Poetry
Shadow of Paradise
Sombra del paraíso
Vicente Aleixandre · 1944
Synopsis
Broad poems in free verse that sing of a lost paradise: nature itself, before man defiles it, a world of light, earth and sea. The poem's voice mourns this glorious cosmos, laments its own imperfection and hopes for a return that still seems possible. The images, full of natural elements, owe much to surrealism, while fraternity and spiritual union take a new place in the author's work.
Context
Written between 1939 and 1943, in the aftermath of the civil war, the poems appeared in Madrid in 1944, while his name was still kept out of view by the censors. The book, which the Nobel Foundation describes as independent of the established political situation, secured his consecration among the young poets of the post-war period. It extends the visionary language of the collections of the thirties, which came from surrealism, but turns towards nostalgia for a lost harmony. Claude Couffon and Roger Noël-Mayer translated it into French in 1980.
Who it is for
Long poems, rich in images, to be read slowly; there is no narrative progression.
Prizes and reception
Often regarded as the author's major work; the Spanish Academy counts it among the author's most beautiful books.