Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Darío, Rubén, --1867-1916; Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo, --1836-1870; Darío, Rubén, --1867-1916;
Abstract
Modernism, founded and perhaps best represented by Rubén Darío, has been the object of critical study for many reasons, not the least of which is the debt it owes to preceding literary movements, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic. Such studies often mention the post-Romantic Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, but only in passing and usually limiting themselves to comments on Darío's earliest works. The major influences attributed to his later works, beginning with Azul, are commonly thought to come from the French Parnassian and Symbolist poets. However, in Allison Peers' study of Romanticism, he suggests that Bécquer's influence may be considerably greater than is commonly supposed. Peers' remark, together with the similarity of the biographies of Bécquer and Darío, motivated this study. In attempting to answer the questions of the specific influences of Bécquer on Darío and how extensive they are, we have examined the following areas: 1) the relationship of each author to the literary movement with which he is identified, seeking historical and biographical parallels between the two; 2) a thematic analysis of the prose and poetry of both authors; 3) a stylistic analysis of the prose and poetry of both authors. The biographical study shows sufficient similarity to indicate that both Bécquer and Darío had good reason to hold a pessimistic attitude toward life in general and that their literary production offered to both an escape from the reality in which they lived. Thematic coincidence is striking. Both seek the perfect, and therefore unattainable, woman who, by extension, represents the ideal of artistic beauty in general. Search for the ideal is, in fact, one of the principal themes of the two authors. There is also great similarity in their treatment of the themes of life and death. It is interesting to note that themes which normally pertain to lyric poetry also appear in their prose. Stylistically both poets make great use of literary Impressionism. Images are used more for their suggestive power than for their meaning. Synesthesia, an important stylistic device in Modernism, is used by Darío in a manner very similar to Becquer's, whose works predate the French use of synesthesia. Musicality plays an important part in the works of both authors, creating atmospheres, sentiments and tones in the constant effort to present perfect beauty. Romantic exoticism, too, appears in both Bécquer's and Darío's works. As in the case of the themes, stylistic elements appropriate for lyric poetry are also found in both authors' prose. Consequently, the distinction between prose and poetry becomes blurred, creating a type of poetry in prose in both cases. The notable similarities, biographical, thematic and stylistic, between Bécquer and Darío lead to the conclusion that Bécquer's influence on Darío's works is not limited to bis early work but can be seen as well in bis frankly Modernist writing. And if Darío represents Modernism, then Modernism owes a debt, both in meaning and imagery, to Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.
Year of Submission
1986
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Modern Languages
First Advisor
George K. Zucker
Second Advisor
Adolfo Franco
Third Advisor
Manuel Febles
Date Original
1986
Object Description
1 PDF file (62 leaves)
Copyright
©1986 Scott Justice
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Justice, Scott, "Las influencias de Becquer en Dario" (1986). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 3108.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/3108
Comments
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