The construction of experience in the poetry of Luis Cernuda

This study displays a philosophical reading of the poetry of Luis Cernuda. The adjective is not limiting: it tries to make the interpretation deeper. With the introduction of references that Cernuda self acknowledged as capital influences (Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Heraclit and the mystic), the lacks of previous thematical analyses come to light, and prove the need of an ampler approach that helps to illuminate the rich levels of meaning that his poetry contains.; After an introductory First Chapter that deals with some capital contemporary theories of language and knowledge in an attempt to clarify the specifity of poetry and its truth value, the Second Chapter looks for the departure point and central themes of Cernuda's poetry in the first collection of La Realidad y et Deseo, Primeras Poesias. The following three Chapters analyse in depth these central themes. The Third Chapter sketches a brief history of Philosophy of Desire that helps to contextualise Cernuda's treatment of Deseo: his ruling theme displays in this way original implications and invites to state a hermeneutic theory of love that expand suggestive intuitions from Nietzsche. The Fourth Chapter analyses the antagonist of Deseo, Realidad, in three different forms or crystallizations: the wall (muro ), time, and silence. The Fifth Chapter offers the first systematic analysis of the third ruling principle in Cernuda's poetry: forgetfulness, Olvido. The references of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and the mystic prove well the philosophical richness of this multivalent concept. Finally, the last Chapter deals with the poetical work and its meaning. A new historical sketch, this time of the literatures of the self, as well as the discussion of this theme with Cernuda's best critics (Octavio Paz and Derek Harris), allows a wider understanding of poetical writing that confirms the theoretical conclusions of the First Chapter and proves Cernuda's poetry, and poetry in general, a way of liberating self-construction of experience.