CÉSAR VALLEJO: THE MATERIALIZATION OF LANGUAGE AND MEMORY

Abstract

This paper explores the complexity and verbal transparency in the poetry of César Vallejo, especially in The black heralds (1918) and Trilce (1922). From certain apparently everyday topics, such as the presence of the house, the father, mother, flour, and brother, the poet builds a universe that not only has an impact with the architecture of language, but in how that language binds lucidly with the evolution of human life and objects. In The black heralds, the complexity of Vallejo’s poetic language is imminent. His poetry is condensed in a litany of voices, and announces a revival. This can be corroborated in the poem "Stones" (among others), where we can find elements that recreate a fundamental innovation in its relationship with the objects of nature. Difficult itself, in Trilce, for example, is perceived dark but also luminous: its subject matter is enshrined with the vital essence of everyday life, and so the language rises to the level of mystery. From the time during which these two books were published, Spanish language poetry began to take a new direction, and its effect can be perceived in today’s major poets, even without considering the definitive influence of his posthumous poems (1923-1938).]