THE POETIC WORKS OF CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ (SPANISH LITERATURE, POETRY, TWENTIETH-CENTURY)
Abstract
Claudio Rodr(')iguez is one of a group of Spanish poets who grew up in postwar Spain and began to write during the 1950's. Because his poetry and articles on it have been difficult to obtain both in and outside of Spain, and because many of the articles on that poetry are reviews or relatively brief columns in literary publications, Rodr(')iguez's poetry has received little systematic or comprehensive study. The first task was to accumulate, order and evaluate the materials to arrive at a history of the studies of Claudio Rodr(')iguez's poetry. The present study includes all four of his books, focusing on major themes and stylistic techniques in each of the books. Don de la ebriedad describes a mystical gift of sight, a metaphor for poetic vision. The speaker exults in that vision and describes an inverted mystical process of purification necessary to become worthy of it. The poet's responsibility is to give of himself fully through his poetry as nature does, and he laments his inability to do so. Conjuros shares the theme of giving; the speaker reveals those barriers which block man from achieving the kind of giving present in nature. Rodr(')iguez presents human society as one of hostility and deceit, in reaction to the tense atmosphere in which he grew up. Human society is separated from the land (i.e., nature) and its apparent harmony and brotherhood is superficial. In Alianza y condena, Rodr(')iguez contrasts the positive and negative aspects of reality, accepting both as parts of human experience. El vuelo de la celebracion, like the first book, is a celebration of life; however, both the poet and the speaker have matured and continue to sing even in the face of death. Imagery is most important in Rodr(')iguez's poetry; he presents scenes on a specific, concrete level, then raises them to a universal level, largely through the special use of adjectives, contrasting the two levels and the two sides of reality.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Romance literature
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