Potential Power in Avant-Garde Poetry

         

Nicole Huddleston

GSI Tara Phillips

Comparative Literature 60AC

21 October 2016

   Potential Power in Avant-Garde Poetry

        The literary avant-garde movement was characterized by writers pushing the boundaries of tradition not only in the form of their writings but also in subject matter. A significant amount of poetry existed within the avant-garde to directly address social and political issues of the time. Perhaps one of the most notable contributors to this movement worldwide is poet and political activist Pablo Neruda who began his post as Chilean consul in Spain in 1934, two years before the Spanish Civil War. As one of the last international leftist crises in the world, the Spanish Civil War had an impressive impact on the writers of the avant-garde movement who closely related themselves with the politics of the time.

            The avant-garde movement stressed political awareness and the Spanish Civil war impacted the literature and writers of the United States as well as those of Latin America.  This willingness of Americans to go fight in the Spanish Civil War is perhaps most evident in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade which was a group of over “2800 American volunteers who went to Spain in the late 1930s to fight fascism in violation of United States Neutrality Laws” (Carroll par. 1) These fighters served under the Spanish Republic Army.

            Pablo Neruda had strong leftist political preferences, which were further explored through his poetry when he arrived in Spain in 1934 surrounded by fellow avant-garde writers such as Federico Garcia Lorca and Rafael Alberti. This drive to explore political issues through the art of poetry inspired writers of the avant-garde, and his poem “Explico algunas cosas” or “I’m Explaining a Few Things” was in response to the Spanish Civil War. The war, spanning from 1936-1939 was a military revolt between the Loyalist Republicans of Spain and the fascist Nationalists. In Neruda’s poem, he “expresses his outrage against fascist forces” (Frontline 1).  

            The power of the poem comes from the form and imagery utilized. Throughout the poem, Neruda directly addresses the readers with questions such as “You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs/ and the poppy-petalled metaphysics?” (Line 1), “Federico, do you remember/ from under the ground/ where the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth?” (Line 20-23) and “And you will ask: why doesn’t his poetry/ speak of dreams and leaves/ and the great volcanoes of his native land?” (Lines 72-74) His questions point out the change that was induced in Spain by the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and relate a sense of personal investment and despair. He even mentions his fellow poets like Rafael Alberti and Federico Garcia Lorca-who was killed in the Spanish Civil War.

            The imagery used in “Explico algunas cosas” is another aspect of the poems form that delivers a powerful message. Neruda starts his poem with images of how Spain was before the war. Lofty and beautiful images such as “a suburb of Madrid, with bells, / and clocks and trees.” (Lines 7-9), “the house of flowers” (Line 14), and “good-looking house/ with its dogs and children.” (Lines 16-17) appear. This is later juxtaposed with the powerful imagery of fire and blood: “And one morning all that was burning… leapt out of the earth / devouring human beings-” (Lines 40-44), and “see the blood in the streets.” (Line 75) Such images are repeated throughout the poem to stress the brutality and realities of the war. Neruda’s “poems were never intended to be merely script or signs on a printed page but were to be uttered and declaimed in order to elicit a response.” (Frontline 1) The poem is an example of avant-garde poetry and its political subject matter meant to make a formidable statement in society.

Discussion Questions:

    1.   “Explico algunas cosas” made a significant statement in society not just as a poem but in the realm of politics. How does a poem about an event like the Spanish Civil War give emphasis to the event itself versus a more factual depiction of an event in mediums such as newspapers and Newsreels? Does it make a stronger impact?

    2.  The form of “Explico algunas cosas” utilizes repetition in certain stanzas to emphasize imagery like “the blood in the streets” (Line 75, 77, 78) as well as allusions to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War. How does the form manifest itself into an impact for the poem, which is strong enough to induce a response for the people suffering and those watching what went on in the Spanish Civil War and its consequences?

Work Cited

Carroll, Peter. "Psychology & Ideology In The Spanish Civil War: The Case Of The Abraham                   Lincoln Brigade." Antioch Review 52.2 (1994): 219. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct.           2016.

Fountain, James. "The Notion Of Crusade In British And American Literary Responses To The                 Spanish Civil War." Journal Of Transatlantic Studies (Routledge) 7.2 (2009): 133-147. Academic       Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Maurya, Vibha, and Vijaya Kataraman. "The People's Poet." The People's Poet. Frontline                           Magazine, Aug. 2004. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Neruda, Pablo. "I’M EXPLAINING A FEW THINGS (poem) - Pablo Neruda - Chile - Poetry                   International." I’M EXPLAINING A FEW THINGS (poem) - Pablo Neruda - Chile -Poetry                 International. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Pablo, Neruda. “Pablo Neruda recita Explico Algunas Cosas.” Youtube, uploaded by Poemas del               alma, 11 April 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzgmSsyEgtk.

"Pablo Neruda." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"Stars In His Eyes." Commentary 141.7 (2016): 1-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct.                 2016.