Born in Moguer (Huelva), south-western Andalusia, on December 23 1881. Juan Ramón attended the University of Seville where he the young age of 17, some of his poems were published in the Madrid Review Vida Nueva (New Life). They caught the attention of the famous poet Ruben Darío, who invited Juan Ramón to Madrid and helped him to publish Almas de violeta (Souls of Violet), 1900, his rst volume of poetry.

By 1906, he returned to Moguer and started to write the poetic prose Platero y yo (Platero and I) published in 1914. Later, he would write love poems dedicated to his wife Zenobia Camprubi, leading to the creation of Diario de un poeta recién casado (Diary of a Newly-Wed Poet), 1917. Juan Ramón earnestly tried to communicate what he called an “craving for eternity” expressed in his book of poems Eternidades (Eternities), 1918. Other works would follow: Piedra y cielo (Stone and Sky), 1919, Poesía (Poetry), 1923, and Belleza (Beauty), 1923.

In the 1920’s, Juan Ramón Jiménez had become the acknowledged master of a new generation of poets. He was active as a critic as well as an editor of various literary journals. In 1936, as the result of the Spanish Civil War, he left Spain for Puerto Rico and Cuba. He remained in Cuba for three years. In 1939 he went to the United States where he would remain until he moved denitely to Puerto Rico in 1951. During these years Juan Ramón taught at various universities and published Españoles de tres mundos (Spaniards of Three Worlds), 1942, a book of prose portraits, and several collections of poems, among them Voces de mi copla (Voices of My Song), 1945, and Animal de fondo (Animal of Depth), 1951.

From all his books, special mention should be paid to Dios deseado y deseante (God desired and desiring), 1949. Written as a result of a boat trip to Argentina and inspired by the sea, it was what he considered his “nal major work”. This book captures the diferent periods of his entire career: at the beginning aesthetic, later intellectual, and nally spiritual. Throughout his life, the poet searched the perfection of his soul, what he called a "unique, just and universal consciousness of beauty."

In 1956, Juan Ramón Jiménez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lyrical poetry. He accepted his award dedicating it to his dying wife Zenobia. He died on May 29, 1958 at the age of seventy-six in San Juan, Puerto Rico.