GREIFF'S LION: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

León de Greif (1895-1976) was a Colombian writer and poet, considered one of the most outstanding intellectuals of the 20th century for the linguistic innovations in his texts and, at the same time, for the use of ancient words.

His work stood out for being creative and ingenious, loaded with symbolism and a particular sound. Regarding language, the writer combined the cultured with the new and the old, which gave his writings a certain difficulty to be understood. His literature was included within the avant-garde movement.

Greiff lion. Source: Culture Bank of the Republic, via Wikimedia Commons

Some of the most prominent titles of the unique work of this writer were: Misrepresentations, Book of signs, Variations around nothing and Prosas de Gaspar. The writer signed several of his works under pseudonyms such as "Gaspar de la Nuit", "Leo le Gris", "Matías Aldecoa" and "Guisao".

Biography

Birth and family

Francisco de Asís León Bogislao de Greiff Haeusler was born on July 22, 1895 in Medellín. He came from a cultured, middle-class family that originated from the mixture of cultures such as German, Spanish and Swedish. His father was named Luis de Greiff Obregón and his mother was named Amalia Haeusler Rincón.

Studies

León de Greiff attended his first years of studies in his hometown. At the Liceo Antioqueño he completed high school and high school and it was at that time that his passion for letters and literature awakened. After overcoming this stage, he entered the National School of Mines to study engineering, but he only attended three years because he was expelled.

Faculty of Mines of the UNAL, place of studies of León de Griff. Source: SajoR, via Wikimedia Commons

The reasons for the removal of Greiff and some of his colleagues were rebellion and disintegration. Soon after, he decided to start a law degree at the Republican University of Bogotá and, in 1913, he began working as an assistant to the journalist and lawyer Rafael Uribe Uribe.

Greiff and Los Panidas

The young León returned to Medellín after his stay in Bogotá and began to develop his literary career. He began his work in February 1915 with the creation of the literary group Los Panidas.

The fundamental objectives of this literary group were poetic renewal and opposition to established literary norms. The writer worked together with twelve other young people between the ages of eighteen and twenty.

The Panidas carried out the publication of a magazine with the same name and Greiff served as editor of the first three installments. There he had the opportunity to present the poem “Ballad of the ecstatic owls”. The life of that literary movement was short, since with just four months of foundation they ceased their activities.

Other tasks

León de Greiff had to dedicate himself to other tasks in order to support himself financially. So, in 1916 he worked as an accounting clerk at the Central Bank and then he served as head of the construction of the Antioquia Railroad, in the Bolombolo region. Later this area became the inspiration for some of his verses.

Back in literature

The writer resumed his passion for literature in 1925 when he joined the modern literary movement Los Nuevos. There he met prominent Colombian intellectuals, such as: Alberto Lleras Camargo, Germán Arciniegas, Rafael Maya and Luis Vidales.

At that time he published several writings in the group's magazine and began his professional consolidation. In the mid-1920s León de Greiff published his first book, which he entitled Misrepresentations. In that work his creativity and capacity for linguistic innovations was demonstrated.

Personal life

In the author's life there was also room for love. When he was sixteen he met Matilde Bernal Nichols, with whom he began a dating relationship and then they married in 1927. The couple had four children, Astrid, Boris, Hjalmar and Axel. They remained together until her death.

Professional boom

León de Greiff had professional growth in the 1930s with the publication of several books. Between 1930 and 1937 he released the following three works: Book of Signs, Variations Around Nothing and Prosas de Gaspar. From 1940 to 1945 he taught literature classes at the National University of Colombia.

Last years and death

The Colombian poet dedicated the last years of his life to writing poetry and was the cultural representative of his country in Sweden in the late 1950s. His latest publications included Under the Sign of Leo and Nova et Vetera. León de Greiff died as a result of an accident on July 11, 1976 in Bogotá at the age of eighty.

Awards and honours

- North Star in 1964, Sweden.

- Order of Boyacá in 1965.

- National Prize for Literature in 1970.

- Tribute from the National College of Journalists. Given by the writer Gabriel García Márquez.

- Jorge Zalamea Medal in 1971.

- Symbolic Ax of Antioquia.

- General Santander Civic Medal in 1971.

- Antioquia Award in 1973.

- Honorary Member of the Instituto Caro y Cuervo in 1974.

- Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Universidad del Valle.

- Order of San Carlos.

- Tribute from the National Association of Financial Institutions in 1975.

- In Venezuela, a prize was named after him.

Style

León de Greiff's literary work belonged to the avant-garde and modernist currents. His texts were characterized by the use of cultured, innovative and archaic words. The writer also gave his poetry symbolism, word play and sound that distinguished it from others and made its understanding complex.

Medellín city, birthplace of León de Greiff. Source: DAIRO CORREA, via Wikimedia Commons

The poetic work of this author has been considered as genuine, witty, imaginative, dynamic, intense and at times philosophical. Greiff was influenced by his readings of European writers such as Mallarmé, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud.

Thematic

Leon de Grieff wrote in his works about poetry itself and focused on giving it a different perspective through satire. He also wrote about love as a frequent and totally necessary feeling in order to exist. In some of his verses he reflected this sentiment by placing only the exclamation point that closes.

The author made his perception of the feminine, of the woman, emanate from love. In it he consecrated an ideal being with broad and symbolic characteristics. So the verses in relation to his lips, shoulders, hands, voice and eyes were notorious. All this without losing the characteristics of his style and musicality.

Plays

- Misrepresentations (1925).

- Book of signs (1930).

- Variations around nothing (1936).

- Prosas de Gaspar (1937).

- Fárrago (1954).

- Under the sign of leo (1957).

- Nova et vetera (1973).

Brief description of some of his works

Misrepresentations

It was the first book published by León de Greiff and its full title was Misrepresentations of Leo Legris, Matías Aldecoa y Gaspar, primer mamotreto 1915-1922. With this work, the writer revealed his intention to change or deform the guidelines established in Colombian literature at the beginning of the 20th century.

With the word "mamotreto" the author wanted to make clear the "abnormality" of his poems for not aligning with the syntax and linguistics of that time. There was irony in his work and a totally defiant intention. The genius and uniqueness of León were established in this first publication.

Sign book

This second work by the Colombian writer had a satirical and musical tone in terms of the use of language. He followed the same parameters as the first: to challenge, transform and renew poetry. Leon de Greiff made a mocking comparison of the poets of the time using penguins as symbols.

Variations around nothing

With this work, León de Greiff made a satirical criticism of poetry and the people who received it, that is, the readers. He considered that the poetic work of the time was stiff, so he insisted on writing freely, applying word games and a different metric.

Prosas of Gaspar

León de Greiff remained firm in his poetic conception and with this work he returned to treat the themes in depth, but without losing the ironic aspect. He continued to debate the concept and meaning of poetry. They were dynamic verses full of sound.

Fragment of some of his poems

"Cancioncilla"

"I wanted once and forever

-I loved her since ancient times-

to that woman, in whose eyes

I drank my joy and my hurt…

I wanted once - nobody wanted that way

Nor will he want to, which is arduous endeavor-

to that woman, in whose warm

flower lap anchored my reverie.

I wanted once - I never forgot her

alive nor dead- to that woman, in whose being of wonder

I remoried to be reborn…

And that woman is called… Nobody, Nobody knows -She does and I-.

when I die, say -only-

Who will love as he loved?

"Night song"

"In your hair is the perfume of the

night

and in your eyes its stormy light.

The taste of the night vibrates in your

throbbing mouth.

My heart, nailed on the

abenuz night.

… The night is in your dark eyes, iridescent:

constellations bustle in their vivacious

bubble.

The night is in your dark eyes, when you close them:

final night, ominous night,

witch night…

On your forehead, its latent anguish

insomniac errs, and in your loving chest his

stormy light.

In the spell-like night, spell-like

I think…

The taste of the night vibrates in your

throbbing mouth.

Your hands are two pale moons

on my forehead.

Nails in you drive me, oh night

delightful!

Night… lukewarm wood of my cross ”.

"Shorter"

"You are not leaving me, you hardly

you arrive, slight dreamy illusion, dense,

intense living flower.

My burning heart, for the harvest

he is tough and bold…; for him

dominance, soft…

My burning heart adrift…

You are not leaving me, just arriving.

If you leave me, if you fear me, you left…

when

come back, you'll come back even more lewd

and you will find me, lascivious, you

waiting…".

"Song of Rosa del Cauca"

"Oh, Rosa of the eyes

like the closed night:

and a subtle strabismus returned them

perfidious and evil azagayas

for my heart - to the bold and shy pair -, for my heart: darts, bolts and clubs!

And his eyes hurt me very sweet

velvet - black - and lust - on fire -! ”.

"The white moon… and the cold"

"The white moon… and the cold…

and the sweet heart of mine

so far… so far…

So distant his hand!

The white moon, and the cold

and the sweet heart of mine

so far…

And vague piano notes…

From the forest a nearby aroma…

And the murmur of the river…

And the sweet heart of mine

so far…!".

"Song of Dinarzada"

"You were mine, burning Dinarzada:

Your whole being was given to me

I beg!

Your whole being surrendered to me nothing!

All your fire melted into me

fire!

… What do I care about the grim course

blind!

The desolate one is fire for me

barren plain! Alígero sailed

under the disheveled storm!

All your fire melted in my fire!

Your big heart, your soul

ecstatic, your very fine spirit, at my request

they surrendered: they donated nothing to me!

Night: in your unique arms I

He delivered, Subtle Dinazarda, dream night…

You were mine, ardent Dinazarda!

All your fire melted into me

fire!".

Phrases

- “Above all, we were encouraged by a purpose of renewal. By those days poetry had become too academic. It seemed to us an old thing against which we had to fight. It was essentially this criterion of generation that we tried to impose ”.

- "The time I have lost and I have lost the trip…".

- "You are not leaving me, as soon as you reach me, slight dreamy illusion, dense, intense living flower".

- "Well, if love fled, then if love left… let's leave love and go with grief…".

- "… And let's cry a little for what was so much… for simple love, for the beloved so good, for the beloved so good, from the hands of a lily…".

- "That woman is an urn, full of mystical perfume…".

- "I loved once and for all -I loved her since ancient times- that woman, in whose eyes I drank my joy and my hurt…".

- "Poet and lover I only live to love and dream from January to January."

- "At the turn of every road, life brings me brave love."

- “I love solitude, I love silence. Please me the vague light: the gloom. I revere the exotic and absurd ”.

References

1. Greiff lion. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2019). Greiff lion. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Greiff lion. (2017). Colombia: Banrepcultural. Recovered from: encyclopedia.banrepcultural.org.
4. Martínez, W. (2019). Leon de Greiff: the discipline of the bohemian. Colombia: The Spectator. Recovered from: elespectador.com.
5. Greiff lion. (S. f.). Cuba: EcuRed. Recovered from: ecured.cu.