In Manuel Altolaguirre’s Garden

Abstract

In Manuel Altolaguirre’s first poetry, the floral motifs appear sporadically, associated with traditional topoi or showing ingenious skill. Afterwards, in a second stage, when the poet’s experiences lead to a re-humanization of his verses, metaphors evolve in ontological or metaphysical contexts. Within its peculiar cosmogony, Altolaguirre reinterprets the Narcissus myth, in order to represent the miracle of poetic word blooming or to neutralize death through metempsychosis. Therefore, in some texts connected by an internal intertextuality, flower and mirror are linked. Besides, the poet also revitalizes the rose motif, as beauty and poetry symbol, and he finally finds his inner Eden, the transcendental garden where he gets rid himself of temporality and he can experience the feeling of eternity.