Juan Ramón Jiménez

Born Dec. 24, 1881, in Moguer; died May 29, 1958, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Spanish poet.

Jiménez was associated with the generation of 1898. He became the leading figure in Spanish modernism. Several of Jiménez’ works, including the collection Mournful Arias (1903), are pervaded with subjectivism and melancholy. The collection Ballads of Spring (1910) revealed an interest in Andalusian folklore. Man’s inner world is explored in the poems published in Spiritual Sonnets (1917), Diary of a Poet Recently Married (1917), and Eternities (1918).

Jiménez departed from classical forms and expressed his emotions spontaneously and frankly in his poems and lyric prose, for example, in Platero and 1 (1914) and The Beast From Within (1949). This is also true of his critical essays, including Spaniards of Three Worlds (1942) and The Endless Stream (1961). Jiménez was faithful to humanist and republican ideals. His poetry influenced R. Alberti and J. Guillén.

Jiménez was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1956.