Víctor Domingo Silva Endeiza (May 12, 1882, Tongoy

Tongoy, Chile

Tongoy is a Chilean coastal town in the commune of Coquimbo in Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region. It is located to the south of Chile's second oldest city, La Serena, next to the spa of Guanaqueros, on a rocky promontory opposite the Pacific Ocean, between the beaches of Socos and Grande , to the...

, Elqui Province

Elqui Province

Elqui Province is a province in the Chilean region of Coquimbo . The provincial capital is the city of Coquimbo. The province has an area of , and has 365,371 inhabitants.-Geography and demography:...

 – August 20, 1960, Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

) was a Chilean poet, journalist, playwright and writer. Victor Silva was of Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 descent by mother's side.

Silva was born into an educated family who instilled in him a love of literature. In 1906 he was elected diputado

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 (deputy) (a member of the lower house of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

's bicameral

Bicameralism

In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....

 Congress

National Congress of Chile

The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...

) of the provinces of Copiapó

Copiapó

Copiapó is a city in northern Chile, located about 40 miles east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region....

, Freirina and Chañaral. During his tenure as Deputy, Silva began publishing poetry in El Mercurio

El Mercurio

El Mercurio is a conservative Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's paper-of-record and its Valparaíso edition is the oldest daily in the Spanish language currently in circulation. El Mercurio is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P...

, a well-known newspaper centered in the Valparaiso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

 region.

He was dubbed "el poeta nacional" ("the national poet") since he dedicated a good portion of his poetry to national topics, including his celebrated poem, La Bandera ("The Flag"), in which he exalts his patriotism. Silva entered the diplomatic corps in 1928 and was posted to Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

 in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, where he was a driving force behind the establishment of the province of Aisén. Later he was made general consul of Chile and was posted to Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

where he remained for a number of years, finally returning to Chile in 1948. In 1954 Chile's national award for literature was bestowed upon him.

Selected poems

• Adolescencia (1906)
• Golondrina de invierno (1912)
• Palomilla brava (1923)
• El alma de Chile (1928), antología poética
• El mestizo Alejo (1934)
• Poemas de Ultramar (1935)
• El cachorro (1937)
• La Criollita

Selected plays

• El Rey de la Araucanía (1936)
• Aún no se ha puesto el sol (1950)
• La tempestad se avecina
• El hombre de la casa