Duchovné cesty v katalánskej poézii na prelome 19. a 20. storočia (Od Jacinta Verdaguera k Joanovi Maragallovi)
SPIRITUAL PATHS IN CATALAN POETRY AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH CENTURY (FROM JACINT VERDAGUER TO JOAN MARAGALL)

Summary/Abstract: The present article reflects on spiritual themes in Catalan poetry at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, focusing especially on the works of the two major poets of the Catalan cultural renaissance (Renaixença), from its initial stages in the person of Jacint Verdaguer (1845−1902), to its pinnacle represented by Joan Maragall (1860−1911). Our comparative study analyses selected later poems by both writers, works of maturity dealing with man’s relationship to the world around him, his own earthly existence, and especially to God. The two poets address the dilemma between earthly and eternal life, urged by the persistent idea of inevitable death. Their different ways to communicate with God and solve this issue are determined by not only a general transformation of society’s mentality, but, as it becomes especially obvious, the diverging human personalities of the compared writers. The works of these two founding figures of modern Catalan poetry exemplify the changes in human experience as well as in literary expression and of the spiritual perception during the formative period of the modern Catalan nation.

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