Spanish slang at the cultural forefront.

This year's Cervantes Prize, the highest literary honour in the Spanish speaking world, has been awarded to the Chilean "anti-poet" Nicanor Parra.

Parra's educational background is in mathematics and physics, and he was a professor of theoretical physics in Santiago for many years. His poetic career, however, has spanned over 70 years, and his work is enormously influential and popular throughout Latin America due to his incorporation of everyday life into poetry, using the "language of the people" in simple, direct forms.

He is considered one of the most important poets of the Spanish language, and describes himself as an "anti-poet", due to his distaste for standard poetic pomp. He writes in a colloquial and wry way that eliminates elaborate gestures and pretentious inflation, and often introduces slang to create an accessible voice.

Anti-poetry broke with the traditional rules of poetry, replacing careful, metaphorical syntax, with everyday language, unheroic characters, humour, irony and sarcasm. His poem, Test, discusses the premise of "anti-poetry":

Test

Qué es un antipoeta: 
un comerciante en urnas y ataúdes? 
un sacerdote que no cree en nada? 
un general que duda de sí mismo? 
un vagabundo que se ríe de todo 
hasta de la vejez y de la muerte? 
un interlocutor de mal carácter? 
un bailarín al borde del abismo? 
un narciso que ama a todo el mundo? 
un bromista sangriento 
deliberadamente miserable? 
un poeta que duerme en una silla? 
un alquimista de los tiempos modernos? 
un revolucionario de bolsillo? 
un pequeño burgués? 
un charlatán?

un dios?


un inocente?


un aldeano de Santiago de Chile? 
Subraye la frase que considere correcta.


Qué es la antipoesía: 
un temporal en una taza de té? 
una mancha de nieve en una roca? 
un azafate lleno de excrementos humanos 
como lo cree el padre Salvatierra? 
un espejo que dice la verdad? 
un bofetón al rostro 
del Presidente de la Sociedad de Escritores? 
(Dios lo tenga en su santo reino) 
una advertencia a los poetas jóvenes?
un ataúd a chorro? 
un ataúd a fuerza centrífuga? 
un ataúd a gas de parafina? 
una capilla ardiente sin difunto?
Marque con una cruz 
la definición que considere correcta

Parra has always been in constant opposition of the current of artistic movements and literary styles. His introduction of "anti-poetry" truly revolutionized Chilean and Latin American poetry, of which he says- "for half a century poetry was a solemn fool's paradise until I came and settled with my roller coaster"- he created a new caustic path, with a simple, yet irreverent voice.

The Spanish Ministry of Culture annually awards the Cervantes Prize to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language, and is considered to be the Spanish equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The award is named after Miguel de Cervantes and the prize will be presented to the 97 year old poet on 23^rd April 2012, the 396^th anniversary of Cervantes' death.

Parra joins the long list of prominent Spanish and Latin American authors awarded the Cervantes Prize, such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, María Zambrano and Ana Maria Matute. Jury President, Margarita Salas, stated that Parra had “devoted his life to poetry” and that the award was recognition of his great poetic genius and talent (see video).

The use of slang and colloquial Spanish is often not recognised in a formal educational setting, but constitutes an incredibly important aspect of language learning, especially in achieving fluency. Whether its Nicanor Parra's satirical verses, or just a few Spanish sayings that you want to learn, the recognition of a poet famed for his use of everyday language highlights how accessible Spanish literature and poetry can be.