RAFAEL ALBERTI: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, AWARDS AND PHRASES - GEOGRAFÍA - 2024

Rafael Alberti Merello (1902-1999) was an important Spanish writer and poet belonging to the Generation of 27. His outstanding poetic work made him worthy of several awards and recognitions, he has also been considered one of the best writers of the so-called Age Spanish Silver.

Alberti became known in the literary world through the book Marinero en tierra, a manuscript that quickly won him the National Poetry Prize. His work was characterized by the variety of themes and styles; it evolved from the simple to the complex and the sea was its strongest inspiration.

Rafael Alberti. Source: Nemo, from Wikimedia Commons

Painting and politics were also part of his life. His talent for painting led him to hold some exhibitions in important spaces in his country. Regarding political activity, he was an active member of the Communist Party of Spain, he was also elected as a deputy.

Biography

Birth and family of the poet

Rafael was born on December 16, 1902 in Cádiz, specifically in Puerto de Santa María, into a family of Italian and Irish origin. His relatives were engaged in the production of wines. His parents were Vicente Alberti and María Merello; the poet had five brothers.

Alberti's childhood and studies

Rafael Alberti's childhood was full of pleasant moments, he spent much of his time playing and exploring among the dunes and the beach with his dog Centella. His father was absent for long periods for work reasons, so his mother and his nanny took care of him and his siblings.

His first time at school was in the classrooms of the Carmelite Sisters school, later he went to San Luis Gonzaga, a school run by the Jesuits. The experience in the institution of the friars was negative, the strict teaching and submission were not inspiring for Raphael.

He frequently missed classes due to the inflexibility of education and the rules of the time. Those situations hit her free spirit, causing her serious problems with her parents and teachers. His low grades and bad behavior forced the authorities of the institution to expel him at the age of fourteen.

When he was dismissed he left high school without finishing, and decided to dedicate himself to one of his passions: painting. In 1917 he went with his family to Madrid; After visiting the Prado Museum, he began to replicate some works with the innovative style of the avant-garde current.

The birth of a poet

In 1920 Alberti lost his father, it was at that moment that his poetic feeling was born and he began to shape his first verses. From then on he dedicated himself to poetry, his indisputable vocation. However, he did not put painting aside and two years later he exhibited his works in the athenaeum of the Spanish capital.

It was at that time that his health was affected by a lung infection, so on medical recommendation he went to live for a time in Segovia, in the Sierra de Guadarrama. He took the opportunity to write the poems that gave life to his first book, Marinero en tierra.

When the poet improved, he settled back in Madrid, and his insatiable interest in poetry made him a regular visitor to the famous Residencia de Estudiantes. There he made friends with Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Federico García Lorca and Gerardo Diego.

Of hardships, poetry and politics

In 1927 the Generation of 27 had already been consolidated, with the leading participation of Alberti and other renowned intellectuals. However, the life of the poet began to suffer some vicissitudes that gave a turn to his poetic work.

His health began to be weak, and also he did not yet have financial stability; These misadventures, hand in hand with all the hardships he went through, made the poet's faith fade.

Monument to Rafael Alberti in the Plaza del Polvorista, in his town, Puerto de Santa María. Source: Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada

The existential crisis that Alberti experienced was reflected in his collection of poems: Sobre los angeles. In those moments Rafael became interested in politics, and that was what helped him to get up.

Alberti became an actor in the political situation in his country, he participated in student protests against Primo Rivera. He also agreed and openly supported the creation of the Second Republic, and joined the Communist Party. The writer managed to make poetry a bridge to change.

Two women, one marriage

Alberti began a love affair in 1924 with the Spanish painter Maruja Mallo. That union lasted six years, and was in the best style of a drama film. The poet wrote the work A cal y canto as a reflection of what was his romance with the artist.

In 1930 he met María Teresa León, a writer who was also part of the Generation of 27. Two years later the couple married, and the fruit of love was born Aitana, Alberti's first and only daughter, and his wife's third, who already had two children from a first marriage.

The poet and the Civil War

The beginning of the Civil War, in 1936, produced in Rafael Alberti a greater commitment to give a better direction to his country. With a group of friends and colleagues he carried out activities against the dictator Franco, and also used his poetry to make a call to the Spanish to resist and keep fighting.

Alberti was part of the magazine El Mono Azul, a publication sponsored by the Alliance of Antifascist Intellectuals of which he was a member. As a writer, he expressed his rejection and concern at the position of some intellectuals on the political situation in Spain.

Alberti declaiming militant poetry in San Blas. Source: Nemo, from Wikimedia Commons

In 1939 he and his wife had to leave the country for fear that the Franco regime would harm them. They first arrived in Paris, at the house of the poet Pablo Neruda, they worked at a radio station as announcers. Alberti, at that time, wrote his famous poem "The dove was wrong."

Life in exile

Soon after, in 1940 the French government considered them a threat for being communists, and took away their work permits. The couple then went to Argentina, and life began to smile again when their daughter Aitana was born in 1941.

It was in that year when the Argentine Carlos Gustavino set the music to the poem “La paloma was wrong”, and this, as a song, became very far reaching.

Chile, Uruguay and Italy were also destinations for the poet and his family while he was in exile. Alberti's literary life remained active; He continued to write poetry, and some plays such as El trebol florido and El adefesio.

In 1944 Alberti wrote a work that emerged entirely in America; High tide. In that manuscript, she combined nostalgia for the past with hope for what was to come. She also held countless conferences, talks, and recitals in various Latin American countries.

I return to spain

It was in 1977 when Alberti returned home in the company of his wife, after the death of Francisco Franco, and after living 24 years in Argentina and 14 in Italy. That same year he was elected deputy for the Communist Party, but resigned to continue with his two passions: poetry and painting.

The return to the homeland was synonymous with rejoicing; There were many tributes and recognitions that the poet received. In addition, he wrote works such as The Five Outstanding, Gulf of Shadows, Four Songs, among others. Rafael continued his travels around the world as a special guest to give lectures.

In 1988, his wife and life partner, María León, died of complications from Alzheimer's, which meant a severe emotional blow for the poet. Little by little Alberti returned to his usual life, and the following year he became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1990 he married for the second time with María Asunción Mateo, professor and graduate in philosophy and letters, who accompanied him until the end of his days.

Alberti died in his hometown, at his residence in Puerto de Santa María. The poet suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest on October 28, 1999. His ashes were thrown into the sea, which made his childhood happy.

Style in poetry

Rafael Alberti's poetic style was characterized by being changeable in terms of form and subject matter. The poet's way of expressing himself evolved as life's experiences came to him, so he went through different stages to give essence and strength to his work.

Alberti wrote poetry with traditional nuances and the current of popularism. He then went on to express the influence of Luis de Góngora. Later he approached a surrealist poetry, to later park in the political court, and, finally, in the melancholic one in his time of exile.

His first writings were based on popular poetry, where the main themes were his childhood, and his father's absence. Alberti wrote with a clear, simple, skillful and at the same time full of grace, from there he went to symbolic language and the use of free verse.

His poetry of political content had an accurate, ironic and frivolous language, and in most cases it lacked elegance. While his last poems were more sensitive, light and nostalgic, with the evocation of the distant homeland.

Finally, it can be said that the author's poetic style remained between the emotional and scathing. At the same time the writer stood out for the use of a cultured and elegant language, balanced with popular nuances. This last colloquial aspect was never left aside, nor was the influence of the circumstances he lived through.

Plays

-Poetry

The following were the most relevant titles of the poet:

- Sailor on land (1925).

- The lover (1926).

- The dawn of the wallflower (1927).

- Cal y canto (1929).

- On the angels (1929).

- I was a fool and what I have seen has made me two fools (1929).

- Slogans (1933).

- A ghost travels Europe (1933).

- Verses of agitation (1935).

- See you and not see you (1935).

- 13 bands and 48 stars. Poems of the Caribbean Sea (1936).

- Our daily word (1936).

- From one moment to another (1937).

- The explosive donkey (1938).

- Between the carnation and the sword (1941).

- Pleamar 1942-1944 (1944).

- To painting. Poem of color and line (1948).

- Coplas of Juan Panadero (1949).

- Airs in Chinese ink (1952).

- Returns of the distant living (1952).

- Ora maritime followed by ballads and songs from Paraná (1953).

- Ballads and songs of Paraná (1954).

- China smiles (1958).

- Scenic poems (1962).

- Open at all hours (196).

- II Mattatore (1966).

- Rome, danger for walkers (1968).

- The 8 name of Picasso and I do not say more than what I do not say (1970).

- Songs from the Alto Valle del Aniene (1972).

- Contempt and wonder (1972).

- Wonders with acrostic variations in Miró's garden (1975).

- Coplas of Juan Panadero (1977).

- Rute's Notebook, 1925 (1977).

- The 5 featured (1978).

- Poems of Punta del Este (1979).

- Whipped light (1980).

- Loose verses of each day (1982).

- Gulf of shadows (1986).

- The sons of the dragon and other poems (1986).

- Accident. Poems from the hospital (1987).

- Four songs (1987).

- Boredom (1988).

- Songs for Altair (1989).

Brief description of the most representative poetic works

Sailor ashore

Monument to Alberti in Leganés. Source: Zarateman, from Wikimedia Commons

It is considered one of the great works of Alberti, with it he obtained the National Poetry Prize in 1925. The author developed it within the characteristics of the popular and traditional, it was a remembrance of his birthplace and the experiences of his childhood.

Fragment of the poem “El mar. The sea".

"The sea. The sea.

The sea. Only the sea!

Why did you bring me, father, to the city?

Why did you dig me up

from sea?

In dreams the tidal wave

it pulls my heart;

I would like to take it ”.

About angels

This work is the representation of an experiential crisis that the poet had between 1927 and 1928; he made a turn to the form and began to write with features and elements of surrealism. In addition, his verses began to have a free meter, with a dreamy language.

Fragment of the poem "Lost Paradise"

"Through the centuries, for the nothing in the world, I, without sleep, looking for you.

Behind me, imperceptible, without brushing my shoulders…

Where the paradise, shadow, what have you been?

Silence. More silence.

The pulses motionless

from the endless night

Lost paradise!

Lost to look for you

me, without light forever ”.

-Theater

Alberti also stood out for being a writer of plays. Among the most important pieces of the writer in this genre were:

- The uninhabited man (1931).

- Fermín Galán (1931).

- From one moment to another (1938-1939).

- The Flowery Clover (1940).

- El adefesio (1944).

- La Gallarda (1944-1945).

- Night of war at the Prado Museum (1956).

Brief description of the most representative plays

The uninhabited man

This play was premiered on February 26, 1931, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. The plot is religious in nature, a story of love, death and revenge. There is a conflict between the protagonists that ends in a bond of evil.

Fermín Galán

It was a work that Alberti structured in three acts, and that at the same time divided into fourteen episodes. It was premiered on June 14, 1931 at the Spanish Theater. They were a series of unusual events based on the final days of the military Fermín Galán, who was executed, and became a symbol of the Second Republic.

Portrait of Alberti by José Ramón Vaca. Source: Jrvacag, from Wikimedia Commons

At the time the work was released it generated controversy and criticism, because in one of the scenes the representation of the Virgin Mary appeared as a republican and asking for the life of the monarch. The assistants were enraged, and they went against the actors and the scene.

From one moment to another

It was a play based on a family drama that Alberti wrote in three acts. The protagonist, Gabriel, was the son of a wealthy Andalusian family. The man, in a way, did not like the life his family led, because his actions were unfair and sometimes despotic.

Gabriel tries to take his own life, but then decides to move away from his family and join the struggles that the workers were maintaining. At first he is not accepted because he comes from a high social stratum, however he ends up being faithful to his ideals and does not abandon the workers.

The Flowery Clover

It was a play that Alberti developed in three acts. The meaning was the constant battle between land and sea; both opposed the love story between Alción and Aitana. In the end, before the marriage takes place, the bride's father ends her life.

The eyesore

This theatrical work by Alberti premiered in the city of Buenos Aires on June 8, 1944, at the Avenida Theater. The play is the love story between two young men who are brothers, but do not know it. Gorgo, sister of the lovers' father, locks the girl in a tower. The end is typical of a tragedy.

La Gallarda

The play was written in three acts, in verses, and was a misadventure of reckless cowboys and bulls. The plot was based on the love that La Gallarda, a cowgirl, felt for the bull Resplandores. Finally, the animal killed the cowgirl's husband in an attack.

Night of war at the Prado Museum

The play was premiered at the Belli Theater, in Italy, on March 2, 1973. The author set it at the time of the Spanish Civil War. The argument was based on the transfer that the Republican military made of the museum paintings to protect them.

As the play progresses, characters related to personalities of the time enter that give substance and shape to the plot. Finally, there are representations of the politician Manuel Godoy and Queen María Luisa de Parma, who are accused of treason and end up executed.

-Antologies

- Poetry 1924-193 0 (1935).

- Poems 1924-1937 (1938).

- Poems 1924-1938 (1940).

- Poetry 1924-1944 (1946).

- The poet in the street (1966).

-Film scripts

Rafael Alberti also had a presence in the cinema as a screenwriter, the most prominent were: La dama duende (1945) and El gran amor de Bécquer (1946).

Awards

Rafael Alberti was the recipient of a large number of awards and recognitions, both in life and later. These include:

- National Prize for Literature (1925).

- Lenin Peace Prize (1965).

- Prince of Asturias Award (He resigned to receive it for his republican ideals).

- Etna Taormina Prize (1975, Italy).

- Struga Prize (1976, Macedonia).

- National Theater Award (1981, Spain).

- Kristo Botev Award (1980, Bulgaria).

- Pedro Salinas Award from the Menéndez Pelayo International University (1981, Spain).

- Commander of the Arts and Letters of France (1981).

- Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Tolouse (1982, France).

- Miguel de Cervantes Award (1983, Spain).

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Cádiz (1985, Spain).

- Medaille Picasso of UNESCO (1988).

- Enters the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts (1989, Spain).

- Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bordeaux (1990, France).

- Rome Prize for Literature (1991).

- Gabriela Mistral Order (1991, Chile).

- Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires (1991, Argentina).

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Havana (1991, Cuba).

- Illustrious Guest of Havana (1991, Cuba).

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Complutense University of Madrid (1991).

- Gold Medal for Fine Arts (1993, Spain).

- Doctor Honoris Causa Polytechnic University of Valencia (1995, Spain).

- Perpetual Mayor of the City of El Puerto de Santa María (1996, Spain).

- Favorite Son of the province of Cádiz (1996, Spain).

- Creu de Sant Jordi of the Generalitat of Catalonia (1998, Spain).

- Honorary Citizen of the City of Rome (1998, Italy).

Alberti's outstanding phrases

- "Life is like a lemon, to be thrown into the sea squeezed and dry."

- "The city is like a big house."

- "It was when I verified that walls are broken with sighs and that there are gates to the sea that open with words."

- "Words open doors on the sea."

- "Freedom does not come to those who do not have their thirst."

- “I will never be made of stone, I will cry when necessary, I will shout when necessary, I will laugh when necessary, I will sing when necessary2.

- "You will not go, my love, and if you left, still leaving, my love, you would never leave."

- "I left with a closed fist… I return with an open hand."

- “I don't want to die on the ground: it gives me a terrible panic. As I love to fly by plane and watch the clouds go by, I would like that one day the device in which I travel would be lost and would not return. And let the angels make me an epitaph. Or the wind ”.

- "If my voice died on land, take it to sea level and leave it on the shore."

References

1. Rafael Alberti. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Rafael Alberti. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Rafael Alberti. Biography. (1991-2019). Spain: Instituto Cervantes. Recovered from: cervantes.es.
4. Fernández, J. (1999-2018). Rafael Alberti Merello-Life and Works. Spain: Hispanoteca. Recovered from: hispanoteca.eu.
5. Rafael Alberti. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu