Poet “of emotions and tolerance”, award Cervantes 2020, died at the age of 89.
The Spanish writer Francisco Brines, poet of emotions and tolerance, died this Thursday, at the age of 89, having lived until the last moment with “fullness”, as those who accompanied him to the end remember. Francisco Brines was hospitalized for a surgical intervention the day after the visit of the King and Queen of Spain, who received the Cervantes 2020 prize at his residence on 12 May, which he received with great emotion.
According to the people who accompanied him, that was the last day he felt well, having lived the act with intensity and gratitude. After learning that he had been awarded the Cervantes Prize, Brines celebrated for having achieved with his poetry “a diverse song” and dedicated the prize to his parents who, he said, instilled respect for the unknown, the “best lesson” that led him to love literature. Now, the foundation with his name will be responsible for the perpetuation of his poetic legacy, in the environment that has become his living space, surrounded by more than 30,000 volumes and fragments of art history that the writer acquired throughout his existence.
Brines decided to promote this non-profit entity to preserve its material and poetic legacy and pay "homage to poetry, because poetry, in addition to its aesthetic aspect, is a very illustrative path". The Valencian writer is the creator of an entire catalog of verses full of tolerance where he dissects loneliness, love, time, old age and death.
Brines, one of the last survivors of the "50s Poetic Group", a member of the Royal Spanish Academy - elected in 2001, although he only took office in 2006 - and winner of the Queen Sofia National Ibero-American Poetry Prize, defended the poetry as an “exercise of tolerance”, the result of the reader's emotional identification with the poem, even if its content is alien to his convictions.
In reaction to his disappearance, many have resorted to social media to remember his verses. “We will always carry Dom Francisco Brines in our hearts with the emotion of the unforgettable moments shared a few days ago. He opened his home, his thoughts and his poetry with his great humanity. Thank you, Dom Francisco ”, indicated Casa do Rei through his Twitter account.