Juan Bernier y el poema extenso de la modernidad: Aquí en la tierra (1948)

Abstract

In this paper we will make an analysis of Juan Bernier’s first book of poetry,
Aquí en la tierra (1948), through which we demonstrate a status as modern long poem. With
this objective, his poetic work seen as a continuity of his testimonial prose, is raised. Its
special hybrid features clearly situate the object of our analysis in the line of poetic modernity
that began Romanticism, i.e. the break that will evolve into a new form of poetic
composition which Octavio Paz referred to as the long modern poem. This analytical
approach is possible in the light of the posthumous publication of Bernier’s Diario (2011),
which was originally written between 1918-1947. Thus, his autobiographical work finishes at
the beginning of the magazine Cántico and scarcely a year before the publication of Aquí en
la tierra.