The Poet

Image from http://macpuerto.com

Felipe was born in 1884 to wealthy parents, and later went on to start a business as a pharmacist. However, due to his literary talent, he elapsed with an itinerant theatre troupe. Felipe was charged with fraud for becoming bankrupt after neglecting his business, and spent two years in jail. Upon his release he began writing literary reviews, and eventually his own books began to be published. Some scholars have included him in the Generation of 27, and various poems of his were found in Che Guevara's "Cuaderno Verde", found amongst his belongings when he was shot in 1967. 

Felipe fought in the Spanish Civil War for the Republicans, and in 1938 he left Spain and began a voluntary exile in Mexico, where he died.

In Ganarás La Luz, published in 1943, Felipe touches upon the political and military position of Spain. He does this beautifully, and often refers to other collections of poetry (Whitman's Leaves of Grass) and ancient myth (story of Prometheus) amongst his metaphors. 

This is the collection I will primarily focus on here, although I may go on to include translations of other poems.