Examples of Modernism Literature

The literature of modernism is the set of literary works that were written in modernism, a movement that occurred between 1880 and 1920 in Latin America and which was characterized by a renewal of language and form, an exotic content, the use of symbols and sensory images and refinement. For example: "Nocturne", by Rubén Darío.

The authors of modernism sought to differentiate themselves from some contemporary literary currents, such as the realism, naturalism and romanticism, but they used elements from others with which they felt identified. Such is the case of Parnassianism, from which they took the refinement of beauty, and of symbolism, from which they adapted musicality and the use of symbols.

In addition, the rejection of literature and the reality of the present led writers to use forms and words from the past or to invent new ones. For example, in the case of language, cultisms (classical Latin and Greek words) or neologisms (new and invented terms).

The poetry It is the genre in which modernism stood out the most, because the poems are the texts in which there was more formal experimentation. However, in the narrative, that is, in the

Chronicles, the stories and the novels, there was also renovation, for example, poetic resources were introduced in the prose.

The beginning of the literature of this movement is related to the publication of Blue…, by Rubén Darío, because in this book of poems and short stories are the central characteristics of modernism, for example, art as beauty, the use of colors to symbolize feelings and concepts and the experimentation of the meter in poetry and the way in prose.

• See also: modernist poems

Characteristics of the literature of modernism

All the characteristics of modernism are crossed by the objective of creating a new and different literature from that of the present, therefore, elements from other cultures, from the past or those that are completely new creations are sought. new.

• Topics. The themes are very varied and show the evasion of reality and the rejection of the literature of the present. The most prominent are skepticism, idealized love, cosmopolitanism, sensitivity, melancholy, self-expression, sensuality, boredom, art and poetry. In addition, it is very common that there is syncretism or amalgamation of themes from different cultures using the description of exotic places or of the mythology and history of different societies, such as the Greco-Roman, the Oriental, the African, the Nordic and that of the original peoples. However, some authors refer to themes linked to reality in chronicles and stories.
• Form. The form generally shows a rejection of the literature of the present, although procedures from Parnassianism and symbolism are used. In relation to the metric, new verses are used, free verse and blank verse, and old verses of Latin and medieval literature, such as the Alexandrian verse (of fourteen syllables) or the verses of nine or twelve o'clock syllables. In addition, compositions from the Spanish Golden Age are also used, for example, the sonnet.
• Language renewal. The language is also crossed by the inclusion of elements from the past, since they are incorporated cultisms (words from Latin and classical Greek) and archaisms (old words); of foreign terms, such as gallicisms (French words); and completely new and invented words, that is, neologisms. With this renewal, words cease to be an object of daily communication, to become an artistic and aesthetic object.
• Style. The style is precious, because there is a concern for aesthetics and beauty; aristocratic, because it differs from the style of ordinary language; and ornamental, because there is an abundance of rhetorical figures, painting procedures and musicality (produced by rhythm and rhythm). rhyme).
• Rhetorical figures Y literary resources. Figures of speech and literary devices are present throughout the literature of modernism, as they are used for aesthetic effect. The most used are:

• sensory images. They are descriptions that evoke everything that can be perceived by the senses, such as colors, smells, sounds, tastes and textures. For example: The scent of roses.
• Synesthesia. It is the mixture of two sensations or a sensation with a concept or a feeling. For example: A bitter truth.
• Alliteration. It is the repetition of one or several sounds. For example: La heata of hea hetake.
• adjective. It is the use of one or several adjectives. For example: Sun sparkly Y resplendent.
• Metaphor. It is the relationship established between a real term (what is referred to) and an imaginary one (the one that designates the real term, but with a figurative meaning). For example: Ice soul.

Examples of modernism literature

Examples of poetry of modernism

1. “Caupolican”, by Rubén Darío (Nicaragua, 1867-1916)

It is a formidable thing that the old race saw:
sturdy tree trunk on the shoulder of a champion
wild and battle-hardened, whose beefy mace
brandished the arm of Hercules, or the arm of Samson.

His hair for a helmet, his chest for a breastplate,
could such a warrior, from Arauco in the region,
Spearman of the woods, Nimrod who hunts all,
hamstring a bull, or strangle a lion.

He walked, he walked, he walked. He saw the light of day,
she saw the pale afternoon, she saw the cold night,
and always the tree trunk on the back of the titan.

«The Toqui, the Toqui!» cries the shaken caste.
He walked, he walked, he walked. The dawn said: "Enough",
and the high forehead of the great Caupolicán rose.

1. Fragment of "Tristissima nox", by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico, 1859-1895)

Yo

Time of immense peace! Nature
delivered in the evening hours
to sleepless goblins and fierce ghosts,
brief moments doze seems
waiting for dawn. ride the wind,
with motionless wings, on land:
the oak sleeps; the sleepy wolf
it stretches out docilely and closes its eyes.
In the immense dream, the brief dream
that do not shake the torrential rains
and they only disturb in the harsh winter
slow drizzles or light rain.
It is the immense dream: step by step
the panther that recently devoured
to the miserable res, search in silence
the stinking den: no longer heard
of the fast snake the whistle,
and between great lights, which feed
the crackling cracks of the oak,
lie down the traveler of the woods
next to his old carbine.
Everything rests: flees through the air,
after diabolical witch, the agile goblin;
the light approaches, evil ends,
souls rise and peace descends!

1. "Of the tyrant", by José Martí (Cuba, 1853-1895)

of the tyrant? of the tyrant 
Say everything, say more!, and nail 
With the fury of a slave hand 
About his disgrace to the tyrant.

Of the bug? well from the mistake 
Say the club, say the sidewalks 
Dark: say what you can 
Of the tyrant and of error.

Of woman? may well be 
May you die of her bite;
But don't tarnish your life 
Saying bad woman!

1. "You were sleeping", by Delmira Agustini (Uruguay, 1886-1914)

Embedded in my hands it shone
as a strange prize, your head;
I devised her cases, and appreciated
light to light, shadow to shadow its beauty.

In your eyes maybe he was concentrating
life, like a filter of sadness
in two deep glasses… I dreamed
that your head was a marble flower...

When on your moon-pearl forehead,
like a monster in the peace of a lagoon
a huge taciturn reverie arose...

oh! your head scared me... it flowed
her an unknown life... It seemed
I don't know what anonymous and nocturnal world...

1. Fragment of "The song of anguish", by Leopoldo Lugones (Argentina, 1874-1938)

(…)

And suddenly, from the closed door
A tremulous breath hit me on the back of the neck.
And I knew that was the bad thing
of the lonely houses and I looked blankly,
telling me: «It is an absurd
superstition, a ridiculous fear.
And I looked at the wall impassive,
and I noticed that the wind had stopped outside.

Oh that external helplessness and enormous
of silence!
That selfishness behind closed doors
that I felt in the whole town.
I just didn't dare
to look back, although it was true
that there was no one; but never
Oh never, I would have looked in fear!
Of the horrible fear
to stay dead.
Little by little, vegetating
electric Chill Swarm,
they bristled from my head
the hair,
one by one I felt them,
and that strange life was another torment.

And I looked at my hands
on the table, what extraordinary members;
my hands so pale,
dead man's hands
And I noticed that I didn't feel
my heart for a long time.
And I felt that I lost you forever,
with the horrible certainty of being awake.
And I screamed your name
with an inner scream,
with a strange voice
that it wasn't mine and that it was very far away.
And then that scream
I felt that my heart deep inside,
like a bunch of tears,
he dissolved into beneficial tears.
And that it was a pain of your absence
what he had daydreamed about.

1. "Night", by Amado Nervo (Mexico, 1870-1919)

Mysterious mother of all genesis, mother
portentous, mute and faithful of sublime souls;
immeasurable nest of all suns and worlds;
piélago in which the fiats of all causes tremble!
Oh enormous road that leads straight to the enigma;
kingdom of the sad, lap of our hope;
taciturn shelter from the evils of love without remedy;
mourning godmother of beautiful divinations;
realm where the azure wings of dreams fly:
be my mirror pupils that copy your orbs;
be your silence subtle communion of my life;
be your arcana divine sting of my mind;
be your remote truth, after the grave, my inheritance!

1. Fragment of "The Camels", by Guillermo Valencia (Colombian, 1873-1943)

Two languid camels, with elastic necks,
with light green eyes, and silky blonde skin,
necks gathered, noses swollen,
with great steps they measure a sandbank of Nubia.

They raised their heads to get their bearings, and then
the sleepy advance of her hairy legs
–under the reddish dombo of that zenith of fire–
they stopped silent, at the foot of the cisterns...

Five years barely carry under the magnificent blue,
and already her eyes burn with the fever of torment:
maybe they read, wise, fuzzy hieroglyph
lost among the ruins of the infamous monument.

Wandering taciturn on the sleeping carpet,
when she closes her eyes on the dying day,
Under the black virgin who led them in the shade
They copied the parade of melancholy… (…)

1. "Nostalgia", by José Santos Chocano (Peru, 1875-1934)

ten years ago
that I travel the world,
I have lived little!
I am very tired!
Whoever lives in a hurry does not really live;
who does not take root cannot bear fruit.
To be a river that runs, to be a cloud that passes,
leaving no memory, no trace,
it's sad; and sadder for those who feel
cloud high, river deep.
I would like to be a tree better than to be a bird;
I would like to be wood better than to be smoke...
And to the trip that tires
I prefer the terroir.
the native city with its bell towers;
archaic balconies, old portals
and narrow streets, as if the houses
They didn't want to be too far apart either.
I'm on the shore
of a steep path.
I watch the road snake
That on every mountain; turn a knot;
And then I understand that the road is long,
that the terrain is rough,
that the slope is arduous:
that the landscape is mustio…
Mister! I'm tired of wandering, I already feel
nostalgia, I already long to rest very close
of mine… They will all surround my seat
to tell you my sorrows and triumphs;
and I the way I traveled
a sticker album, I'll gladly tell
the thousand and one nights of my adventures
and I will end in this sentence of misfortune:
I have lived little!
I am very tired!

1. Fragment of "The poem of Okusai", by José Juan Tablada (Mexico, 1871-1945)

From the God to the samurai,
from the eagle to the bamboo,
Okusai drew everything
in the "Mangua" and in the "Guafú".

And the plant and the animal
Now they live on paper
with the star and the mineral,
for the glory of his brush.

insect antennae,
the cloud, the wave, the flame,
and the incredible aspects
from the summit of Fuzi Yama;

and the bridges and the waterfalls
by the temple in the sunken forest,
and the charm of the inns
along the Tokaido.

From the star to the snail,
from the pearl to the mud toad,
Okusai drew it all,
from the larvae to the Sun! (…)

1. “Magna voce per umbras”, by Antonio Machado (Spain, 1875-1939)

A boat: so unique
that pretends to the incautious mind
the vision of a nautical dream
random pilgrim.

From the prow of him, if he struggle,
of the wind does not drown them,
a questioning voice arises,
Another voice comes up and answers:
A voice that asks: where?
and another voice that commands: vogue!

fan roaring the titan
Atlante its fierce wave
like a big belly that was
to give birth to Leviathan:

And between the blows that go
warping the sea that drowns,
a questioning voice arises,
Another voice comes up and answers:
A voice that asks: where?
and another voice that commands: vogue!

Poor spirit that advances
with his galley for the 
oceans, towards a God
and a ribazo that is not enough!

Vainly your hope
with the abyss dialogue!
a questioning voice arises,
Another voice comes up and answers:
A voice that asks: where?
and another voice that commands: vogue!

Examples of narrative of modernism

1. "A coffee", by Julián del Casal (Cuba, 1863-1893). In this chronicle a café is described in a pessimistic way, because it is a place that produces boredom and in which everything is ephemeral. In addition, modernist poetry resources are used, such as symbols to refer to moods, pictorial procedures and visual and auditory images.
2. "Thanksgiving", by José Martí (Cuba, 1853-1895). This chronicle describes how Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States, criticizing capitalism and modernization and commenting on characteristics of this country related to the population, society, economy and life everyday.
3. "In search of pictures", by Rubén Darío (Nicaragua, 1867-1916). This chronicle narrates the journey of an artist and contrasts the chaotic image of the city with the description of the tranquility of nature.
4. broken idols, by Manuel Díaz Rodríguez (Venezuela, 1871-1927). This novel tells the story of Alberto Soria, a sculptor, who finds it difficult to adapt to his social environment. In addition, there is a criticism of the society, politics and culture of the time.
5. "The Last War", by Amado Nervo (Mexico, 1870-1919). This story tells a dystopian story, in which animals rise up against people and create a totalitarian and repressive government system.

Interactive test to practice

Follow with:

• baroque literature
• Literary trends
• types of poetry
• avant-garde poems
• Dada poems
• Poems of Romanticism

References

• Baker, P. (2017). Modernism. In Moreiras, A. & Villacañas, J. (Eds.), Fundamental concepts of current Latin American thought. new library.
• Ferrada A, R. (2009). Modernism as a literary process. Literature and linguistics, (20), 57-71. Available in: Scielo
• Litvak, L. (1981). modernism. Taurus Editions.
• Santa Cruz Achurra, E. (2015). The Chronicles of José Martí and the Origin of Modern Latin American Journalism. Literature and linguistics, (31), 51-68. Available in: Scielo