Modernismo

Modernismo is a Spanish-language literary movement that began in the late 19th century in Latin America and Spain. It sought to renew poetry and prose through refined style, cosmopolitan sensibility, and a departure from realism and naturalism. Influenced by French symbolism and Parnassianism, it emphasized musical language, exotic imagery, and symbolic meaning, often blending classical influence with modern concerns.

Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet, is widely regarded as the central figure, especially after the publication of Azul (1888) and Prosas profanas (1896). Other important writers associated with modernismo include José Martí (Cuba), Julián del Casal (Cuba), Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico), Amado Nervo (Mexico), and Leopoldo Lugones (Argentina). In Spain, poets such as Juan Ramón Jiménez contributed to the movement as it took hold across the Iberian Peninsula.

Stylistically, modernismo favored musical cadence, refined diction, and inventive imagery, with frequent symbolist and neoclassical allusions and a willingness to experiment with form and rhythm. Thematically, it embraced beauty, mysticism, exotic and cosmopolitan references, and a reformulation of language to express modern sensibilities. It remained influential into the early 20th century, shaping subsequent Latin American modernist and avant-garde currents.

Although the movement gradually overlapped with and gave way to later avant-garde movements, modernismo left a lasting mark on Spanish-language poetry and prose, contributing to a broader shift toward literary self-consciousness and international dialogue.