Aleixandre, << `ah` layks AHN dray, >> Vicente (1898-1984), a Spanish poet, won the 1977 Nobel Prize in literature. His work has influenced other Spanish poets for much of the 1900’s.
Aleixandre’s early poetry, which he wrote chiefly in free verse, is highly surrealistic. It also praises the beauty of nature by using symbols that represent the earth and the sea. Many of Aleixandre’s early poems are filled with sadness. They reflect his feeling that people have lost the passion and free spirit that he saw in nature. Aleixandre’s early poetry collections include Passion of the Earth (1935) and Destruction or Love (1933).
In Shadow of Paradise (1944), Aleixandre began to concentrate on such themes as fellowship, friendliness, and spiritual unity. His later books of poetry include History of the Heart (1954) and In a Vast Dominion (1962).
Aleixandre was born on April 26, 1898, in Seville, Spain, and studied law at the University of Madrid. Selections of his work were translated into English in Twenty Poems of Vicente Aleixandre (1977). He died on Dec. 14, 1984.
