BLAS DE OTERO: BIOGRAPHY, POETIC STAGES, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE

Blas de Otero Muñoz (1916-1979) was a Spanish writer and poet, whose work was framed in the intimate and social lyric of the mid-twentieth century. Part of his work was influenced by his personal experiences, sometimes love was the main theme.

Otero's work was characterized by having moral and ethical features of the individual. Responsibility and freedom were decisive for human existence; his literary work was divided into three stages: religious, existential and social.

Blas de Otero, third from left to right, along with Pío, Rafael Morales and Luis Castresana. Source: Manuel María Fernández Gochi, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most important titles of the Spanish poet was Fiercely Human Angel, developed within his existentialist stage. This collection of poems was characterized by the poet's need to find new reasons to live, as well as to understand the end of life.

Biography

Birth and family

Blas was born in Bilbao on March 15, 1916, in the nucleus of a wealthy family. His parents were Armando de Otero Murueta and Concepción Muñoz Sagarminaga. The marriage produced three children, in addition to Blas. The poet had as grandparents a recognized medical professional and a captain of the navy.

Education of Blas de Otero

Otero's early years of education were led by a French teacher. In 1923 he began studying at the Maeztu Academy, directed by the mother of the educator María de Maeztu. Later he attended high school at an institution of the Society of Jesus in his hometown.

Instituto Cardenal Cisneros, where Blas graduated from high school. Source: Luis García, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1927, with the end of the Great War, the de Blas family had financial problems, so they moved to Madrid. Otero continued his baccalaureate at the Instituto Cardenal Cisneros. Sadness came into his life two years later after the death of his older brother, and in 1932 with the loss of his father.

Back to Bilbao and first literary works

Blas began to study law without the conviction that he had a vocation for it, however, the family's precarious economy led them back to Bilbao. The poet, in his hometown, studied and worked to help his mother and sisters. From that time were his first writings in print media.

His first publications were made in the newspaper El Pueblo Vasco, under the signature of “El poeta”, he also revealed his passion for poetry and with the publication of his first poems he won an award. In 1935 he obtained a law degree from the University of Zaragoza.

Blas's activities during the Spanish Civil War

After the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936, Otero joined the Basque battalion. When the fight ended, he worked as a lawyer in a company in Vizcaya, at the same time in the newspaper Hierro he wrote articles on painting and music.

During those post-war years, the literary group Alea appeared under his participation, where his most extensive work until then emerged, entitled Spiritual Canticle. Later, the poet created the group of intellectuals Nuestralia, of a more intimate nature, made up of himself and four other friends.

Activities in Nuestralia and another trip to Madrid

Within Nuestralia, Blas de Otero made his way into literature with the use of little-known resources. It is worth noting that the works of poets such as Juan Ramón Jiménez and Miguel Hernández marked his work. It was in this group of intellectuals where the poet put intertextuality into practice as a resource.

At the beginning of the 1940s, Otero decided to study again, so he quit his job as a lawyer and returned to the Spanish capital to study philosophy and letters. However, the consequences of the Civil War minimized his desire to study and he returned to Bilbao again.

Beginning of his existentialist stage

It was in 1945 that Blas de Otero reaffirmed his passion for poetry, when depression invaded his life and he decided to enter the Usúrbil sanatorium. That difficult stage of his life introduced him to the existential phase of his literature, from there arose the fiercely human Angel, Ancia and Redouble of consciousness.

View of the town of Usurbil, where the sanatorium in which Blas was admitted because of the depression was. Source: Joxemai, via Wikimedia Commons

When he left the sanatorium, the poet traveled to Paris, life smiled on him when he met Tachia Quintanar, a Spanish poet and actress, with whom he started an affair. Already in the mid-1950s, literary criticism placed him on the highest rung of post-war poetry.

Paris weather

In 1955, Blas de Otero had achieved with his poetic work the recognition and attention of intellectuals of the time. During that year he went to Paris and, despite his lonely personality, he joined the groups of Spanish exiles. In the "City of Light" began to write I ask for peace and the word.

Once again installed in Spain, he began an intense activity with the groups of workers and miners, in addition he dedicated himself to traveling through the provinces of Castilla y León. He began to write in Spanish and ended I ask for peace and the word, from 1956 and for three years he went to live in Barcelona.

Censorship of Blas in Spain

Beginning in the sixties, Blas's fame led him to travel to the Soviet Union and China, at the invitation of the National Society of Writers. In 1961 his work Ancia won the Fastenrath Prize, at the same time it was the time of prohibitions in Spain.

The Franco regime censored the works of various intellectuals. Therefore, Otero was affected and two of his literary works were published outside of Spain. One was published in Puerto Rico and was titled This is not a book, while the other was published in Paris and was called What is about Spain.

Last years of life and death

From 1964 to 1967 Otero went to live in Havana, there he married a woman named Yolanda Pina. At the end of his stay on the Caribbean island, he also ended his marriage, returned to Spain and resumed the relationship that he started years before with Sabrina de la Cruz.

Entrance of the civil cemetery of Madrid, where the remains of Blas de Otero rest. Source: OlimpiaYGF, via Wikimedia Commons

During the last years of his life, the poet published several works, including true and fictitious stories and the anthology While. Blas de Otero died on June 29, 1979 in the city of Madrid, due to a pulmonary clot; his remains rest in the cemetery of the Spanish capital.

Poetic stages

The poetic work of Blas de Otero is divided into three stages. Each of them is described below:

Religious stage

Beginning in 1935 when Otero was 19 years old, she was influenced by her Catholic beliefs and fervent faith. There are not many works from that period, however, it was the leap in growth and poetic maturity. Although he produced an extensive loose lyric, the main work was Spiritual Canticle.

The thematic content was love, which although it causes pleasure and joy, can be a cause of suffering. Furthermore, the poet expressed the unity between God and man through knowledge. It can be seen as an analogy between poetry and faith, according to the writer, both take man to a fuller place.

Existential stage

He began in the 1950s with the works Angel fiercely human, Redoble de Conciencia and Ancia. This period was related to the philosophy of existentialism where being is different from existing, in which man exists through energy, unlike objects that remain immobile.

Blas de Otero was influenced by the philosophy of Frenchman Jean Paul Sartre, which makes human beings responsible for their actions and for the pre-eminence of their freedom. It is necessary to mention that the lonely spirit of the poet and the loss of faith due to life experiences also marked that stage.

The poet I, the God you

The Oterian existential stage was characterized by the presence of the "I" referring to the poet, and the "you" related to God, as in the religious one, with the difference that God, or the divine, was not present due to the loss of faith that the author suffered.

Blas de Otero reflected his anguish and loneliness in his inner state, so he saw in poetry an opportunity for hope to live. However, the purpose of pain is to recognize others, to accept circumstances, and, according to the poet, to poetry and love.

Social stage

Blas de Otero came to develop this stage from the recognition of others or of us that he carried out in his existential phase. I mean the location of individual loneliness with the rest of humanity, where poetry opened the doors to a more caring world.

In this poetic phase, the author referred to the errors of humanity, but also emphasized the ability to face them to achieve happiness. Otero developed three times of poetry in the social stage, which were:

Historical past

This poetic time was related to the need to solve internal problems, as well as the breaking of customs and paradigms. Otero referred to the evil that religion did to society by forcing it to put aside its identity and human values.

Historical present

Otero referred to the moment in which social poetry occurred. There were three elements that made up the "I" referred to the poet, the man in his acting in history and the belief in poetry. The main reasons were: humanity, social problems and poetry as hope.

Utopian future

With this section, Blas de Otero referred to the product of the actions of the present, that is, to a future full of promises and hopes. It had to do with the constant struggle between good and bad, where good was related to morals and ethics.

Style

The literary style of Blas de Otero was characterized by a language full of expressiveness, at the same time that it was precise, clear and lyrical. It was also particular due to the use of common elements within linguistics, until reaching the most complicated and unknown.

Within the metric used by Otero were sonnets, verses and free verse. As for the extension of the content of his work, there was variety, the length and the short were constant. His work had philosophical nuances often framed within innovation.

Themes in Otero's poetry

Being Otero's work of an existentialist type, it meant that the themes developed were related to the human being, his needs, desires, values and miseries. Love was also present, oriented to the divine, to the neighbor in general, whether in a lustful or spiritual way.

Plays

Poetry

Complete work

The edition also consisted of a large number of verses from its beginnings in literature. It should be noted that it was the result of a selection by whoever was his sentimental partner and admirer of his work Sabina de la Cruz.

Fragment of

"I'm here

in front of you Tibidabo

talking watching

the land that I needed to write my homeland

it is also Europe and powerful.

I show my torso and it gilds

step sipping roma olive tree

I enter through the Arc de Bará

Suddenly I go back all over the deep

Ebro

with arm strokes I return to you

Biscay

tree that I carry and love from the root

and one day it was ruined under heaven.

Fragment of What is about Spain (1964)

“Poetry has its rights.

I know.

I'm the first to sweat ink

in front of the paper.

Poetry creates words.