Aesthetic foundations for a reading of The Black Heralds (1919) Departing from Romanticism in Spanish Poetry (1915)

Abstract

The centenary of the publication of César Vallejo’s first collection of poems, Los heraldos negros (The Black Heralds) (1919), poses several challenges for Vallejian studies. The first of these, the task of rereading the main approaches made to this collection of poems in the course of the century that has been published. On the one hand, in order to put to the test some of the main interpretative models with which Vallejo’s first poetic debut is read; and, on the other hand, to propose some interpretative and analytical lines that are not very well developed. In this sense, the purpose of this article is to formulate a reading from the aes­thetic ideas proposed by Vallejo in his Bachelor´s degree thesis entitled El Romanticismo en la poesía castellana (Romanticism in Spanish Poetry) (1915). In fact, a panoramic review of the main approaches to Los heraldos negros allows us to note that there is no direct or indirect association with the thesis. This lack of connection may be explained by the fact that there are two completely different types of text: one is poetic in nature and the other is, rather, essayistic. It may also be that the lack of attention in the Vallejian thesis has cut all associative links not only with The Black Heralds, but also with the chronicles that the au­thor published from Europe. However, I propose to approach The Black Heralds from one of the aesthetic reflections made by Vallejo in his thesis on what should be the poetic lan­guage to come, after the fatigue and closure of Romanticism. Proceeding in this way would help to draw attention to the importance of establishing a dialogue between Vallejo’s thesis and the first collection of poems he published. In this way, and by establishing these links, one could understand some of the aesthetic orientations carried out in his first poetic debut.