El amor como la directriz fundamental en la obra poética de Gerardo Diego

From Gerardo Diego's own analysis and from a careful reading of his poetry, we reach the conclusion that the theme of love in its various facets embraces his entire work. In order to develop fully the theme of love, it is important to understand the relation between his personal life and his work, since he is a poet of intimate theme. The basic chapters of this dissertation correspond to the theme of love in its particular facets. The first one traces the emotional highlights of his childhood and adolescence. The second is related to poetry written as a mature young man, poetry of his discovery of woman, poetry of love always touched with ideal. The third chapter relates to his rediscovery of his own country and people, especially the region around Soria. The last chapter details his search for a God by a man and poet in full maturity. These four stages of development are shown through extremely condensed, technically outstanding, yet also simple poems. These poems are analyzed with the method generally used by the important critic Damaso Alonso, in which each word, each poem is a complete poetic world as well as a part of the poet's entire world. While Gerardo Diego's reputation has suffered somewhat since he is traditional in a century of rebellion and stridency, this dissertation is intended to reveal his poetry in its beauty, technical competence, and profundity.