SOURCE: “Heroic Vocation: Cervantes, Guillén, and ‘Noche Del Caballero,’” in Modern Language Review, Vol. 93, No. 4, October, 1998, pp. 1021-33.

In the following essay, Matthews discusses the influence of Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) on the poetry of Guillén.

Miguel de Cervantes was an influential figure not only for Jorge Guillén but for several other writers of the so-called Generation of 1927.¹ In Cántico there are three poems that acknowledge a direct connection with Cervantes: ‘Tarde mayor’ and ‘Los balcones del Oriente’ from the 1945 edition, and ‘Noche del Caballero’ from the 1950 edition. All three poems appear in the fourth section of the volume, entitled Aquí mismo. Cervantes also figures prominently in Clamor, Guillén's second volume of poetry, in the poem ‘Dimisión de Sancho’, and to a lesser extent in the subsequent volumes, Homenjae, Y otros poemas, and Final.

‘Libre nací y en libertad...