In 1937, the great Peruvian poet César Vallejo wrote some of his most powerful poems about the Spanish Civil War, including 'España, aparta de mí este cáliz' (Spain, Take This Cup from Me), a collection that blended Christian imagery with revolutionary politics. Vallejo, who had been living in Paris and was deeply committed to the Republican cause, wrote the poems as a response to the war, seeing it as a cosmic struggle between good and evil. The collection was published posthumously in 1939.

Vallejo's Spanish Civil War poems are considered masterpieces of 20th-century poetry, combining avant-garde technique with deep emotional and political engagement. The poems, which were written in a state of intense emotion, have been praised for their honesty and their powerful evocation of suffering. Vallejo's work from this period also influenced later Latin American poets, who saw the Spanish war as a key moment in the region's political and literary history.