I)'', Montevideo, Pueblos Unidos, 1949 (2nd expanded edition). Illustrations by Toño Salazar. * ''Poemas de Punta del Este'' (1945–1956), Ist edition Seix Barral 1979, * ''Buenos Aires en tinta china'', Bs. As., Losada, 1952. Illustrations by Attilio Rossi. * ''Retornos de lo vivo lejano'', Bs. As., 1952. * ''A la pintura (1945–1952)'' 2nd augmented edition, Bs. As., Losada, 1953. * ''Ora marítima seguido de Baladas y canciones del Paraná (1953)'', Bs. As., Losada, 1953. * ''Redoble lento por la muerte de Stalin'', (Buenos Aires, 9 de marzo de 1953). Included in ''Obras completas. Poesía III''. Seix Barral. 2003. * ''Baladas y canciones del Paraná'', Bs. As., Losada, 1954. * ''Sonríe China'', Bs. As., Jacobo Muchnik, 1958 (in collaboration with María Teresa León). * ''Poemas escénicos'', Bs. As., Losada, 1962 (2nd expanded bilingual edition Spanish/Italian). * ''Abierto a todas horas'', M., Afrodisio Aguado, 1964. * ''El poeta en la calle (1931–1965)'', París, Librairie du Globe, 1966 (Compilation of all Alberti's social poetry). * ''Il mattatore'', Roma, Eutro edit, 1966. * ''A la pintura. Poema del color y la línea (1945–1967)'' 3rd augmented edition, M., Aguilar, 1968 (Prologue by Vicente Aleixandre). * ''Roma, peligro para caminantes'', México, Joaquín Mortiz, 1968 (2nd augmented edition - Málaga- Litoral- 1974). * ''Los 8 nombres de Picasso y no digo más que lo que no digo'', B., Kairós, 1970. * ''Canciones del Alto Valle del Aniene'', Bs. As., Losada, 1972. * ''Disprezzo e meraviglia (Desprecio y maravilla)'', Roma, Riuniti, 1972 (Bilingual Italian/Spanish. Anthology with unpublished poems). * ''Maravillas con variaciones acrósticas en el jardín de Miró'', B., Polígrafa, 1975. * ''Coplas de Juan Panadero (1949–1977)'', M., Mayoría, 1977. * ''Cuaderno de Rute (1925)'', Málaga, Litoral, 1977. * ''Los 5 destacagados'', Sevilla, Calle del Aire, 1978. * ''Fustigada luz'', B., Seix Barral, 1980. * ''Versos sueltos de cada día'', B., Seix Barral, 1982. * ''Golfo de Sombras'', M., Villamonte, 1986. * ''Los hijos del drago y otros poemas'', Granada, Diputación, 1986. * ''Accidente. Poemas del Hospital'', Málaga, Librería Anticuaria El Guadalhorce, 1987. * ''Cuatro canciones'', Málaga, Librería Anticuaria El Guadalhorce, 1987. * ''Canciones para Altair'', M., Hiperión, 1989.Véase l
reseña
de Miguel García-Posada en ''ABC Literario'', 11-3-1989.


See also

* Museo Fundación Rafael Alberti * Spanish poetry


Notes


References

* * * * * * ''Rafael Alberti "Todo el mar" ("All the sea")''. A comprehensive article of Angeliki Kavallierou in the "EI" Magazine of European Art Center (EUARCE) of Greece. First part, issue 6/1994, p. 20,26-33. Second part, issue 7/1994, p. 21-23 https://catalogue.nlg.gr/Record/j.6938


External links


Archivio Conz





Portal de Rafael Alberti
Biblioteca Virtual
Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

Poemas en torno a la creación poética de Rafael Alberti

Poemas de Rafael Alberti



La poesía de Rafael Alberti. Parte de su Obra.

Colección de Poemas

Rafael Alberti - Colección de poemas

Alberti, entre poesías y paseos al enemigo fascista
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberti, Rafael 1902 births 1999 deaths People from El Puerto de Santa María Spanish people of Italian descent Communist Party of Spain politicians Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from Cádiz Writers from Andalusia Spanish male poets Spanish male dramatists and playwrights Spanish communist poets Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France Generation of '27 Spanish people of Irish descent 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize Premio Cervantes winners Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates Illustrious Citizens of Buenos Aires Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Argentina Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Uruguay Spanish magazine founders