The Generation of ´27
The “Intitución Libre de Enseñanza” (Institute of Free Teaching) was founded in 1876 by a group of professors, among them Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Gumersindo de Azcárate and Nicolás Salmerón. It was inspired by the principles of Krausismo and was an initiative way ahead of its time.
A student residence that belonged to the Institute was founded in 1910, which promoted an intellectual atmosphere based on the ideas of Don Francisco Giner de los Ríos. This residence would be the breeding ground of the Silver Age of Spanish Literature.
A large proportion of the poets and intellectuals from the generation of ´27 stayed in this residence, where they rediscovered Góngora, a reproached poet who had been forgotten for centuries, and celebrated the three hundred years since his death. They travelled to the Madrid cemetery to lay flowers at Larra´s tomb. The influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez was decisive in this group, along with the ideas of the Avant-garde, and above all the realism of Federico García Lorca, Luis Bruñel, Salvador Dalí and Rafael Alberti. They worried about the more formal aspects of literature rather than compromise.
The short form and stanza returned. In terms of themes they avoided the “interior”, preferring to focus on pure and objective motives. They purified reality. They distanced themselves from the first person using mediums such as irony, humor and preciosity of language.
The group was formed by: Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Manuel Altolaguirre and Rafael Alberti.
