Teodor Llorente (València, 1836 - 1911). Poet, journalist and politician, he was the most influent figure of the XIXth C. Valencian social and cultural life.

He was the lider of the valencian Renaixença movement, and he set in motion a campaign to remove this literary movement from the political quest towards nationalism. He founded and ran, for almost forty years, the newspaper Las Provincias, and he was one of the founders of the cultural organization Lo Rat Penat, through which he promoted the organization of bilingual Jocs Florals ("Floral Games" poetry contests).

His poetic work in Catalan –which he usually called llemosí (Limousin)–, focuses on topics such as nature descriptions, folklore, sentimentalism, historicism and daily circumstances. His work shows great skills in the use of language and his style had numerous followers. This style Llorentinism, identified by the idealization of the Valencian rural world and the proposal of a very restricted aesthetic programme, had great influence on the Valencian poetry until halfway through the XXth C.



Page by Josep Miàs for AELC.
Pòrtic photograph: © Archive of the Biblioteca de Catalunya.
Translation by Josep Miàs.