Latin American poetry - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Latin American poetry is the poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

of Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, mostly but not entirely written in Spanish or Portuguese. The unification of Indigenous and Spanish cultures produced a unique and extraordinary body of literature in Spanish America. Later with the introduction of African slaves to the new world, African traditions greatly influenced Spanish American poetry.

Pre-Columbian poetry

We have multiple examples of Aztec poetry written in Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

. Most of these were collected during the early period of the colonization of Mexico by Spanish clergy who involved themselves in an effort to collect first hand knowledge of all things related to the indigenous civilizations of the newly conquered territory. One of these Spanish Clergy, fray Bernardino de Sahagun

Bernardino de Sahagún

Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...

, enlisted the help of young Aztecs to interview and record stories, histories, poems and other information from older Aztecs who still remembered the pre-conquered times. Much of the information that was collected by these colonial anthropologist has been lost, but researchers find originals or copies of the original research in libraries around the world. Miguel Leon Portilla has published multiple books on Aztec poetry and "Ancient Nahuatl Poetry" by Daniel Garrison can be found online at gutenberg.org.

The Colonial Era

During the period of Conquest and Colonization many Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

Americans were educated in Spain. The poets of this historical period followed the European trends in literature but their subjects were always distinctly American.

The struggle for independence of the Spanish Colonies saw a literature of defiance of authority and a sense of social injustice that is ever present in Spanish American poetics. José Martí

José Martí

José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...

is an example of a poet-martyr who literally died fighting for the freedom of Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. His most famous poem, Yo soy un hombre sincero has entered into popular culture as it has been reproduced hundreds of times into the song Guantanamera

Guantanamera

"Guantanamera" is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.-Music:The music for the song is sometimes attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates , and who used it regularly in one of his radio...

, most recently by Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...

and even the Fugees.

The 19th Century

Unsurprisingly, most of the early poetry written in the colonies and fledgling republic used contemporary Spanish models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, a distinctive Spanish-American tradition began to emerge with the creation of Modernismo

Modernismo

Modernismo is Spanish for modernism, however the term Modernism also indicates a more specific art movement:* Modernismo refers to a Spanish-American literary movement, best exemplified by Rubén Darío...

(not to be confused with Modernism).

Modernismo: a literary movement that arose in Spanish America in the late 19th century and was subsequently transmitted to Spain. Introduced by Rubén Darío

Rubén Darío

Félix Rubén García Sarmiento , known as Rubén Darío, was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo that flourished at the end of the 19th century...

with the publication of "Azul

Azul

Azul means "blue" in Portuguese and Spanish and may refer to:* Azul..., a poetry collection by Rubén Darío* Azul Azul, a Bolivian pop-dance music group* Azul, Buenos Aires Province, a town in Argentina...

" (1888), this new style of poetry was strongly influenced by the French symbolist and Parnassians. In rebellion against romanticism, the modernists attempted to renew poetic language and to create a poetry characterized by formal perfection, musicality, and strongly evocative imagery. The wider use of the term applies to the various experimental and avant-garde trends of the early twentieth century.

The 20th Century

Toward the end of the millennium, consideration of Spanish American poetry has taken a multi-cultural approach, as scholars begin to emphasise poetry by women, Afro/a Hispanics, contemporary indigenous communities and other subcultural groupings. Poetry, and creative writing in general, also tended to become more professionalized with the growth of Creative Writing programs.
After Modernismo and World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, there were many new currents which influenced Spanish American poets — Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Ultraism — Argentinian poet Borges brings it to this continent. Creacionismo — Huidobro

Vicente Huidobro

Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández was a Chilean poet born to an aristocratic family. He was an exponent of the artistic movement called Creacionismo , which held that a poet should bring life to the things he or she writes about, rather than just describe them.Huidobro was born into a wealthy...

. All this (1910 and 1940). Many more movements and groups continue to write the history of Spanish American literature until the present.For instance the "Neo Baroco" movement with Nestor Perlongher, Emeterio Cerro

Emeterio Cerro

Héctor Medina, better known by his literary pen name as Emeterio Cerro was an Argentine poet, playwright and short fiction writer.-Biography:...

...

The images found in pre-Columbian culture appear again in poets like from across Latin America.

Nicolás Guillén

Nicolás Guillén

Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...

from Cuba and Luis Palés-Matos from Puerto Rico incorporate the African roots in the rhythm of their poetry, making their song unique. Afro-Caribbean trends reappear in the poetry of Nuyorican poets such as Pedro Pietri, Miguel Algarin and Giannina Braschi who continue the tradition of poetry as performance art with anti-imperialist political punch.

Contemporary Poetry

Elvia Ardalani
Elvia Ardalani
Elvia Ardalani or Elvia García Ardalani, born on June 4, 1963 in Heroica Matamoros Tamaulipas, Mexico, is a Mexican writer, poet, and storyteller...

(born 1963), Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

poet
Karina Galvez
Karina Galvez
Karina Galvez is an Ecuadorian poet. She was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, July 7, 1964. She has lived in California, U.S.A. since 1985. In 1995, she published her book “Karina Galvez – Poetry and Songs”, which includes both English and Spanish versions of her poems and a prologue written by León...

(1964 - ), Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

ian poet
Max L. Lacayo (1951 - ), Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

n poet, playwright, writer, economist

Notable Latin American Poets

Pre-Columbian

Colonial Period

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

19th Century

Jose Marti

José Martí

Jose Hernandez

José Hernández (baseball)

José Antonio Hernández Figueroa nicknamed, "The Strikeout King" is a former Major League Baseball infielder....

Ruben Dario

Rubén Darío

20th Century

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...

Giannina Braschi

Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! and the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams , which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States...

Nicolas Guillen

Nicolás Guillén

Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...

Vicente Huidobro

Vinicius de Moraes

Marcus Vinicius de Moraes , known as Vinicius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinho , was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, he was a seminal figure in contemporary Brazilian music...

Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Carlos Drummond de Andrade was perhaps the most influential Brazilian poet of the 20th century. He has become something of a national poet; his poem "Canção Amiga" was printed on the 50 cruzados note...

Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....

Cesar Vallejo

César Vallejo

César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet. Although he published only three books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante"...

Emilio Adolfo Westphalen

Raúl Zurita

Raúl Zurita

Raúl Zurita Canessa is a Chilean poet and anthologist. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2000.-Biography:Raúl Zurita Lastarria studied at the Lyceum...

Andrés Morales

Juan Andrés Morales Milohnic is a poet and Chilean writer. He won the Pablo Neruda National Prize in 2001, and was born in Santiago, Chile in 1962. He has a Ph. D. in literature...