SOURCE: “The Game of Poetry,” and “In Praise of Creation,” in A Generation of Spanish Poets, 1920-1936, Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 82-142.

In the following excerpted chapters, Morris explores some major themes and stylistic elements of Guillén's poetry. In “The Game of Poetry,” Morris discusses the element of playfulness in the works of Guillén and other modern poets. In “In Praise of Creation,” Morris argues that Guillén's poetry appeals to both the intellect and the emotions in poems which celebrate “the gift of life” through the precision and classic simplicity of his verse.

The Game of Poetry

‘What is the meaning of all this clownery?’ Mrs. Viveash inquired.

‘What indeed?’

Aldous Huxley, Antic Hay (1923)

When Alberti presented St Raphael in Cal y canto as a chauffeur driving people to and from the lively Hotel de Dios, he remodelled a sacred figure with the frivolity and...