Damaso Alonso Spanish poet and philologist Date of Birth: 22.10.1898 Country: Spain

Biography of Damaso Alonso

Damaso Alonso was a Spanish poet and philologist, representative of Generation of '27. He was born in Asturias and studied at the renowned Jesuit college "El Recuerdo" in Madrid. After completing his studies at the Madrid University in the faculties of Law and Philosophy and Literature, he joined the Center for Historical Research, led by the prominent historian of Spanish culture and literature, Ramon Menendez Pidal.

During his time at the Student Residence of the university, he became friends with Lorca, Bunuel, Dali, and Aleixandre. Alonso collaborated with the magazine "Revista de Occidente," founded by Ortega y Gasset, and studied the works of Gongora, drawing attention from his friends and the reading public to Gongora's "dark" culturist period. He prepared a critical edition of "Poems of Solitude" (1927) and actively participated in the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Gongora's death.

Later on, he continued his research on Spanish literature of the Golden Age (Garcilaso de la Vega, Lope de Vega, Francisco Quevedo, etc.) and Spanish mystics (Friar Luis de Leon, San Juan de la Cruz). He perfected the methods of stylistic analysis of poetry. Alonso taught at Oxford, the universities of Valencia and Madrid. He founded the series called "Biblioteca Romanica Hispanica" at the Madrid publishing house "Gredos" and was the chief editor of the journal "Revista de Filologia Espanola."

After the poet and scholar's death, his extensive library was handed over to the Royal Spanish Academy. As a poet, Alonso began in the stream of "pure poetry" paved by Juan Ramon Jimenez. His first book (1921) was titled "Pure Verses. Urban Songs." He translated James Joyce's novel "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (1926) and translated poems by D.M. Hopkins and T.S. Eliot. After the Spanish Civil War and the defeat of the Republic, he was in "internal exile." During this period, Alonso developed a tragic poetics inspired by biblical psalms, similar to Unamuno's existentialism. He wrote one of the best books of Spanish poetry of the 20th century, "Children of Wrath" (1944). In the same year, his friend Vicente Aleixandre's powerful poetry collection "Shadow of Paradise" was published. Alonso united their works under the name "poetry torn out by the roots" or "exiled poetry." His subsequent books, "Dark News" (1944) and "Man and God" (1955), were also written in this style, with an increasing religious motif.

Alonso was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy (1945) and served as its president from 1968 to 1982. He was also a member of the Royal Historical Academy (1959). In 1978, he was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize.