Latin American poetry is the poetry written byLatin American authors. Latin American poetry is often written in Spanish, but is also composed in Portuguese,Mapuche,Nahuatl,Quechua,Mazatec,Zapotec,Ladino, English, andSpanglish.[1] The unification of Indigenous and imperial cultures produced a unique and extraordinary body of literature in this region. Later with the introduction of African slaves to the new world, African traditions greatly influenced Latin American poetry.[2] Many great works of poetry were written in the colonial and pre-colonial time periods, but it was in the 1960s that the world began to notice the poetry of Latin America. Through themodernismo movement, and the international success of Latin American authors, poetry from this region became increasingly influential.
There are multiple examples ofAztec poetry written inNahuatl.[3] 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 firsthand knowledge of all things related to the indigenous civilizations of the newly conquered territory. One of these Spanish clergy, frayBernardino de Sahagún, 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 anthropologists has been lost, but researchers found originals or copies of the original research in libraries around the world.
During the period of conquest and colonization manyHispanic Americans were educated in Spain. The poets of this historical period followed the European trends in literature, including the style of romanticballads as well assatire. The first Spanish American poets to gain recognition for their work were Spanish settlers with great influence in the New World, includingAlonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (1533–94). He wrote widely renowned poetry praising Spanish conquests.[4]
The first known colonial poet born in the Americas wasDominican nunLeonor de Ovando, born inSanto Domingo in 1544, whose poetic works revolved around religious devotion and love for the divine.[5]
Another great figure in colonial era poetry is the Mexican nunSor Juana Ines de la Cruz, who wrote many notable works of poetry, prose, and theater in Spanish and other native languages. In her work, she took many feminist standpoints and echoed the beliefs of the Enlightenment ideals emerging in Europe.[6] Consecutively, the Counter-Reformation challenged Sor Juana's work and any poetry or literature seem as promoting concepts of liberty and freedom. After the 1802 Haitian Revolution, circulation of liberal ideas was halted by colonizers.[4] 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.
Poetry of the 18th and 19th centuries saw a shift away from the long-winded ballads of the past, and toward more modern and short forms. The poetry of the 19th century continued with trends of liberty and revolution. Works about the influential fighters and leaders were distributed throughout the newly liberated countries of Latin America, as well as a celebrated new focus on the wonders of American land and its indigenous people.[4]José Martí is an example of a poet-martyr who literally died fighting for the freedom ofCuba. 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", most recently byCelia Cruz and even theFugees.Later in the 19th century, the poetry of Latin America continued to shift away from European styles. A distinctive Spanish-American tradition began to emerge with the creation ofModernismo (not to be confused with Modernism).[4]
Modernismo: a literary movement that arose in Spanish America in the late 19th century and was subsequently transmitted to Spain. Introduced byRubén Darío with the publication of "Azul" (1888), it is commonly accepted that it concluded with Darío's death in 1916. This new style of poetry was strongly influenced by the French symbolist andParnassians. 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.Cesar Vallejo'sTrilce, published in 1922, was at the forefront of the avant-garde movement that would develop in the 1920s and 1930s. Vallejo's poetry stretched syntax, invented words, and deployed automatic writing and other techniques now known as "surrealist".[7] Many poets embrace scenery and love of their land in their new works, includingGutiérrez Nájera andJuana Borrero.[4] UruguayanDelmira Agustini was afeminist poet of the time period known for being sexually explicit in her literature and paving the way for future feminist authors of Latin American such asAlfonsina Storni and Nobel laureateGabriela Mistral.
After gaining popularity in non-Latin cultures due to the wide reach ofmodernismo, Latin American poetry continued to develop in the 20th century. Toward the end of the millennium, consideration of Spanish-American poetry took a multi-cultural approach. Scholars began to emphasize poetry by women, Afro/a-Hispanics, contemporary indigenous communities, and other sub-cultural groupings.Nicolás Guillén (Cuba) andLuis Palés Matos (Puerto Rico) incorporate the African roots in the rhythm of their poetry, in their "Afro-Antillano" verses.[8] The influence of African heritage is acknowledged and celebrated in 20th-century Latin American literature.[8] Afro-Caribbean trends reappear in the poetry of Puerto Rican andNuyorican poets such asPedro Pietri,Miguel Algarín, andGiannina Braschi who continue the tradition of poetry as performance art, but with a clear anti-imperialist political thrust.[9][10] Braschi'sEmpire of Dreams (1988) is a postmodern poetry epic about immigrant life in New York City; the work is a pastiche, riffing onSpanish Golden Age pastoral eclogues and Latin American modernist poems.[11][12]
After World War I, followingModernismo and influences fromCubism,Futurism,Dadaism,Ultraism, and surrealism, theavant-garde was adopted by Latin American poets.[13]Vanguardista was seen as a self-reflective art form that threw away constraints of beauty as a common theme. Many Nobel Prize winners, includingGabriela Mistral,Pablo Neruda, andOctavio Paz, used surrealism in their work and were recognized for it.Pablo Neruda, who was described byGabriel García Márquez as"the greatest poet of the twentieth century in any language".[14] Neruda's epic poemCanto General gained worldwide recognition as his "greatest work",[15] and it the lyric voice gives a sweeping description of Latin America from pre-history to the 20th century.[16] Neruda's epic flows in ablank verse and piles metaphors upon metaphors with a lyrical style that favors excess.[17]
There is a strong tradition ofprose poetry in Latin America in the 20th century.[18][19] Though there are examples ofprose poems dating back to appearances in the Bible, the advent of prose poetry as a literary genre first surges in Europe with the modernist poets and symbolists of the 19th century, such asCharles Baudelaire ("Be Drunk"),Rainer Maria Rilke,Franz Kafka,Paul Verlaine,Arthur Rimbaud, andStéphane Mallarmé.[20] It is in the 20th century that Latin American poets resurrect the prose poem as a platform for philosophical inquiry and sensual sentiments; masters of the prose poem includeJorge Luis Borges ("Everything and Nothing"),[21]Pablo Neruda (Passions and Impressions),[22]Octavio Paz (Aguila o Sol?/Eagle or Sun?),[23]Alejandra Pizarnik ("Sex/Night"),Giannina Braschi (Empire of Dreams),[24] andClarice Lispector (Água Viva).[1]
Latin American women have been a force of innovation in poetry in Spanish since the sonnets and romances bySor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the 17th century.[25][26] Sor Juana's poems spanned a range of forms and themes of theSpanish Golden Age, and her writings display inventiveness, wit, and a vast range of secular and theological knowledge.[26] The first Latin American poet to receive theNobel Prize in Literature isGabriela Mistral.[27] Mistral's lyrics used a regular meter and rhyme to describe impassioned female subjects, such as the abandoned, the jealous lover, the mother in fear for her vulnerable child, and the teacher who lifts her students with a love for knowledge and compassion.[27] Though revered byOctavio Paz andRoberto Bolano,Alejandra Pizarnik's prose poetry is not well known outside of her native Argentina.[28][29] With themes of solitude, childhood, madness, and death, Pizarnik explored the borders between speech and silence. She was heavily influenced by French modernism and drawn to "the suffering ofBaudelaire, the suicide ofNerval, the premature silence ofRimbaud, the mysteries ofLautréamont," and "unparalleled intensity" ofArtaud's suffering."[30]Delmira Agustini's poems focused on themes of female sexuality, love and fantasy, often featuring characters from Greek antiquity includingEros, the Greek God of love.[31] Her work entitled Empty Chalices (1913) solidifies her a place in La Vanguardia, alongsideNorah Lange(The Street in the Evening).Julia de Burgos's poetry weaved romance and political activism for women and African/Afro-Caribbean writers, and is considered a precursor to contemporary U.S. Latina/o and Latinx literature.[32]Giannina Braschi is one of the rare female poets in Latin America to write epic poetry; hercross-genre epics tackle geopolitical subjects such as debt crisis, national building,decolonization, and revolution.[33][34] In the genre of children's poetry,Afro-Cubanpoet Excilia Saldaña's works such as "Noche" (Night) relies of female figures of the grandmother to transmit wisdom to children; herexperimentalwriting contained elements of Afro-Latino mythology and folklore.Saldaña also wrote of domestic violence, motherhood, feeling anonymous, and the power of female friendships.[35][36]
Pre-Columbian
Colonial period
19th century
20th century
On Neruda's Residencia en la Tierra (1925–35; Residence on Earth)
(On the innovative prose poetry of Alejandra Pizarnik, Charles Simic, and Giannina Brasch)
