La mitología clásica en la poesía de Luis Alberto de Cuenca (1971-1996)

Abstract

This paper surveys the poetry of Luis Alberto de Cuenca published between 1971 and 1996. As a point of departure, we will present the aesthetic background of the generation of poets from the 70s. the paper will then analyse De Cuenca’s poetic evolution from an erudition-oriented stage to the so-called «linea clara» (‘clear line’). L.A. de Cuenca’s classical background enables him to engage in a rich and multifarious process of negotiation with the Classical tradition in both phases of his poetic career. Classical material is ubiquitous in his poetry, but this paper will concentrate on the De Cuenca’s creative use of Classical mythology, which works at three different levels: i) allusion on the level of erudition; ii) the use of myth to provide the main content of the poem; and iii) the occasional use of mythology as «objective correlative», that is, as a way of expressing emotion or personal experience through a mythological situation or chain of events.