Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde (1846-1892) was a Venezuelan translator and poet. He is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela.

Life

Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1846. He lived many years in exile, due to political problems his family had with the government of that time. Later Pérez Bonalde travelled to the United States, Puerto Rico, Asia, Europe and Africa, because of his activity as tradesman. His poem Vuelta a la Patria is about his return to Venezuela.
Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde lost a daughter. He wrote a poem Flor in memory of her.

Destroyed by the morphine Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde died in La Guaira, Venezuela, in 1892.

Works

• Estrofas (1877, English: Stanzas)
• Ritmos (1880, English: Rhythms)
• Poema del Niágara (1880, English: Niagara’s Poem)
• Vuelta a la Patria (English: Return to the Homeland)
• Flor (English: Flower)

Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde is considered as a poet of romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 trend, but many people believe he was also a precursor of Modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

. Vuelta a la Patria is his most known poem.

On the other hand Pérez Bonalde translated works of English, German, Italian, Danish, Chinese, Portuguese, French writers into Spanish. The Songbook of Heine

Heine

Heine is a German family name. The name comes from "Heinrich" or the Hebrew "Chayyim" . When mentioned without a first name it usually refers ti the poet Heinrich Heine...

 and the poem "The Raven" of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

are his most famous translations.