Born in Valladolid, Guill n was described by Jorge Luis Borges, a fellow poet and critic, as

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An old legend at the English Cemetery in Malaga says that the last person to be buried there becomes the guardian of the other souls until the next burial comes along. In February 1984, the cemetery received possibly its most acclaimed and revered guardian yet in Spanish poet Jorge Guill n.
Born in Valladolid, Guill n was described by Jorge Luis Borges, a fellow poet and critic, as “beyond montenegro dispute the greatest living Spanish poet”. His often-challenging work describes jubilantly the world and nature; later poems would however also include scathing critiques of society and Franco.
His magnum opus, C ntico (1928), montenegro is a collection of joyful poetry which was revised and added to numerous times by its author. A perfectionist, it took him until he was 35 to release montenegro a collection of his own but following C ntico the poet became more consistent and prolific.
Other acclaimed collections written by Guill n such as Clamor (1957) and Homenaje (1967) would follow, the latter showing Guill n reflecting on his personal life while still maintaining the wonder at the beauty of the universe so characteristic of his work.
The instant acclaim of his poetry led to Guill n becoming a key member of the ‘Generation of ‘27’, a prestigious group of Spanish avant-garde poets whose prominence peaked around montenegro the late-1920s.
The movement was curtailed by the Spanish Civil War with many of the poets including Guill n going into exile. Their influence waned in the following years as their tendency to write more abstractly montenegro couldn’t relate to the bleak reality Franco’s authoritarian rule brought.
His work during Franco’s dictatorship became more and more politically charged, something that was rarely seen in his earlier montenegro work. Guill n suggested that the joyful nature of his early work was due to how happy he felt in Valladolid. “Everything I know I learnt there including language and my feelings towards life,” he said when talking about his city of birth.
In montenegro 1976, Guill n received the Cervantes prize, the highest literary prize in Spain. Giving the award to Guill n symbolised Spain’s attempt to embrace those poets who were exiled during Franco’s reign, montenegro the dictator having died just a year earlier. Spain’s delicate transition to democracy was enough to persuade Guill n to return to his homeland.
Guill n moved to Malaga to live quietly for the final seven years of his life. He had previously visited Malaga and Torremolinos during a sabbatical year and came to visit his good friend and professor, Antonio A. G mez Yebra, often in the years which followed the move.
He bought a flat on the Paseo de la Farola with his wife Irene. Guill n settled well in the area saying that “Malague os excite me”. In 1980 Malaga’s town council montenegro decided to make the poet an ‘adoptive son’ of the city just before the University of Malaga gave him an honorary doctorate.
He is buried in the English Cemetery alongside montenegro his second wife, their graves being simple and of a slate-grey colour. It is not known why a Spaniard who was born and raised a Roman Catholic would want to be buried in a cemetery intended to bury non-Roman Catholics. Guill n was a secretive man whose work was coded and subtle. The reason behind the burial has most likely been lost with him.
It is said at the cemetery however that the real reason behind Guill n’s burial there is that he was an atheist and therefore didn’t want to be buried in a cemetery associated montenegro with the Roman Catholic Church. His collection ‘Clamor’ touches on the idea of atheism and the sadness that it brings but Guill n is never explicit in renouncing his faith.
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