The Humanization of Poetry: An Appraisal of Gloria Fuertes

The Humanization of Poetry: An Appraisal of Gloria Fuertes
Author(s): Maria L. Cooks
Source: Hispania, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 2000), pp. 428-436
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/346007
Accessed: 24/03/2010 13:55
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aatsp.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to Hispania.
http://www.jstor.org
428 HISPANIA 83 SEPTEMBER2000
The Humanization of Poetry:
An Appraisal of Gloria Fuertes
MariaL. Cooks
PurdueUniversity
Abstract: GloriaFuertes is considereda leader in contemporarypeninsularpoetry,andyet a clear understandingof her poetics andof her uniquenesshas not been achieved.Her distinctivepoetics andpersonaare
here consideredin the context of her relationshipto the peninsularpoets of her generationand the public
thatshe creates.The formof her poems suggests that GloriaFuertestransformsour perceptionof poetryby
demystifyingthe poet andby degentrifyingpoeticlanguage.Herpoemstypicallyareof a dualnature,a simple
narrationwhich, at the same time, presents a literarytoposin a new light. Fuertes creates a new poetics by
substitutingeach of the elementsof the poeticdiscourse,the text, the poet,andthe reader.She replacesthem
withher ownpopularizedversions,thus creatinga powerfulpoeticstyle thatanswersthe quest of her generationfor a new aestheticsof poetry.
Key Words: contemporarypeninsularpoetry, Fuertes (Gloria),poetic technique, displacement,humor,
textuality,reversals,colloquialspeech
cholars have pointed out the their time to a preoccupationwith poetic
difficulty involved in trying to include the poetry of GloriaFuertes
withinone of the largermovementsor tendencies of twentieth-century peninsular
poetry.Debickiincludesher, with reservations, in the generation of 1956-71, and
points out the differencesbetween her poetryandthatof her contemporariesin style,
purpose,andtheme.1SylviaShernoconsiders the richness andvarietyof her themes
to be her most salientcharacteristics2;
others look for the obviouslinkbetween theories of feminismand the first woman contemporarypeninsularpoet to flaunther lesbianismin her writing.3Persin,Mandlove,
andBrownesearchher poetictechniquefor
clues thatshed lighton her uniquenessand
her success in leadingthe latergenerations
of postmodern peninsular poets. The
present study focuses on the form of
Fuertes'spoems andon the wayshe breaks
awayfrom the existent poetic style to create a new poetic canon, more in tune with
the languageandaspirationsof the Spainof
the fifties.
GloriaFuertes is generallyincludedin
the generationof poets who shiftedfroma
preoccupationwith the social injusticesof
style and the role andfunctionof poetryin
the post civil war era.4Aesthetics, the creativeprocess, and the search for a new poetic language that could engage an audience which,in general,had turnedits back
on poetry,was the goal of this generation
of poets. Poetryto ordinaryreaderswas incomprehensible,a literaryrelic,writtenby
andforacademics,totallyirrelevantto their
lives. GloriaFuertestook it uponherself to
create a new poetics, more accessible to
ordinarypeople or "the masses," as she
calls her public.Fuertes clearlystatedthis
point in an interviewwith PamelaCarmell
published for AmericanPoetryReview:"I
wantmy publicto be the masses.Andsometimes I sacrifice literary and oratorical
peaks because I thinkthe peoplewon'tunderstandme" (5-6).
This generationof the fifties,which also
included Francisco Brines, Claudio
Rodriguez, Angel Gonzalez, Carlos
Sahaguin,Jose Angel Valente, and Jose
AgustinGoytisolo,displayedconcernwith
the social injustices of their time, but it
would be a misnomerto call them "social
poets."For most of them, the social issues
of those years, althougha recurrenttheme
THE HUMANIZATION OF POETRY: AN APPRAISAL OF GLORIA FUERTES 429
in their poems, are not the centralmotifof
theirwork.Instead,they predictandanticipate the future shape of Spanish society,
and seek to determinethe directionpoetry
should take in this imminentfuture.
A briefreviewof how otherpoets of this
generation envisaged the role and the
meaningof their poetrywill help us gain a
better understandingof these issues. This
is best done by interpretingstudies in poetics written by some of the poets themselves, and through a brief survey of how
the criticssee these poets. Muchof the poetics of this generationis compiledin Pedro
Provencio's anthologyPoeticas espanolas
contemporaneas:"LaGeneracion del 50"
(unfortunately,Gloria Fuertes is not included).The structureof this anthologyis
based on the answersthe poets themselves
give to questionsposed by the author,himself a poet of this generation.These questions can be summarizedintothree central
inquiries:
1) Do you identifyyourselfwith or do you
have strongaffinityfora specificpoeticgenerationor movement?
2) Whatdo you thinkthe functionof poetry
should be todayin contemporarySpain?
3) How wouldyou define the featuresand
functionof your own poetry?
poetas (los del oficio, precisamente,de palabra)hablamos a un auditorio fantasmal. (Provencio,
Poeticas...del 50: 172)
Criticsfind it useful to apply"reader-response theory"when interpretingthe poetry of this generation.AndrewP. Debicki,
one of the first critics to thoroughlystudy
this period,admitsinthe prefaceofhis book
ThePoetryofDiscoverythe difficultyhe had
in interpretingthese poets untilhe adopted
insights fromreaderresponse theory:
In attemptingto find more effective methods of inquiry, I discovered that I could often make useful
statementsaboutways in which these works established certain points of view for their speakers,
adoptedcertainperspectives,andalso elicitedcertain
responses in theirreaders.They did so less through
traditionalpoeticdevicesthanthroughtone,intertextual references, and patterns of development that
buildup andmodifyreaderexpectations.Inpursuing
these discoveries, I was able to gain insights from
recenttheoryon readerresponseas wellas fromsome
criticismof fiction,as will become clear throughout
this book. (PoetryofDiscoveryvii-viii)
In searchingfor their audience,the poets developed a self-consciousness about
the poeticword.The most commonthemes
in their poems have to do with the nature
of the creativeprocess, the search for the
poetic,5the transformationof ordinarylanguage into poetic language, and the relationshipof this languageto the objectsthey
describe.More than any othergeneration,
they were concerned with finding a new
rhetoric of poetry, one that would access
those until now unspoken sensations capable of bringing forth new knowledge
about ourselves and our world, as the followingverses by ClaudioRodriguezshow:
A samplingof answersstronglyindicates
that this is a generationnot only in search
of a new poetic word,but also in search of
an audience.Their mission is to make poetry playa role in the consciousness of the
nation,to restore it to the central place it
once had (e.g., in the MiddleAges) as the
Comoavena
voice of the people.An exampleof this can
que se siembraa voleo y que no
importa
be found in the answersto the third quesque caigaaquio alli si cae en
tion.Ratherthanaddressingthe featuresor
tierra,
functionof their poetry, the poets tend to
va el contenidoardordel pensamiento
point to their inability to clearly see a
filtrandoseen las cosas,
reader.Poetry,they say, is a genre nobody
entreabriendolas,
paradejarsu resplandor,y luego
reads;you aretalkingto "yourself'as Frandarleuna nuevaclaridaden ellas. (Rodriguez15)
cisco Brinessays (Provencio,Poeticas...del
The poetsof this generationwereallvery
50: 156), or addressinga ghost, as Claudio
it:
aware that acquiring new insights
much
Rodriguezputs
intothe natureof realityis the primaryfuncLos medios de difusi6nmasivatienen la palabra.Los tion of poeticdiscourse.6This noetic power
430 HISPANIA 83 SEPTEMBER2000
of poetryis conveyed,not in the contentor
theme of the poem, but in the particular
arrangementof the wordsin the poem. It is
the form of the poem that creates new
knowledge,knowledgethat can only exist
in the peculiar unique arrangement of
words and sounds that we recognize as a
poet's style. For the modernist poet, the
power of a poem resides in the way truth
becomes the servantof language.The object or feeling embedded in a poem might
be a very familiarone, but its significance
is imperfectlyunderstooduntilit is revealed
to us through the poem. It is less what is
said that mattersin a poem, than how it is
said.The first task for this generationwas
to finda new languageforpoeticdiscourse,
one less rhetoricaland closer to the ordinarylanguage of the averageperson. It is
not a coincidence that Jose Agustin
Goytisoloexpressed that perhapsa female
voice would be better able to break away
fromthe academic(male)poetic discourse
of his generation.That marginal,intimate,
feminine voice could become the strong
leader of his generation. Fuertes, in fact,
seems to be the answer to his poem "La
mujerfuerte":
Franciscahermosaanciana
regresa al dulce hogar
con alegriay esperanza.
Su afanosocoraz6ndigno
de epocas mejores- johel Medioevo
con su respeto porlas nobles
instituciones!saltaun paso otropaso
arribahaciael acogedorrefugiode
las chicas.
iQuien cantaraalguindia con profundas
palabras,quien,quiensera el poeta
de los hechos cotidianosy an6nimosy
los encumbrara
desde su pequefieza los mas altos
vuelos? (Provencio, Poeticas ... del 50: 12)
Goytisolo was not the only one who
yearnedfor the MiddleAges and the mystic poets, when poetry spoke in simple, direct, primitivelanguage the feelings and
yearnings of the common person. These
poets wanted a new language register for
their poetry;they wanted"speech"to sub-
stituteforthe "writtenword."Neverbefore
had a generationof poets yearnedso much
for the Tennysonianresolve "toutter"the
thoughts that resided in them. But, unfortunately,they continuedwith the same poetic conventionsas before,butexpressedin
a more direct, simple language.Their poetry continued to be addressed to other
poets. Itwas stilla dialogueamongpoets in
searchof the rightword,as illustratedhere
by Francisco Brines's poem "Actos de
supresion":
eC6momostrarla imagende la vida?
Habrade ser vertiginosa,fertil
Y a la vez, arida.Lacreacion
de las oscurassabanas:los cuerpos.
Ficci6nvaciade apagarla fiebre,
Suiplicade caloro pervivencia
De un frio que es consciente;
El acto infiel del apaciguamiento,
Un derrumbadoencuentrodel infinito.
(Insistenciasen Luzbel23)
These poets search for,but cannotfind,
a wayto humanizepoetry.They respondby
adoptinga more simple language, and by
discussing (in theory) what elements this
poetry needs to have. But they do not
change the stand of the speaker of the
poem,who continuesto be a poettalkingto
other poets about what poetry should be
about.As one can see by the aboveexample
describing the creative process, the language is ordinaryeverydaylanguage,but
the theme of the poem is abstract.Unless
readersarethemselvespoets or scholarsof
poetry,they maynot reachthe level of mental abstractionrequiredby Brinesto understand this poem. The experience the
speaker of this poem is describing, 'The
anguishof confrontinga blankpage,"is too
remote for most people to identify with.
This poetrycontinuesto addressthe yearnings of the "official"poetics of the generation,not the strugglesandaspirationsof an
ordinaryperson. It describes whatbeing a
poet and writingpoetry is all about.It is a
poetry about poets and addressed only to
poets.
In contrast, Gloria Fuertes refuses to
enter this "forpoets only"dialogue,andinstead initiatesa new kind of dialogue:be-
THE HUMANIZATION OF POETRY: AN APPRAISAL OF GLORIA FUERTES 431
tween herself and her readers.In orderto
win the trust of her readers she has to
present herself as a differentkind of poet:
one more like a reader of poetry than a
writer of poetry. In order to achieve this
transformation,Gloria Fuertes creates a
new mythology,andin doing so breaksentirely with the traditionalconventions of
poetry. This new mythology is presented
explicitlyin her collection"Aconsejocomer
hilo"and implicitlyin the rest of her work
thereafter. She presents herself as the
daughter of a dressmaker (her mother's
trade), and in doing so introduces a new
working class mythologyinto the body of
her poetry. The poet, like her intended
reader,is a working-classpersonwho talks
in plainlanguageabouther humblejob or
aboutthe everydaydrudgeryof her life. In
"DesdeSiempre,"GloriaFuertes says that
she wrote her first poems in the kitchen
with a "Singer,"referring to the popular
brandof sewing machines:
cated poet lacking poetic techniques, as
Debicki (1994) well notes. Her "Poetica"
places the ordinaryperson at the center of
poetry, but she does not water down the
poetic process to achieve this end. She
seems to show a belief in the noetic power
of poetryandin poetryas food for the soul.
Poetrycan onlyfulfillthis role if the tone of
the poem is sincere;therefore,she has to
presentherselfas the intendedreaderofthe
poem-a personof the workingclasses (to
whom the poem must speak in their same
language)-, and present the theme in a
direct, intimate voice. Fuertes obviously
believed that poetrycan make a difference
in people's lives, and that that difference
depends,not so much on the contentof the
poem, but on the poet's aesthetic position.
She was a single optimist surroundedby
pessimists. She shows an awareness,as do
her contemporaries,thatpoetryin contemporarysociety is insignificant.7However,
unlikeher contemporaries,GloriaFuertes
shows us that poetrycan matterby writing
Mis primerascuartillas,
Escribien la cocina,
poetryfor an unusualpoeticaudience-the
En la maquinaSinger
poor and the very young, forgotten remA los catorceafnos
nants of society, too little educatedto mat(Obrasincompletas369)
ter, who, however,can turnthings around.
She is, as the following poem says, It is to this would-be next generation of
"Ramona,"the working class "modistilla" readersthat she addresses her poems:
turnedpoet, in whose name all these charNo es todo hacer una poesiaparael pueblo,
acteristicsare inclusivein the ludicplayon
sino un puebloparala poesia,
the sound of the first letter "r":"remera,
por eso escriboparael nifio
ramera,romera,rimera."
y parael adolescente
Yo
remerade barcas
ramerade hombres
romerade almas
rimerade versos
Ramona,
pa'servirles
(Obrasincompletas75)
Fuertes'spoems transformeverydayexperiences into poetic experiences for the
working class. They touch upon familiar
themes of poetry, such as understanding
reality and Man's place in this world, but
they also deal with the role andfunctionof
poetryandthe poet in contemporarySpain,
as did the poetry of others of her generation. Fuertesis by no means an unsophisti-
que prontoseranel nuevopueblodecente.
(Obrasincompletas107)
In this poem, Fuertes speaks clearly of
the need for the poet to explainthe meaning of poetry. However, unlike Claudio
Rodriguez's"Comoavena,"she avoidspresenting this need as a highly abstract
theme. Fuertes uses instead a technique
that is frequent in her poems, simultaneouslypresentingthe subjectof the poem
in three distinct discourses: testimonial,
autobiographicaland poetic. Through the
interplayof these three discourses, we arriveatthe meaningof the poem.This clever
wayof mixingpublicdiscoursewitha more
intimate-almost confessional in her
432 HISPANIA 83 SEPTEMBER2000
Me encuentromas favorecida,
case-poetic discourse,makessocialissues
me he quitadoel flequillo
of
as
central
theme
the
not
the
appear
y afeitadolos cuernos;
poem, but more as a personalindignation,
han despenalizadoal adulterio
a universalcry for humanjustice devoidof
y una no va a ser menos....
didacticismor proselytism.The following
(Obrasincompletas109)
a
transforms
shows
how
Fuertes
parpoem
The very colloquial language of this
ticular economic exploitation, the inadin
andthe apparenttrivial,insignificant
of
Franco's
laborers
Spain
poem
equatewages
of the fifties, into a universaldenunciation event it describes providea good example
of why, for some critics, GloriaFuertes's
of a humaninjustice:
poetryis not deep or seriousenough. HowMIVECINO
ever,this impressioncomes froma limited,
literal
readingof her poems, that is to say,
El albaiil llego de su jornada
in
the autobiographical
discourseas
taking
Con su jornalenclenquey con sus
the
of
the
only
poem. Howinterpretation
puntos.
Bajarona la tiendapor harina,
ever, in the re-tellingof this insignificant
Hicieronunas gachas con tocino,
event in the poem, two additionalinterprePusieronloa enfriaren la ventana,
are evident:(1) at the emotionalor
tations
Lacazuelase cayo al patio.
level
of the discourse,the poem is in
poetic
El obrerotosi6:
the formof an expletive,andas suchwe can
-Como Gloriase entere,
esta noche cenamosPoesia.
hearthe screamofpainofthe speakerof the
(Obrasincompletas116)
poem,andsee her eyes fillingwithtears.(2)
The poeticpersonaof Gloriain this poem At the testimonial level, we can see her
continuesto implicitlycarrythe mythof the pointingher fingerat society,andwe share
poet as a working class persona, as the and applaudher disillusionand strong inyoung dressmakeror modistilla.8The title dignation.
Gloria Fuertes's originalityrelies preof the poem, "MiVecino,"furtheremphasizes that the poet lives among working- cisely on her innovativepoetic techniques
class people and that she not only writes that,as DouglasK.Bensonnotes, stillelude
aboutthem but is at the same time one of some readers.Fuerteswas the first peninthem. The modistillapoet's language has sular poet of that generationto use collothe spunkor descarotypicalof these young quial discourse as a poetic device. It is
girls, as well as their wisdom, zest for life, through the transformationof these until
and playfulresignationto their fate.These now antipoetic devices (colloquialisms,
workingclass personalitytraitsalso can be commercials,slang,andeven swearwords)
seen in Fuertes'slovepoems,wherewe find into poetic metaphors,that she creates a
a mixtureof resignationandinsightintothe new poetic style. Fuertesaims at capturing
natureof love. As Debickinoted,they are a the attentionof her audienceby shocking
kindof humorouslamentandpainfulcry,as them with the use of such outrageouspoin the short poem "Me encuentro mas etic language,as, forexample,the following
favorecida,"where the poet pays a visit to a verses thatexpress her frustrationwiththe
beautysalonto boost her self esteem, after process of writinga poem:
realizingthat her loverhas been deceiving
Escriboestas cosas por la noche.
her. In a clever conceit, she not only cuts
Haymadrugadas,
her bangs, but also shaves her figurative
Que no se si levantarmede la mesa parair al
lecho
hornsas she exposes her foreheadin a new
lo irme a la leche!
hair style. Committingadultery,she says,
(Obrasincompletas116)
is nowacceptable,so one shouldgo withthe
The speaker of the poem presents hertimes: no need to paradeone's shame,just
self as a poet;the poem is aboutGloria,the
the hurt:
writer,tellingus whatcreatinga poemis all
THE HUMANIZATION OF POETRY: AN APPRAISAL OF GLORIA FUERTES 433
about. Unlike Brines's aforementioned
philosophicaldescriptionof confrontinga
blankpaper,and tryingto wranglea poem
out of nothingin Insistenciasen Luzbel,the
writerhere presents an ordinaryscene: an
exhaustedperson in the earlyhours of the
morning, frustrated about her work, her
lack of sleep, and her inabilityto write. By
constructingthe identityof the poetic persona as a collectionof concrete stories and
musings, the poet is no longer the shaman
who analyzesandinterpretsthe essence of
life for readers,but ratheran ordinaryperson, one of us, who facilitates,ratherthan
interprets,ourunderstandingof life. Gloria
Fuertestalksto us in a frank,concreteway
abouther experiencesandthoughts,which
happento also be our own ordinaryexperiences and thoughts, and which, in the retelling, acquire a deeper meaning. She
more of
helps her readerto "understand"
what life is all about, as in the following
verses:
Si puedes ser,
de miel un tarroparael cardo,
si puedes convivircon las serpientes,
si consigues amnesiavoluntaria,
si escoges una celda o mejorcampo,
si riegas el silencio de la duda,
si amas sin jornalni recompensa,
lEstassalvado!
(Historiade Gloria246)
The significanceof the poemin Fuertes's
work is arrivedat by a new form of poetic
expression.This new style substitutesthe
intellectualdiscourse of the previousgenerationof poets (the so-calledgarcilascistas:
Miguel Hernandez, Ridruejo, Panero,
Rosales, and Vivanco) with the everyday
discourse of the averageperson, and ridicules this previous academic poetic discourse by placingit (implicitlyor explicitly)
adjacentto the colloquialdiscourse in her
poems. Insertingboth discourses side by
side foregroundsthe inadequacyof the academic poetic discourse and enhances the
humorous effect so characteristic of her
poetry.9Humor is achieved by a form of
chiasmus in which one acquires a deeper
truthin the second phrase orderthat contradicts the first meaning. Generally,her
chiasmus is based on populardichosand
antedichos.
The reversalsareoftenachieved
by changing a single letter in one of the
words of the antedicho,ratherthan reversing the wordorder,as is the morecommon
use of chiasmusin English (e.g., "Neverbe
fooled by a kiss and never be kissed by a
fool").The followingis an example of one
of her poems built aroundthe dicho:"Los
nifiosvienen de Paris."This poem emphasizes the importanceof telling the truthin
a direct, straightforwardway (almostantipoetic, in its displacementof the metaphor
as a poetic device). Fuertes also stresses
here the consequences of speaking the
truth:she is expelled from school for saying thatthe storkdoes notbringbabiesinto
the world,labordoes. In spite of the consequences, her voice is not that of a meek,
victimized, resigned persona exposing a
social lie, but ratherthe voice of a self-assuredpoetintroducinga newpoeticstyleby
makingfun of the old poetics:
AUTOBIO
Prontome di cuenta
Que era una errataeso
De que los niios veniande Paris.
A los seis anfoscambiela ese porla erre.
Los nifiosvienen de Parir
-escribi en la pizarrade las monjas-.
Y me echaron.
(Historiade Gloria78)
The substitutiondevice brings a multiplicityof meaningsintothe poem.Inthe literal sense, this poem is a denunciationof
the hypocrisy in contemporarybourgeois
Spainand its vehicle of expression:the euphemism.But, in the literarysense, it also
is a denunciationof the inadequacyof the
metaphoricalandhighly rhetoricalpoetics
of the previousgenerationsof poetsto meet
the needs of contemporaryreaders.
Most of Fuertes's poems are of a dual
naturein that they present a simple narration and, at the same time, a literarytopic
in a new light. For instance,in the following poem, "Maletilla,"she describes her
anti-canonical,popularpoetics by identifying herself as a wanderingpoet-matador.
The poet here becomes a trotamundoscarryingher books in a suitcase fromtown to
434 HISPANIA 83 SEPTEMBER2000
town,like a travelingsalesman.This "torero
errante,"this social outcast,refuses to talk
poetry to (and is shunned by) professors,
editors of literarymagazines,and governmentrepresentatives,andonlystopsatbars
or tascasto talkto truckdrivers,one source
of her inspiration:
Maletillade las letras
Por los caminosde Espana;
sin hacer auto-stopa los catedraticos,
ni a los coches oficiales
ni a las revistasque pagan....
-solo a los camionerosy a las tascas-;
...y no me dieronninguna
oportunidad
por ser nieta de putay basta.
Ya toreo por mi cuenta,
Sin permisosaltovallas,
Siete corridasya tengo, toreadas
-quiero decir siete libros
igual que siete cornadas-,
maletillade las letras
por los atajosde Espafia.
(Obrasincompletas168)
Not only do Fuertes'spoems touchupon
the familiarthemes of poetry,understanding reality and Man's place in the world;
they also deal with the role andfunctionof
poetryandthe poet in contemporarySpain.
Her poetica places the ordinaryperson at
the center of the poetic landscape by humanizingthe poet and deconceptualizing
the poem.This is achievedby reversingthe
processof creatinga metaphor.A metaphor
is a sublimationprocess achieved by (1)
creatingan implicitrandomcomparisonor
associationbetween two objectsor actions
and by (2) removingthe referentialpartof
that comparison-the concrete object-,
leaving only its correspondingabstractassociation.Fuertes'smetaphorsleaveoutthe
abstractpartof the metaphor,so that only
the referentialconcrete object appearsin
her poems. So, by default, this concrete,
antimetaphoricobject is sublimated.This
occurs, for example, in the poem
where Fuertesintroducesher"Minicursi,"
self to her readersas their own "modistilla
madrilefia"turnedpoet:
GloriaFuertes
antipoeta
teologa-agricola
diputadaen cortes
de mangas
profesoraen partes
-comadrejapuericultora
archivera
hechicerade cartas
peritaen dulce
-sus laboresdoctoraen bordadosa mano
y a maquina
corto.
campeonade "pentalon"
(Obrasincompletas329)
Perhaps,as Goytisolosaid in "LaMujer
Fuerte,"onlya womanpoetcouldtransform
the insignificanceof our everydayspeech
into poetic discourse. GloriaFuertes displays a boldness beyond any other poet of
her generationto displace poetic conventions,allat once, fromher poems.10It is she
who creates a uniquepoetic discoursethat
otherpoets dreamof creating.This is quite
an achievement.As the outsider,she does
not have to discuss the "official"poetics of
her generation.As she says,in the prologue
to her Obrasincompletas,she could never
belong to any movementor school, which
is why, for a while, she was "Lauinicaantipostistadentrodel movimientopostista."11
She shares with postismothe search for a
new simple,directpoeticdiscourse,devoid
of rhetoricandabstractpoetic devices. But
unlike her fellow postistas, she not only
writesa manifestobutfindsthis new poetic
discourseby displacingall the elements of
the poetic text-the poet, the text, and the
reader-with her ownpopularizedversions
of them-the dressmaker,speech, andthe
ordinaryperson.Fuertes,by addressingthe
poem to the ordinary person instead of
otherpoets, providesnew insights into the
poeticsof poetry.Poetryis notaboutsearching for a new poetic word, it is about having foundone:
DE URGENCIA
TELEGRAMAS
Escribo,mas que cantarcuentocosas.
Destino:Lahumanidad
Ingredientes:Muchapena
mucharabia
algo de sal
Forma:Ya nace con ella.
Fondo:Que consiga emocionar
Misica: Laque el verso toca
THE HUMANIZATION OF POETRY: AN APPRAISAL OF GLORIA FUERTES 435
-seguin lo que va a bailarTecnica:iQue aburrimiento!
Color:Calornatural
Hayque echarlecoraz6n
la verdadde la verdad,
-la magiade la mentira
no es necesarioinventarY asi contarlo que pasa
-jnunca silabascontar!Y nace solo el poema....
Y luego la habilidad
de poneraquelloen claro
si nace sin claridad.
(Obrasincompletas29)
Fuertes here supplantsthe formatone associates with a poetic text with the formats
of a recipe book and a telegram.The telegraphis a metapoeticdevicewith a tonguein-cheekmeaning:GloriaFuerteshas found
a new poetic style and needs to spreadthe
good news as quickly as possible. All the
yearnings and difficultiesinvolved in the
search for the poetic are here reduced to
song-and-dance ingredients that, when
mixed correctly,producea poem.
Fuertes'swork,as we haveseen, is a continuousdisplacementof all the elements of
poetry.Not onlythe text,butalsothe notion
we have of the poem, and of the poet, undergo a majorchange. Gone,with this new
conception, is the idea of the self-importance of the authorof the literarytext and
the futilityof the critic'ssearch for a clearcut definitionof the nature of a particular
poetic style:
No me catalogues
No me catafalco
No me catadifies
-seria desfalco(Obrasincompletas33)
Unlike her contemporaries,Fuertes is
not onlyawarethatthere is an audienceout
there that needs andwants to read poetry,
but is convincedthat such an audience is
the one for whom she is writing:
Vengo de abajo
Quizapor eso nuncadejarea los del
barrio.
Tiro haciaarriba,
Lapupiladel pobreme tiene viva.
Salud,trabajo,
Es todo lo que pide el que esta abajo.
Le doy cultura,
Que aunno sabe leer
Con su estatura.
Le leo versos,
Al hombremis sencillo
del universo.
(Obrasincompletas79)
It is not easy for a writerto find an entirely new audience. It is not easy, with a
subjectas highly intellectualas poetryhas
become, to convince the masses that it is
something they will enjoy reading, something in which they will discover themselves. GloriaFuertes succeeds in wooing
her readersby reassuringthem that without them there would not be poems, because they are the subjects of her poems.
Andshe engages in a crusadeto spreadthe
good news:poetryis not simplyonly about
you, as Campoamorsaid, but also for you
(157).Fuertes,awareof the lack of interest
of general audiences in poetry and the
difficultiesinvolvedin publishingwhen one
is not only anunknownpoet,but an outcast
one, decides to find other means to reach
her audience.She hawksher poetry!Inthe
finest popular,medievaltradition,she goes
to the Rastro,Madrid'sflea market:
ELVENDEDORDE PAPELESO ELPOETASIN
SUERTE
Muybarato,
parael nene y la nena,
estos cuentos de risa
y novelasde pena
jaleluyasa diez!
Vendoversos,
liquidopoesia,
-se recibenencargos
parabodas,bautizos,
peticionesde mano-,
iNo se vaya,
regalopoesia,
llevese este cuarteto
que ain no me estrene!
Parala madre,
parala novia,
el mejorregalo
junverso de amor!
(Obrasincompletas53)
n sum,GloriaFuertescreatesa power
ful new conceptionof the poetic.This is
achievedby makingfun of the intellectualacademicpoetic discourse (notonly of
the previous,garcilasista generation, but
436 HISPANIA83 SEPTEMBER
2000
also her own), by emphasizingthe simple
ludic aspect of poetry-the sheer fun of
playingwith words-and by ridiculingthe
exaggeratedself-importantrole that poets
have constructedfor themselves. Her goal
is to humanizepoetry,to bringit backto the
center of our lives. This is achievedby puttingthe emotionsof ordinarypersonsatthe
center of her poems and by using their everydaylanguageas the mythicalvehicle of
poetic discourse. GloriaFuertesis (in her
ownwords)aboveall a trailblazer,a loverof
poetry,a literarymissionary,anda folkpoet.
NOTES
1InPoetryofDiscovery,Debickiobserveshow this
generationof poets departedconsiderablyfrom the
poeticstyleof previouspoetsandhowGloriaFuertes's
use of colloquialdiscourse and idioms set her apart
even fromthe poets of her own generation.
2Sylvia Sherno, who has thoroughly studied
Fuertes'spoetictechnique,pointsoutthe importance
of textuality,wordplay,and sexualityin her poetry.
3CandelasNewton,in "LaPalabra'convertida'de
GloriaFuertes,"offersa semioticanalysisof the poet's
feminism.
4InPoetryof Discovery,Debicki shows how these
poets move awayfrom sentimentalsocial overstatementsandviewsocietyfromanironic,detachedpoint
of view. They preferthe "personal"evocationas the
means of discovery.
5FranciscoBrinesdescribesthis processas falling
into a world of darkness, a type of Inferno, in his
Insistenciasen Luzbel.ClaudioRodriguezsees this
process as an exhilaratingexperience in his Don de
la ebriedad.
6Thisnoeticpowerof poetryusuallytakesthe form
of fairlyabstractintellectualspeculation.
7ManuelVazquezMontalban,in PedroProvencio's
Anthology Poetica espanola contempordnea. La
generaciondel 70,definesthe roleof poetryin contemporary Spain as insignificant as that of a modesto
tirachinasis in today'spotentialnuclearwars (16).
'To become a dressmaker was the typical way
younggirls fromthe surroundingvillagescouldearn
a livelihood in Madridand escape the drudgeryof
countrylife.
9MargaretH. Persin,in Poesiacomoproceso,sees
humorin GloriaFuertes'spoetryas a semioticdevice
bywhichthe poemsacquirea deepersignificanceand,
in so doing,revealto the readera new understanding
of reality.
'?DouglesK. Benson illustratesGloriaFuertes's
complex poetic techniqueof puttingcommon situations in an irrationalcontext.
1Fuerteswas one of the foundingmembersof the
literarymagazinePostismo.These poets were search-
ing for a more humanisticpoeticsby lookingoutside
Spain,to Europeandthe UnitedStates,fornew ideas.
* WORKS CITED
Benson, DouglasK. "Lavoz inconfundiblede Gloria
Fuertes, 1918-1998:poesia temprana."Hispania
83.3 (2000):210-21.
Brines,Francisco.Insistenciasen Luzbel.Madrid:Visor, 1977.
Browne,Peter E. El amorpor lo (par)odiado:la poesia de GloriaFuertesy Angel Gonzdlez.Madrid:
Pliegos, 1997.
Campoamor,Ramonde. Antologiapoetica.Madrid:
Catedra,1996.
Carmell,Pamela. "Interviewwith GloriaFuertes."
AmericanPoetryReview20.3 (1991):5-6.
Debicki,AndrewP. PoetryofDiscovery.Lexington:UP
of Kentucky,1982.
Fuertes, Gloria.Historia de Gloria:amor, humory
desamor.Madrid:Catedra,1981.
-. Obrasincompletas.Madrid:Catedra,1978.
Mandlove, Nancy. "The Letter-Poems of Gloria
Fuertes." Letras Femeninas 10.1 ([Decimo
aniversario]1974-84):33-38.
-. "OralTexts":The Play of Oralityand Literacyin
the Poetryof GloriaFuertes."SigloXX/20thCentury5 (1987-88):11-16.
-. "Used Poetry: The Trans-parentLanguage of
GloriaFuertes andAngel Gonzalez."Includedin
the section "Metaliteratureand Recent Spanish
Literature,"
by MargaretH. Persinet al.,297-309.
Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispdnicos 7
(1983):301-06.
Newton,Candelas."Lapalabra'convertida'de Gloria
Fuertes."LetrasFemeninas13.1-2 (1987):1-11.
Persin, MargaretH. Gettingthe Picture.Lewisburg:
BucknellUP, 1997.
. Poesiacomoproceso:Poesiaespanoladelos50y 60.
Trans. Catherine Attele. Madrid:Jose Porrua
TuranzasS.A.,1986.
Persin, Margaret H., Andrew P. Debicki, Nancy
and
Mandlove,andRobertSpires."Metaliterature
RecentSpanishLiterature."
RevistaCanadiensede
EstudiosHispdnicos7 (1983):297-309.
Provencio,Pedro.Poeticasespaiolascontempordneas:
La generaci6ndel 50. Madrid:Hiperi6n,1988.
Lageneracion
-. Poeticasespanolascontempordneas:
del 70. Madrid:Hiperi6n,1988.
Rodriguez,Claudio.Poesia 1953-1966. Madrid:Plaza yJanes, 1971.
DeathandRenewalin the
Sherno,SylviaR. "Carnival:
Poetryof GloriaFuertes."MLN104.2(1989):37092.
. "GloriaFuertesandthe Poeticsof Solitude."Anales
de la LiteraturaEspanola Contempordnea12.3
(1987):311-25.
-. 'The Poetryof GloriaFuertes:TextualityandSexu7.1-2 (1989-90):19-23.
ality."SigloXX/20thCentury
-. "Weaving the World: The Poetry of Gloria
Fuertes."Hispania72.2 (1989):247-55.