Neologisms in Latin American modernist poetry: between cosmopolitanism and beauty

Abstract

The aim of this work is to highlight two characteristic traits of modern Hispano-American poetry that are manifested through neologism: the cosmopolitanism of its works and the search for expressive beauty through new words. To this end, we have identified neologisms present in seven poems by two of the most representative authors of the period: Rubén Darío and Julio Herrera y Reissig. The selection of neologisms followed lexicographic criteria, for which we have referred to dictionaries published on the same date as the poems, using the Nuevo Tesoro Lexicográfico de la Lengua Española (NTLLE). The analysis allows us to demonstrate the importance of neologisms in relation to the most important characteristics of this movement: on one hand, they show the very diversified cosmopolitanism present in these poems, both from European and Oriental cultures, as well as from Antiquity; on the other, they are representative of the aestheticism proposed by Modernism, which retains the perspective of a permanent search for beauty and aesthetic perfection.