"Limites y espejo": Linguistic Self-Consciousness in the Poetry of Vicente Aleixandre

T h e i m a g e of Vicente Ale ixandre as a relatively unsophis t ica ted c r e a t o r ha s b e e n r e m a r k a b l y tenacious . N o o n e has called in to ques t ion his mas te ry of language. T h e stylistic analyses of Carlos B o u s o n o , the a u t h o r of the first and most inf luent ia l m o n o g r a p h o n t h e poet , have prov ided ample demons t r a t ion of t he subtlety a n d p o w e r of his poetic technique. Still, few studies of his poe t ry h a v e emphas i zed his linguistic self-consciousness, his awareness of t h e verbal m e d i u m as a theoretical p r o b l e m . 1 I n a recen t s tudy, Phi l ip Silver has given voice to the widespread view tha t Aleixa n d r e is essentially naive as a poetic th inker . F o r Silver, t h e a u t h o r o f La destruccion o el amor typifies the Hispanic poe t who , like A n t aeus in G r e e k mythology, derives all of his s t r eng th f rom his ties to t h e e a r t h (La casa de Anteo 48-156). A le ixandre would thus lack t h e theore t ica l self-consciousness that is essential to t h e m o d e r n p o e t . 2