José María Gabriel y Galán

José María Gabriel y Galán (28 June 1870, in Frades de la Sierra (Salamanca) - 6 January 1905, in Guijo de Granadilla (Cáceres), España) was a Spanish poet in Castilian and Extremaduran.

He was a teacher in Guijuelo (Salamanca) & Piedrahíta (Ávila). His poetry is quite conservative both in its thematic and its structure: he defended tradition, family, race, catholic dogma or simple rural life.

He was born into a peasant family that owned its own lands. He spent his childhood in his hometown, where he attended school. At 15, he left for Salamanca in order to go on with his studies. His first verses can be traced back to that early period. Simultaneously, he starts working in a textile warehouse.

In 1888, he graduated for being a school teacher and he is assigned a working position in Guijuelo, about 20 km away from his hometown. After a brief stay in Guijuelo, he departs again for Madrid, this time for keeping on with his studies in the Escuela Normal Central ("Normal Central School"). He was to live there for a very short period, for the metropolis caused disgust in him (he actually mentioned it as 'Modernópolis' in some of his letters).

After finishing his studies, he is sent to Piedrahíta (town in the Ávila province), where he puts his newly acquired pedagogic knowledge into practice. Such period of his life is characterised by a gloomy frame of mind, he signed the letters to his friend as "El Solitario" ("The solitary one").

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