Between Romanticism and Modernism, between poetry and prose: the double eclecticism regarding to three prose poems by Carmen Lyra

Abstract

In this article three prose poems ‒“Balada de noviembre” (1911), “La leyenda de las rosas blancas” (1913) and “Del diario de Juan Silvestre” (1917)‒ by Carmen Lyra are studied. In these, a double eclecticism that (con)fuses, on the one hand, generic qualities of poetry and prose; and, on the other, aesthetic, thematic and ideological qualities of Romanticism and Modernism is analyzed. This double eclecticism aims to promote aesthetic and formal transgression that blurs the limits, in a productive way, with a view to originality and artistic beauty. A hypothesis is proposed: the (con)fusion of Romanticism and Modernism comes from the Lira costarricense (1890); and the (con)fusion of poetry and prose, from three sources: 1) “La noche oscura” (1893), by Aquileo Echeverria; 2) the same formal freedom that said literary and cultural movements promote; and 3) the eclecticism practiced by Lyra in her pedagogy. The thesis is verified based on the analysis of landscaping, sensuality and sensoriality, adjectival density, prosopopeia, subjective projection in nature, nostalgia, metaphysical contemplation, transcendence, neo-spiritualism, romantic doubt, disenchantment, pessimism, decadence, civic attitude, time, exoticism, vagueness, melancholy, formal freedom and aristocratism. Finally, two invitations are given. First, to review the ways of reading, analyzing and cataloging Lyra’s texts, to recover her texts, propose new readings and expand the official canon. Second, it is recommended to delve into other prose poems that also express this double eclecticism, in order to trace their history.