JUAN RAMÓN JIMÉNEZ: BIOGRAPHY, STAGES, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) was an outstanding Spanish poet recognized worldwide for his famous work Platero y Yo. He belonged to the Generation of 1914, also known as Novecentismo, however, the development of his work was also linked to Modernism.

The character of Juan Ramón Jiménez's poetry is summed up in the search for truth, and also in reaching perpetuity. Through the themes that he constantly developed in his poems, such as reality and love, he found beauty, which for him was the source of all precision.

Juan Ramón Jiménez. Source: UnknownUnknown author, via Wikimedia Commons

The scholars of his work divided it into three stages: the sensitive, the intellectual and the true. In this way the understanding of his poems becomes easier and more precise; because they are related in turn to stages of his life. Without a doubt, Jiménez is a must-read for new generations.

Biography

Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón was born on December 23, 1881 in the municipality of Moguer (Huelva-Spain). The poet's parents were Víctor Jiménez and Purificación Mantecón López-Parejo, both of whom were dedicated to the wine business. From an early age Juan Ramón demonstrated a passion for learning.

Academic training

The first years of Juan Ramón Jiménez's training were attended at the Enseñanza de San José school, in the city of Huelva. At 10 years of age, he obtained outstanding grades in the public education teaching center known to this day as La Rábida.

He studied high school at the Colegio de San Luis de Gonzaga, together with the Society of Jesus. In this institution he obtained the title of Bachelor of Arts. For a while the future poet was convinced that he wanted to be a painter, so he decided to move to Seville.

Once in the city of Seville, Juan Ramón Jiménez began to frequent the Ateneo's library, and he realized his great vocation and passion for writing and poetry. So he wasted no time, and began to unleash a series of prose and verse writings. He also dedicated himself to writing for print media.

At the age of 18 he made the decision to enroll at the University of Seville to study law. Soon after, he deserted. In 1900 he went to Madrid, and at the age of 19 he published two works: Almas de Violeta and Ninfeas. From that moment the poet had a life that happened.

Times of darkness

In the year that Jiménez began to publish his first works, the death of his father surprised him in such a way that he fell into a deep depression. Added to that was the fact that the family lost their entire fortune. All this due to a dispute in court, where the then-called Banco Bilbao won.

The darkness in the life of the writer forced his family to admit him to a sanatorium, to recover from the depressive process. At first he was admitted to a hospital in the south-west of France, in Bordeaux; some time later, they received him in a clinic in the Spanish capital.

A poet between loves

After having recovered and found the light again in 1902, Juan Ramón Jiménez began a stage in his life of love affairs. He fell in love with a young woman known as Blanca Hernández Pinzón, who was his first love and the inspiring muse of many of his verses.

Juan Ramón Jiménez School. Source: Ricardo Ricote Rodrí…

However, for a time he became a seducer. There were many women who lengthened their list of ladies. So all those love affairs were enough material to inspire him when he wrote the 104 poems that made up his Libros de Amor, between 1911 and 1912.

Some time later, in 1903, Juan Ramón met Luisa Grimm in Madrid, an American married to an important Spaniard. She was characterized by her intelligence and beauty, which made the poet fall in love with her charms. It is known that they were related by letters for eight years.

A few years later, his inseparable companion, the Spanish linguist and writer Zenobia Camprubí Aymar, entered the poet's life. They got married in 1913. The wife became Juan Ramón's great love, as well as being his most faithful collaborator.

Time in exile

In 1936 the Civil War broke out in Spain. The writer was in favor of the Republic. Faced with the crisis that the country experienced, he made the decision together with his wife to give shelter to several children who had been left without their parents. This was the time of the "intellectual" phase towards the "sufficient" of his work.

The war filled Juan Ramón Jiménez with fear, due to the fact that an ambush was undertaken against the writers and intellectuals of the time, considering them a threat; all this on the part of the socialists. The couple left Spain for Washington, United States.

The time in exile was hard for Juan Ramón. The writer went through several bouts of depression and had to be hospitalized. But not everything was black; at that time, both he and his wife served as university professors. While the poet was inspired to continue writing.

Death

The spouses traveled for a time to various countries in South America. In 1950 they settled in Puerto Rico; There they gave classes at the main University of the Puerto Rican country. In 1956, three days after being named as the Nobel Prize for Literature, his wife died.

Monument to Juan Ramón Jiménez. Source: Zarateman, from Wikimedia Commons

The death of his beloved devastated the poet, and he could never recover. Two years later, on May 29, 1958, the poet died in Puerto Rico. The literary world mourned his death. The remains of the writer were transferred to his native country. To this day the tributes continue in his memory.

Stages in his work

The poetic work of Juan Ramón Jiménez has been divided into three fundamental stages:

- Sensitive stage (1898-1916)

This first stage of the poet's literary life is in turn structured in two parts. One goes to 1908, while the second to 1916. In the first, Jiménez was strongly influenced by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and, also, by the Modernism movements and symbolism.

At this stage the writer made a descriptive work of the interior landscape, that is, the one that refers to the soul of the human being. The treatment of poetry is full of emotion and a lot of feeling. Rimas (1902), Sad Arias (1903), Far Gardens (1904) and Elegías (1907), belonged to this division.

The second division of the sensitive stage, which lasted until 1916, consisted of consonant rhymes, hendecasyllable or major art verses and some sonnets. In addition, it had some nuances of eroticism and lust.

The following works belong to this category: Libros de amor (1910-1911), La soledad sonora (1911), Laberinto (1913), his famous and famous Platero y yo (1914) and Estío (1916). The end of this stage meant the poet's departure from Modernism.

- Intellectual stage (1916-1936)

This is the stage where Juan Ramón Jiménez read and studied English writers such as William Yeats, William Blake, Percy Shelley and Emili Dickinson. Also, it was the time when he first went to America. It was also the time where he was related to the Generation of 1914.

The intellectual stage was marked by an important event in the personal life of Juan Ramón Jiménez: the sea. The poet related it to life, joy, loneliness and the eternal. It was a constant symbol in each of his writings.

It is the stage of depth, of spiritual growth. The writer felt a prevailing desire to save himself from death, which is why he refers to his tireless search for the eternal. So he put aside poetic musicality, and concentrated on beauty and purity.

From this stage they are: Diary of a newly married poet (1916), First poetic anthology (1917), Eternities (1918), Stone and sky (1919), Poetry (1917-1923) and Beauty (1917-1923). In this phase the writer ventured to write in free verses.

- Sufficient or true stage (1937-1958)

This is the stage of exile. The interest in beauty and perfection continued to be an important point in this phase. His desire to achieve spiritual transcendence led him to identify himself in a unique way with God. It was the time of new words, and of a particular way of expressing oneself.

They belong to this period: Animal de fondo (1949), Third poetic anthology (1957), On the other side (1936-1942) and God wanted and desiring (1948-1949). At this time he wrote Guerra en España, a work that was not published.

Style

The poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez has particular characteristics. He stood out at first for his relationship with the Modernism current, and later for the separation he had from this movement. He sought to express the essence of being, through a spiritual transformation.

He made a landscape description, but not from the exterior ornament, of the landscape that is walked or observed, but of the one that the human being carries inside. So beauty was always a goal. On the other hand, he made use of symbols to express analogies and meanings of intimate essence.

There was in Juan Ramón Jiménez a prevailing need to be part of the eternal. He knew that writing would last in time. He made it clear that poetry produced knowledge, because in it was the reality of things embodied with nuances of love, pain, hope and musicality.

Complete works

Juan Ramón Jiménez's work is extensive. It is a mandatory reference within Spanish literature, which managed to become universal with Platero y Yo.

Most relevant works

Some of the most relevant are mentioned in chronological order below, and we will go on to describe some of them:

Nymphaeas (1900), Souls of Violet (1900), Rhymes (1902), Sad Arias (1902), Far Gardens (1902), Pure Elejías (1908), Intermediate Elejías (1909), Green Leaves (1909), Magic Poems and Dolientes (1909), Lamentable Elejías (1910) and Spring Ballads (1910).

Also part of his extensive literature: La Soledad Sonora (1911), Pastorales (1911), Melancolía (1912), Laberinto (1913), Platero y Yo (1914), Estío (1916), Spiritual Sonnets (1917), Diario de a Newly Married Poet (1917) and Platero y Yo (1917) was republished in full edition.

Plaque of the street «Juan Ramón Jiménez». Source: Asqueladd

They cannot be left aside: Eternidades (1918), Piedra y Cielo (1919), Second Poetic Anthology (1922), Poetry (1923), Beauty (1923), Song (1935), Voces de mi Copla (1945), La Estación Total (1946), Coral Gables Romances (1948), Background Animal (1949) and A Meridian Hill (1950).

Some brief descriptions

- Nymphaeas

This book of poems is made up of thirty-five poems. Five hundred copies were reproduced at the time of its publication. The prologue or atrium, as Juan Ramón Jiménez himself called it, was made up of a verse by the poet Rubén Darío.

Sunrise:

"He stood

the wheel

of the night…

A quiet tape

of soft violets

hugging loving

to the pale earth.

The flowers sighed when they came out of their sleep, Intoxicated the dew of their essences… ”.

- Sad arias

Arias tristes belonged to the first stage of the works of Juan Ramón Jiménez. In him a notable influence of the poetry of the Spanish Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer is observed. Assonance rhymes predominate, in the same way there is a presence of melancholy.

The use of symbols is present. Night, death and loneliness are noted through a leading poet. It refers to itself. It is an expression of inner and personal feelings. Here is a fragment of Arias Tristes:

"I will die, and the night

sad, serene and quiet

the world will sleep in the rays

of its lonely moon.

My body will be yellow

and through the open window

a cool breeze will come in

asking for my soul.

I do not know if there will be someone who sobs, near my black box, or who gives me a long kiss

between caresses and tears ”.

- Pure Elejias

In Pure Elegies the poet made use of that characteristic so characteristic of him to make changes in words or in words with the intention of creating his own language; in this case, G for J. In terms of content, this work is full of melancholy and intimacy.

Juan Ramón Jiménez began to make use of the Serventesian and Alexandrian verses with this collection of poems. The first refers to verses of major art, which are generally consonants. While the Alexandrinos are composed of fourteen syllables, with characteristic accents.

This is an autobiographical representation. In it the author reflected the inner passage of being. Bécquer is a marked influence, as well as Modernism and symbols. The following is a sample of the poet's nostalgic expression:

"Sweet smelling roses, let the green ivy enter

you give the blue night your withered elegance;

like yours, the essence of my life is lost

on a sad night of breeze and fragrance.

If the star was not made of such hard silver,

if it were not the grave of one of such strong snow, and your smell Oh roses! I flourished in the height

and your smell, oh my soul! Give life to my death.

-

With Magical and Painful Poems, Juan Ramón Jiménez once again used the exchange of words, G for J. This work was written when he was about twenty-six years old, and had just come out of one of the hospitalizations after one of his relapses due to depression.

It is an expression of his experiences and memories of his homeland, Moguer. As in many of his works nostalgia is present. The landscape, the customs of the field, as well as daily life, are present aspects of his Magic and Sorrowful Poems.

"Francina is white and sweet, like a white rose

that had blue in the pearls of water, like a white violet that will still remember

having lived in the midst of purple violets…

Oh, his feet-snow, marble-down the hidden paths

That they leave, vaguely, lost in the grass;

Oh her breasts, her shoulders, her regal hair, His hands that caress the spring that enters! ”.

- The sound loneliness

This work belongs to the time when the poet spent time in Moguer, after suffering a personal and existential crisis. This work combines melancholy with alegrías, where the author describes the moments lived that move the inner fiber. It is mostly composed of Alexandrian verses.

"Come to me things, as men pass

for the first crucible of eternal harmony, and they will still climb the scale of countless crucibles

to bathe his temples in the Supreme Spirit;

come to me the ripe things of harmony, full of rhythms and wise tremors, who already know the passage of God, like the waves, like the stubborn stones of deep thoughts

that between the blue distance become fantasy, and near and far, they carry the march with which they fly

of the immense Creation of the creeping wings… ”.

- Platero and I

This is the famous work of Juan Ramón Jiménez, where he tells the story of a donkey named Platero. It is partly made up of some memories the author has from his homeland. The book had two editions; the first was 136 pages, while the second in 1917, had 138 chapters.

Platero y yo is characterized by the variety and breadth of vocabulary. In addition, the author dared to invent words, which makes the work that is for adults, also attractive for the little ones. On the other hand, metaphors, similes, exclamations and adjectives are present.

“Platero is small, hairy, soft; so soft on the outside that you would say all cotton, that does not have bones. Only the jet mirrors of his eyes are hard like two black glass beetles…

He is tender and cuddly like a boy, a girl… but strong and dry as stone… ”.

- Summer

It is one of the poetic works of Juan Ramón Jiménez that supposes a kind of sick nostalgia, which, as has been exposed in previous lines, has been present in most of the poet's works. They consider it a poetic diary, with nuances of unease.

The poems are made up of assonance rhymes and eight-syllable verses. Also the author returned to make a little use of the free verses. The poet asserted at some point that Estío was a book of "blood and ashes" and therefore considered it one of his best literary works.

"It is not known how far your love will go, because it is not known where the venero is

from your heart.

You are ignored

you are infinite, like the world and me ”.

- Spiritual sonnets

It was written before the previous title, but was published a year later. The poems that make up the work are composed of hendecasyllable verses, which gives them a soft tone due to the accentuation on the sixth syllable. The maximum inspiration in this work by Juan Ramón Jiménez was his wife Zenobia.

"I put my will, in his armor

of pain, work and purity, at every gate of the fortress

because you tend to enter my bitterness.

Tender delight messages

I listen around, in the delicacy

of the green field in flower… ”.

- Diary of a newly married poet

It is related to the trip that Juan Ramón Jiménez made to America. It is a book of wonder, emotions and impressions. Contains texts in verse and prose; free verses and silvas are the main characteristics of the writing. It is the personal discovery that Juan Ramón Jiménez del Mar made in the company of his wife.

“Everything is less! The sea

from my imagination it was the great sea;

the love of my soul alone and strong

it was just love.

More out i am

I am of everything, being more inside

of everything I was alone, I was alone

–Oh sea, oh love– the most! ”.

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4. Juan Ramón Jiménez (2016). Spain: Instituto Cervantes. Recovered from: cervantes.es
5. Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. (2004-2018). Juan Ramón Jiménez. (N / a): Biographies and Lives: The Online Biographical Encyclopedia. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.