Aleixandre’s and Cernuda’s shadows at Francisco Umbral’s poetry

Abstract

Francisco Umbral began late as a poet, not publishing his first poetic works until 1981. We can particularly see the influence of two members of Generation of ’27 in his poetry: Vicente Aleixandre and Luis Cernuda, who represent the more formal aspect of their generation, having eschewed the more popular facet. They are characterised by narrative poetry, which is also a feature of Umbral’s poetry. The most notable influence of Aleixandre is the constant use of metaphors. The perspective of “chronic pessimism”, the spleen that we find in his verses, are an influence of Cernuda. This study examines the link between an Aleixandre’s poem, “Hija de la mar”, and a Umbral’s poem, “Herramienta del mar”, and it relates both poems with the characters who live in Cernuda’s poetry and prose fiction. We can also find a link between love and death in the three poets.