SOURCE: "'Knowing' and 'Known' in Poems of Consummation and Dialogues of Knowledge," in Critical Views on Vicente Aleixandre's Poetry, edited by Vicente Cabrera and Harriet Boyer, Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1979, pp. 87-96.

A Spanish poet who began publishing in the late 1960s, Carnero is perhaps the most outspoken critic of the generation of native poets that preceded him for their singleminded focus on social issues and elevation of political content over such artistic concerns as form, style, and language. In the following essay, which was originally published in Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos in 1973, Carnero explains that Aleixandre's poetry contrasts vitality—exemplified by such traits as inquisitiveness, impulsiveness, and desire for new experiences—with dogmatism and detachment.

The major premise of Aleixandrine discourse is, as Carlos Bousoño has indicated in his excellent book [La poesía de Vicente Aleixandre], vitality, at least in what is considered the first...