The Spanish poet Jorge Guillén y Alvarez (1893-1984) is best known for his work Cantico, which contains radiant lyrics of impeccable form affirming the joy of living. He was one of the older members of the Generation of 1927.

Jorge Guillén was born on Jan. 18, 1893, in the medieval imperial town of Valladolid in Old Castile and received his early schooling there. He later received a solid classical education in schools in Switzerland, Madrid, Granada, and Germany. In 1917 he became a lecturer in Spanish at the Sorbonne, beginning a distinguished and varied career as a professor.

A somewhat shy person, Guillén was a mature man before he began to write poetry in 1918. In 1921 he married Germaine Cahen in Paris. Their daughter, Teresa, was born in 1922; their son, Claudio, in 1924. As adults, Teresa married Harvard professor Stephen Gilman, and Claudio became a professor. Guillé...