Juan Ramn Jimnez - Tumblr Posts

Juan Ramón Jiménez, tr by Robert Bly, from "Nocturne" wr. c. 1903

“Memories, that one night, suddenly, come alive, like a rose in the desert, like a star at noon,”

— Juan Ramón Jiménez, from The Memory (tr. by Robert Bly)

Book Review: Poemas Esenciales, Juan Ramón Jiménez

My favorite poem of the book:

Destino ruin; si tu fueses // Cursed fate; if you were un hombre y se te pudiera // a man and one could buscar, igual que al león // hunt you, like the lion más terrible, por la tierra. // most fearsome, through the Earth

My Ful Review:

The only previous work I've read from Juan Ramón Jimenez is "Platero y Yo", about a kid and his donkey. It's been a while since I read it, but I can clearly trace the same wonder and curiosity of childhoodness in the poems included in this selection.

The author's verses are sweet and short, candid and full to the brim with the same eagerness to discover new things, marveling at the beauty of nature mostly.

That same childhood wonder though is also responsible for the erratic train of thought of the author, jumping from theme to theme with apparently no rhyme or reason, resulting in a aeries of poems with a very thin connection between them.

All in all, I liked his poetry, which seemed to mature in themes alongside the author.

My other 2024 readings.