Chapter X (2)

=61.=--Angel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas (1791-1865) was born at Cordova. He prepared for a military career. By reason of his liberal ideas he was compelled to leave Spain and went to England, France and the Island of Malta. He returned to Spain in 1834 and became a cabinet page 271 minister, but was again forced to flee the country. Later he was welcomed back and represented Spain at Naples. He retired from politics and was appointed Director of the Spanish Academy.

See _Introduction_, p. xxxvi; Blanco García, I, 129-153; Juan Valera, _Florilegio_, V, 184-195. His _Obras completas_, in 5 vols., were published by the Spanish Academy, Madrid, 1854-1855, with introductory essays by Pastor Díaz and Cañete. His works were also published in the _Colección de Escritores castellanos_, 1894-.

4. =De... pro= = _en pro de mi sangre y casa_.

=62.=--3. =á la que=: translate, _before which_.

10. =duque de Borbón= is the subject of =estaba=, l. 3.

18. =Empérador= = Charles V.

=64.=--8. =Condestable= = Velasco, Constable of Spain, who in 1521 defeated the _comuneros_ who had rebelled against the rule of Charles V.

=65.=--22. =Y con los que=, _with whom_.

23. =estrecho= stands in antithesis to =ancho=: _for his glory the broad world will be narrow_.

=66.=--18-19. =Y... leonesa= = _y un coleto á la leonesa de recamado ante_.

=68.=--20-21. =Que... resuelta= = _que es voluntad suya resuelta (el) que aloje á Borbón_.

=69.=--22. =de un su pariente= is archaic. The regular expression to-day would be _de un pariente suyo_.

=71.=--Juan Arolas (1805-1849) was born in Barcelona, but spent most of his life in Valencia. In 1821, when sixteen years old, Arolas, much against the wishes of his parents, joined a monastic order. Arolas wrote in all the literary genres of his time, but he distinguished himself most as a poet by his romantic "oriental" and love poems.

Cf. _El P. Arolas, su vida y sus versos_, Madrid, 1898, by José R. Lomba y Pedraja; Blanco García, I, 186-189; Juan Valera, _Florilegio_, V, 121-130. A new edition page 272 of Arolas' verses was published at Valencia in 1883.

=73.=--José de Espronceda (1808-1842), Spain's greatest romantic poet, was born in Almendralejo (Badajoz). At the Colegio de San Mateo Espronceda was considered a precocious but wayward pupil. His poetic gifts won for him the lasting friendship of his teacher, Alberto Lista. At an early age he became a member of a radical secret society, Los Numantinos. Sent into exile to a monastery in Guadalajara, he there composed the fragmentary heroic poem _Pelayo_. After his release he went to Lisbon and then to London. Enamored of Teresa, though another's wife, he fled with her to Paris, where he took an active part in the revolution of 1830. Espronceda returned to Spain in 1833, and engaged in journalism and politics. Worn out by his tempestuous life, he died at the early age of thirty-four years.

See _Introduction_, p. xxxvii; E. Rodríguez Solís, _Espronceda, su tiempo, su vida y sus obras_, Madrid, 1883; Blanco García, I, 154-171; Juan Valera, _Florilegio_, V, 197-207; Antonio Cortón, _Espronceda_, Madrid, 1906; Philip H. Churchman, _Espronceda's Blanca de Borbón, Revue hisp._, 1907; and _Byron and Espronceda, ibid._, 1909. For his poems, see _Obras poéticas_, in the _Biblioteca amena é instructiva_, Barcelona, 1882; _Obras poéticas y escritos en prosa, colección ordenada por D. Patricio de la Escosura_, Madrid, 1884.

=79.=--José de Zorrilla (1817-1893) was born in Valladolid. After receiving his secondary education in the Jesuit Semanario de Nobles he began the study of law; but he soon turned to the more congenial pursuit of belles-lettres. In 1855 he went to Mexico where he resided eleven years. Though a most productive writer, Zorrilla spent most of his life in penury until, in his old age, he received from the government an annual pension of 30,000 reales. He became a member of the Spanish Academy in 1885, and four years later he was "crowned" in Granada. page 273 Zorrilla died in Madrid in his seventy-sixth year.

See _Introduction_, p. xxxvii; an autobiography, _Recuerdos del tiempo viejo_, 3 vols.; Fernández Flórez, _D. José Zorrilla_, in _Autores dramáticos contemporáneos_, 1881, vol. I; Blanco García, I, 197-216; Juan Valera, _Florilegio_, V, 258-270. For his works, see _Poesías_, 8 vols., Madrid, 1838-1840; _Obras_, edition Baudry, 3 vols., Paris, 1852; _Poesías escogidas_, published by the Academia de la lengua, Madrid, 1894; _Obras dramáticas y líricas_, Madrid, 1895.

=85.=--10. =Fantasmas= = _como fantasmas_.

=86.=--=Á Buen Juez Mejor Testigo=, _A Good Judge, But a Better Witness_. In Berceo's _Milagros de Nuestra Señora_ there is a similar legend of a crucifix summoned as witness.

=91.=--4-5. =Como... bañe=: this passage is obscure, but the meaning seems to be, _as a pledge that the river should so zealously bathe it_.

18. =la hermosa=, according to tradition, was Florinda, daughter of Count Julian. Roderick (Roderico or Rodrigo), the last king of the Goths in Spain, saw Florinda bathing in the Tagus, conceived a passion for her and dishonored her. In revenge Julian is said to have brought the Saracens into Spain.

27. =puerta=: this may refer to the Puerta Visagra Antigua, an ancient Arabic gate of the ninth century, now closed.

=92.=--12. =Las... horadarle= = _al horadarle las palmas (al rey)_. According to tradition Alfonso, who became afterward King Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile, when a refugee at the court of Alimenón, the Moorish king of Toledo, overheard the Moorish sovereign and his advisers talking about the defences of the city. The Moors said that the Christians, by a siege, could probably starve Toledo into submission. Upon perceiving Alfonso near at hand apparently asleep, the Moors, to prove whether he was really asleep or not, poured molten lead into page 274 his hand, and he had sufficient will power to remain motionless while the lead burned a hole through it.

Mariana (_Historia de España, Libro IX, Cap. VIII_) relates this story, but rejects it and says that the real cause of Alfonso's nickname ("_el rey de la mano horadada_") was his extreme generosity.

13. =circo romano=: to the east of the _Hospital de San Juan Bautista_ of Toledo lies the suburb of Covachuelas, the houses of which conceal the ruins of a Roman amphitheater.

15. =Basílica=: in the lower _Vega_, to the northwest of Toledo, is the hermitage of _El Cristo de la Vega_, formerly known as the _Basílica de Santa Leocadia_, which dated from the fourth century. This edifice was the meeting-place of several Church councils. The ancient building was destroyed by the Moors and has been repeatedly rebuilt.

=95.=--21. =el templo=: the _Ermita del Cristo de la Vega_. See preceding note.

27. =Víase= = _veíase_: _vía_, for _veía_, is not uncommon in poetry.

=105.=--3-5. =Gritan... valor= = _los que en el mercado venden, gritan en discorde son_ =lo vendido y el valor= (= _what they have for sale and its price_).

=107.=--13-14. =y... honor= = _y dispensad que (yo) dudara de vuestro honor acusado_.

=108.=--10. See note, p. 92, l. 15.

=112.=--16. =cada un año= = _cada año_.

Antonio de Trueba (1821-1889) was born at Montellano (Viscaya). At the age of fifteen or sixteen years he removed to Madrid and engaged in commerce. In 1862 he was appointed Archivist and Chronicler of the Señorío de Vizcaya, which post he held for ten years. Trueba, best known as a writer of short stories, published two volumes of mediocre verses which achieved considerable popularity during the author's lifetime, but are now nearly forgotten.

Cf. _Notas autobiográficas_ in _La Ilustración Española y page 275 Americana_, Enero 30, 1889; Blanco García, II, 26-28 and 301-308; Juan Valera, _Florilegio_, V, 307-311. For his verses, see _El libro de los cantares_ (1851) and _El libro de las montañas_ (1867).

=113.=--14. =Cantos=: note the double meaning of _canto_.

=114.=--José Selgas y Carrasco (1821-1882) was born in Murcia. A writer on the staff of the satirical and humorous journal, _El Padre Cobos_, Selgas won the attention of the public by his ironical and reactionary articles and was elevated to an important political office by Martínez Campos. He is the author of two volumes of verses, _La Primavera_ (1850) and _El estío_.

See _Introduction_, p. xxxix; and Blanco García, II, 19-23 and 244-250. For Selgas' verses, see his _Poesías_, Madrid, 1882-1883.

=117.=--Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1833-1891) was born in Guadix. He studied law, served as a volunteer in an African war and became a writer on the staff of several revolutionary journals. His writings, which at first were sentimental or radical, became more subdued in tone and more conservative with his advancing years. In 1877 he was elected to membership in the Spanish Academy. Primarily a journalist and novelist, Alarcón published a volume of humorous and descriptive verses, some of which have merit.

Cf. Blanco García, II, 62-63 and 452-467; and articles in the _Nuevo Teatro Crítico_ (Sept., Oct. and Nov., 1891). For his verses, see _Poesías serias y humorísticas_, 3d ed., Madrid, 1885.

=121.=--Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) was born in Seville, and became an orphan in his tenth year. When eighteen years of age he went penniless to Madrid, where he earned a precarious living by writing for journals and by doing literary hack-work.

See _Introduction_, p. xxxix; Blanco García, II, 79-86 and 274-277. For his works, see his _Obras_, 5th ed., page 276 Madrid, 1898 (with a _Prólogo_ by Correa: the _Rimas_ are in vol. III).

=122.=--12-13. =Del salón... olvidada= = _en el ángulo obscuro del salón, tal vez olvidada de su dueño_. Bécquer, in his striving after complicated metrical arrangements, often inverts the word-order in his verse. See also _Introduction, Versification_, p. lxxii.

19. =arrancarlas=: =las= refers to =Cuánta nota=, which seems to have here the force of a plural.

24. See _Introduction, Versification_, p. lxv.

=124.=--14. =intérvalo=: the standard form is _intervalo_.

=126.=--12. =El nicho á un extremo=: the meaning is, _one end of the recess_, in which the coffin will be placed. The graveyards of Spain and Spanish America have lofty walls with niches or recesses large enough to contain coffins. After receiving the coffin, the niche is sealed with a slab that bears the epitaph of the deceased.

=128.=--The Valencian Vicente W. Querol (1836-1889) gave most of his time to commerce, but he occasionally wrote verses that had the merit of correctness of language and strong feeling.

Cf. Blanco Garcia, II, 376-378. For his verses, see _Rimas_ (_Prólogo_ by Pedro A. de Alarcón), 1877; _La fiesta de Venus_, in the _Almanaque de la Ilustración_, 1878.

7. =Ó en el que= = _ó en el día en que_: the reference is to the anniversaries of the wedding day and the saints' days of the parents.

=129.=--19. =las que... son=, _what is..._

=131.=--15-16. =la que... agonía= = _la lenta agonía que sufristeis..._

=133.=--Ramón de Campoamor y Campoosorio (1817-1901) was born in Navia (Asturias). He studied medicine but soon turned to poetry and politics. A pronounced conservative, he won favor with the government and received appointment page 277 to several important offices including that of governor of Alicante and Valencia.

Cf. _Introduction_, p. xli; Juan Valera, _Obras poéticas de Campoamor_, in _Estudios críticos sobre literatura_, Seville, 1884; Peseux-Richard, in the _Revue hispanique_, I, 236 f.; Blanco García, II, Cap. V. For his works, see _Doloras y cantares_, 16th ed., Madrid, 1882; _Los pequeños poemas_, Madrid, 1882-1883; _Poética_, 1883; _El drama universal_, 3d ed., Madrid, 1873; _El licenciado Torralba_, Madrid, 1888; _Obras escogidas_, Leipzig, 1885-1886; _Obras completas_, 8 vols., Madrid, 1901-03.

=135.=--3. =se va y se viene y se está=: note the use of =se= in the sense of _people_, or an indefinite _we_.

5. =Y... procura= = _y si tu afecto no procura volver_.

=136.=--18. See note, p. 3, l. 7.

=137.=--Valladolid was the birthplace of Gaspar Núñez de Arce (1834-1903). When a child, he removed with his family to Toledo. At the age of nineteen years he entered upon a journalistic career in Madrid. As a member of the Progresista party, Núñez de Arce was appointed Civil Governor of Barcelona, and afterward he became a cabinet minister.

Cf. _Introduction_, p. xlii; Menéndez y Pelayo's essay in _Estudios de crítica literaria_, 1884; Juan Valera's essay on the _Gritos del combate, Revista europea_, 1875, no. 60; Blanco García, Cap. XVIII; José del Castillo, _Núñez de Arce, Apuntes para su biografía_, Madrid, 1904. For his works, see _Gritos del combate_, 8th ed., 1891; _Obras dramáticas_, Madrid, 1879. Most of his longer poems are in separate pamphlets, published by M. Murillo and Fernando Fe, Madrid, 1895-1904.

=137.=--=Tristezas= shows unmistakably the influence of the French poet Alfred de Musset, and especially perhaps of his _Rolla_ and _Confession d'un enfant du siècle_.

=138.=--16 f. Compare with the author's _La duda_ and _Miserere_, and Bécquer's _La ajorca de oro_. page 278 =142.=--1-3. The poet seems to compare the nineteenth century, amidst the flames of furnaces and engines, to the fallen archangel in hell.

16. =mística=, that is, of communion with God, heavenly.

=144.=--=¡Sursum Corda!=: the lines given are merely the introduction to the poem, and form about one fourth of the entire work. They were written soon after the Spanish-American War. See _Sursum Corda!_, Madrid, 1904; and also Juan Valera's _Florilegio_, IV, 413 f.

8. The plains of Old Castile may well be called "austere."

=145.=--10-16. Cf. _Á España_ (1860) and _Á Castelar_ (1873).

=147.=--11-19. There are few stronger lines than these in all Spanish poetry.

=148.=--Manuel del Palacio (1832-1895) was born in Lérida. His parents removed to Granada, and there he joined a club of young men known as La Cuerda. Going to Madrid, he devoted himself to journalism and politics, first as a radical and later as a conservative.

Cf. Blanco Garcia, II, 40. For his works, see his _Obras_, Madrid, 1884; _Veladas de otoño_, 1884; _Huelgas diplomáticas_, 1887.

5. =el ave placentera=: a well-known Spanish-American poet calls this a mere _ripio_ (stop-gap), and says it may mean one bird as well as another.

The Catalan Joaquín María Bartrina (born at Reus in 1850) published in 1876 a volume of pessimistic and iconoclastic verses, entitled _Algo_. After his death (1880) his works were published under the title of _Obras en prosa y verso, escogidas y coleccionadas por J. Sardá_, Barcelona, 1881. Cf. Blanco García, II, 349-350.

=148.=--15-19. These lines give expression to the pessimism that has obtained in Spain for two centuries past.

=149.=--14. The reference is, of course, to the paintings, of which there are many, of "The Last Supper" of Jesus.

Manuel Reina (1860-) was born in Puente Genil. Like page 279 Bartrina, Reina is an imitator of Núñez de Arce, in that he sings of the degeneracy of mankind. He undertook, with but little success, to revive the eleven-syllable _romance_ of the neo-classic Spanish tragedy of the eighteenth century.

Cf. Blanco García, II, 354-355. For his verses, see _Andantes y allegros_ and _Cromos y acuarelas, cantos de nuestra época, con un prólogo de D. José Fernández Bremón_.

The Valencian Teodoro Llorente (b. 1836) is best known for his translations of the works of modern poets. He is also the author of verses (_Amorosas_, _Versos de la juventud_, _et al._).

=151=.--=Argentina.= The development of letters was slower in Argentina than in Mexico, Peru and Colombia, since Argentina was colonized and settled later than the others. During the colonial period there was little literary production in the territory now known as Argentina. Only one work of this period deserves mention. This is _Argentina y conquista del río de la Plata_, etc. (Lisbon, 1602), by Martín del Barco Centenera, a long work in poor verses and of little historical value. During the first decade of the nineteenth century there was an outpouring of lyric verses in celebration of the defeat of the English by the Spaniards at Buenos Aires, but to all of these Gallego's ode _Á la defensa de Buenos Aires_ is infinitely superior.

During the revolutionary period the best-known writers, all of whom may be roughly classified as neo-classicists, were: Vicente López Planes (1784-1856), author of the Argentine national hymn; Esteban Luca (1786-1824); Juan C. Lafinur (1797-1824); Juan Antonio Miralla (d. 1825); and, lastly, the most eminent poet of this period, Juan Cruz Varela (1794-1839), author of the dramas _Dido_ and _Argía_, and of the ode _Triunfo de Ituzaingó_ (_Poesías_, Buenos Aires, 1879).

The first Argentine poet of marked ability, and one of the greatest that his country has produced, was the romanticist (who introduced romanticism into Argentina directly from France), Esteban Echeverría page 280 (1805-1851), author of _Los Consuelos_ (1834), _Rimas_ (1837) and _La cautiva_. The latter poem is distinctively "American," as it is full of local color. Juan Valera, in his letter to Rafael Obligado (_Cartas americanas, primera serie_), says truly that Echeverría "marks the point of departure of the Argentine national literature." (_Obras completas_, 5 vols., Buenos Aires, 1870-74).

Other poets of the early period of independence are: the literary critic, Juan María Gutiérrez (1809-1878), one-time rector of the University of Buenos Aires and editor of an anthology, _América poética_ (Valparaíso, 1846); Dr. Claudio Mamerto Cuenca (1812-1866; cf. _Obras poéticas escogidas_, Paris, 1889); and José Mármol (1818-1871), author of _El peregrino_ and of the best of Argentine novels, _Amalia_ (_Obras poéticas y dramáticas, coleccionadas por José Domingo Cortés_, 3d ed., Paris, 1905).

In parenthesis be it said that Argentina also claims as her own the poet Ventura de la Vega (1807-1865), who was born in Buenos Aires, as Mexico claims Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, and as Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda is claimed by Cuba.

As in Spain Ferdinand VII had driven into exile most of the prominent writers of his period, so the despotic president, Juan Manuel Rosas (1793-1877: fell from power in 1852), drove from Argentina many men of letters, including Varela, Echeverría and Mármol.

Down to the middle of the nineteenth century it may be said that the Spanish-American writers followed closely the literary movements of the mother country. Everywhere across the sea there were imitators of Meléndez Valdés and Cienfuegos, of Quintana, of Espronceda and Zorrilla. During the early years of romanticism some Spanish-American poets,--notably the Argentine Echeverría,--turned for inspiration directly to the French writers of the period; but, in the main, the Spanish influence was predominant. The Spanish-American page 281 verses, for the most part, showed insufficient preparation and were marred by many inaccuracies of diction; but here and there a group of writers appeared,--as in Colombia,--who rivaled in artistic excellence the poets of Spain. In the second half of the nineteenth century the Spanish-American writers became more independent in thought and speech. It is true that many imitated the mysticism of Bécquer or the pessimism of Núñez de Arce, but many more turned for inspiration to native subjects or to the literary works of other lands than Spain, and particularly of France and Italy.

The extreme in local color was reached in the "_literatura gauchesca_," which consists of collections of popular or semi-popular ballads in the dialect of the _gauchos_, or cowboys and "ranchers," of the Pampas. The best of these collections,--_Martín Fierro_ (1872), by José Fernández,--is more artistic than popular. This long poem, which in its language reminds the English reader of Lowell's _Biglow Papers_, is the best-known and the most widely read work by an Argentine author.

The greatest Argentine poets of the second half of the century have been Andrade and Obligado. Olegario Víctor Andrade (1838-1882), the author of _Prometeo_ and _Atlántida_, is generally recognized as one of the foremost modern poets of Spanish America, and probably the greatest poet that Argentina has as yet given to the world. In art, Andrade was a disciple of Victor Hugo; in philosophy, he was a believer in modern progress and freedom of thought; but above all else was his loyal patriotism to Argentina. Andrade's verses have inspiration and enthusiasm, but they are too didactic and they are marred by occasional incorrectness of speech. _Atlantida_, a hymn to the future of the Latin race in America, is the poet's last and noblest work (_Obras_, Buenos Aires, 1887).

It is said of Rafael Obligado (1852-) that he is more page 282 elegant and correct than Andrade, but his muse has less inspiration. He has, moreover, the distinction of showing almost no French influence, which is rare to-day among Spanish-American writers. Juan Valera regrets Obligado's excessive "Americanism," and laments the fact that the poet uses many words of local origin that he, Valera, does not understand. The poet's better works are, for the most part, descriptions of the beauties of nature or the legendary tales of his native land (_Poesías_, Buenos Aires, 1885).

Among recent poets, two have especially distinguished themselves. Leopoldo Díaz (1868-) began as a disciple of Heredia, and has become a pronounced Hellenist, now a rare phenomenon in Spanish America. Besides many sonnets imbued with classicism, he has written odes to the _conquistadores_ and to _Atlántida conquistada_. Like Darío, Blanco-Fombona and many other Spanish-American poets of to-day, Diaz resides in Europe; but, unlike the others, he lives in Morges instead of Paris (_Sonetos_, Buenos Aires, 1888; _Bajo-relieves_, Buenos Aires, 1895; _et al._). A complete "_modernista_" (he would probably scorn the title of "decadent") is Leopoldo Lugones (1875?-), whose earlier verses are steeped in an erotic sensualism rare in the works of Spanish-American poets. He seeks to be original and writes verses on every conceivable theme and in all kinds of metrical arrangements. Thus, in _Lunario sentimental_ there are verses, essays and dramatic sketches, all addressed to the moon. For an example of his _versos libres_, see _Introduction_ to this volume, p. xlvi (_Las montañas de oro, Los crepúsculos del jardín_; _Lunario sentimental_, Buenos Aires, 1909; _Odas seculares_, Buenos Aires, 1910).

For studies of Argentine literature, see Blanco García, _Hist. Lit. Esp._, III, pp. 380 f.; Menéndez y Pelayo, _Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Am._, IV, pp. lxxxix f.; Juan Valera, _Poesía argentina_, in _Cartas americanas, primera serie_, Madrid, 1889, pp. 51-119; _Literatura argentina_, page 283 Buenos Aires, 1903; _Poetas argentinos_, Buenos Aires, 1904; _Antología argentina_, B.T. Martínez, Buenos Aires, 1890-91; _Compendio de literatura argentina_, E. Alonso Criado, Buenos Aires, 1908; _Miscelánea_, by Santiago Estrada; _La lira argentina_, Buenos Aires, 1824. Other important works, treating of Spanish-American literature, are: _Biblioteca hispano-americana_ (1493-1810), José Toribio Medina, 6 vols., Santiago de Chile, 1898-1902; _Bibliography of Spanish-American Literature_, Alfred Coester, _Romanic Review_, III, 1; _Escritores hispano-americanos_, Manuel Cañete, Madrid, 1884; _Escritores y poetas sud-americanos_, Francisco Sosa, Mex., 1890; _Juicio crítico de poetas hispano-americanos_, M.L. Amunátegui, Santiago de Chile, 1861; _La joven literatura hispano-americana_, Manuel Ugarte, Paris, 1906.

Echeverría: see preceding note.

=Canción de Elvira.= This Gutiérrez calls the "song of the American Ophelia."

=152.=--Andrade: see note to p. 151.

18. =Á celebrar las bodas=, _to be the bride_.

=153.=--3. The Argentines, especially, seem to take delight in calling themselves a Latin, rather than a Spanish, race. This may be due to the fact that fully one third of the population of Argentine is Italian. Both Juan Valera and Menéndez y Pelayo have chided the Argentines for speaking of themselves as a _raza latino-americana_, instead of _hispano-americana_.

15. =arcano=, _secret_, seems to have the force here of a _secret ark_, or _secret sanctuary_, which is broken open that its secrets may be disclosed.

=154.=--6-10. These lines refer, of course, to the Christian religion, spoken of symbolically as an _altar_, which has replaced the heterogeneous pagan cults of ancient Rome, and which the Spaniards first brought to America. page 284 11. =ciclopeas=: note the omission of the accent on _o_ that the word may rime with =ideas=.

=155.=--5. =Tequendama=: see in the _Vocab_. Several Colombian poets, including Don José Joaquín Ortiz and Doña Agripina Montes del Valle, have written odes to this famous waterfall. See Menéndez y Pelayo, _Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Am._, II; and _Parnaso colombiano_, II, Bogotá, 1887.

17-18. A revolutionary hero, Antonio Ricaurte (b. 1786), blew up the Spanish powder magazine on the summit of a hill near San Mateo, and lost his life in the explosion. See =Mateo= in _Vocab_.

=156.=--5. The colors of the Peruvian flag are red and white, mainly red. The red,--symbolical of bloodshed,--shall be largely replaced by the golden color of ripening grain,--symbolical of industry.

8. Caracas, where Bolivar was born, lies at the foot of Mount Ávila.

11. This line, and line 16, would indicate that =Atlántida= was written soon after the war, begun in 1876, between Chile and the allied forces of Bolivia and Peru, in which Chile was victorious.

12-15. When this was written there was little immediate prospect of other railways than the narrow-gage road from Oruro to the Chilean frontier, about five hundred miles in length; but now Bolivia has the promise of becoming the railway center of lines connecting both Argentina and Chile with Peru. These lines are now completed or building.

27. Andrade died in 1882, and seven years after his death, in 1889, the emperor Dom Pedro II was deposed, and a republican form of government was adopted by Brazil.

=157.=--3. Andrade now sings of his own country, hence =¡De pie para cantarla!=

8. There is a larger immigration of Europeans into Argentina than into any other South-American country. The page 285 immigrants come mostly from northern Italy and from Spain.

12-16. As the =Atlántida= was the last poetic work of Andrade, these lines may refer to the treaty of 1881 between Argentina and Chile, by which Argentina acquired all the territory east of the Andes, including Patagonia and the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego.

By the conquest and settlement of the broad plains (_pampas_) and the frozen region of the south, a new world was created, much as in the United States of America a new world was created by the acquirement and settlement of the western plains, mountain lands and Pacific coast.

21. Vast areas in Argentina are given over to the cultivation of wheat, barley and oats.

=159.=--These are the last stanzas of =Prometeo=, a poem in which the author addresses the human mind and urges it to break its bonds and free itself from tyranny and prejudice: see also in _Vocab_.

=160.=--Obligado: see note to p. 151.

=162.=--=Colombia.= Colombia was formerly known as Nueva Granada, and its inhabitants are still sometimes called _Granadinos_. An older and larger Colombia was organized in 1819, toward the close of the revolutionary war; but this state was later divided into three independent countries, viz., Venezuela, Nueva Granada and Ecuador. In 1861 Nueva Granada assumed the name of Estados Unidos de Colombia, and only recently the Colombian part of the Isthmus of Panama established itself as an independent republic. The present Colombia has, therefore, only about one third the area of the older state of the same name. In treating of literature, the terms Colombia and Colombian are restricted to the present-day Colombia and the older Nueva Granada. The capital of the Republic is Santa Fe de Bogotá, to-day generally known simply as Bogotá. It is at an elevation of 8700 feet above the level of the page 286 sea, and has a cool and equable climate.

It is generally conceded that the literary production of Colombia has excelled that of any other Spanish-American country. Menéndez y Pelayo (_Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Am._, III, _Introd._) speaks of Bogotá as the "Athens of South America," and says further: "the Colombian Parnassus to-day excels in quality, if not in quantity, that of any other region of the New World." And Juan Valera in his _Cartas americanas (primera serie_, p. 121 f.) says: "Of all the people of South America the Bogotanos are the most devoted to letters, sciences and arts"; and again: "In spite of the extraordinary ease with which verses are made in Colombia, and although Colombia is a democratic republic, her poetry is aristocratic, cultivated and ornate." Blanco García characterizes Colombia as one of the most Spanish of American countries.

During the colonial period, however, Nueva Granada produced few literary works. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, the _conquistador_ of New Granada, wrote memoirs, entitled _Ratos de Suesca_ (1573?), of little historical value. The most important work of the period is the chronicles in verse of Juan de Castellanos (b. 1522? in the Spanish province of Seville). This work is largely epic in character; and, with its 150,000 lines, it is the longest poem in the Spanish language. Though for the most part prosaic and inexact, yet it has some passages of high poetic worth, and it throws much light on the lives of the early colonists. The first three parts of the poem, under the title of _Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias_ (the first part only was published in 1589), occupies all of vol. IV of the _Bibl. de Aut. Esp._ The fourth part is contained in two volumes of the _Colección de Escritores Castellanos_, under the title of _Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada_.

In the seventeenth century the colonists were still too busy with the conquest and settlement of the country to spare time for the cultivation of letters. A long page 287 epic poem, the _Poema heroico de San Ignacio de Loyola_, with much Gongorism and little merit, was published at Madrid in 1696, after the death of the author, the Colombian Hernando Domínguez Camargo. A few short lyrics by the same author also appeared in the _Ramillete de varias flores poéticas_ (Madrid, 1676) of Jacinto Evia of Ecuador.

Early in the eighteenth century Sor Francisca Josefa de la Concepción, "Madre Castillo" (d. 1742), wrote an account of her life and her _Sentimientos espirituales_, in which there is much of the mysticism of Saint Theresa.

About 1738 the printing-press was brought to Bogotá by the Jesuits, and after this date there was an important intellectual awakening. Many colleges and universities had already been founded,--the first in 1554. The distinguished Spanish botanist José Celestino Mutis, in 1762, took the chair of mathematics and astronomy in the Colegio del Rosario, and under him were trained many scientists, including Francisco José de Caldas. An astronomical observatory was established, the first in America. In 1777 a public library was organized, and a theater in 1794. And of great influence was the visit of Humboldt in 1801. Among the works published in the second half of the eighteenth century mention should be made of the _Lamentaciones de Pubén_ by the canon José María Grueso (1779-1835) and _El placer público de Santa Fe_ (Bogotá, 1804) by José María Salazar (1785-1828).

During the revolutionary period two poets stand preeminent. Dr. José Fernández Madrid (d. 1830) was a physician and statesman, and for a short time president of the Republic. His lyrics are largely the expression of admiration for Bolivar and of hatred toward Spain: his verses are usually sonorous and correct (_Poesías_, Havana, 1822; London, 1828). The "Chénier" of Colombia was Luis Vargas Tejada (1802-1829), the author of patriotic verses, some of which were directed against page 288 Bolivar, and of neo-classic tragedies. He died by drowning at the age of twenty-seven (_Poesías_, Bogotá, 1855).

The four most noted poets of Colombia are J.E. Caro, Arboleda, Ortiz and Gutiérrez González. A forceful lyric poet was José Eusebio Caro (1817-1853), a philosopher and statesman, a man of moral greatness and a devout Christian. In the bloody political struggles of his day he sacrificed his estate and his life to his conception of right. He sang of God, love, liberty and nature with exaltation; but all his writings evince long meditation. Like many Spanish-American poets of his day Caro was influenced by Byron. In his earlier verses he had imitated the style of Quintana (cf. _El ciprés_); but later, under the influence of romantic poets, he attempted to introduce into Spanish prosody new metrical forms. Probably as a result of reading English poetry, he wrote verses of 8 and 11 syllables with regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, which is rare in Spanish. So fond did he become of lines with regular binary movement throughout that he recast several of his earlier verses (_Obras escogidas_, Bogotá, 1873; _Poesías_, Madrid, 1885).

Julio Arboleda (1817-1861), "Don Julio," was one of the most polished and inspired poets of Colombia. He was an intimate friend of Caro and like him a journalist and politician. He was a good representative of the chivalrous and aristocratic type of Colombian writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. His best work is the narrative poem _Gonzalo de Oyón_ which, though incomplete, is the noblest epic poem that a native Spanish-American poet has yet given to the world. After studying in Europe he engaged in journalism and politics. He took part in several civil wars. A candidate for the presidency of the Republic, he was assassinated before election (_Poesías, colección formada sobre los manuscritos originales, con prólogo por M.A. Caro_, New York, 1883).

The educator and journalist José Joaquín Ortiz (1814-1892) page 289 imitated Quintana in form but not in ideas. Though a defender of neo-classicism, he did not entirely reject romanticism. Ortiz was an ultra-catholic, sincere and ascetic. His verses are impetuous and grandiloquent, but often lacking depth of thought (_Poesías_, Bogotá, 1880).

The poet Gregorio Gutiérrez González, "Antioco" (1820-1872), was a jurist and politician. He began as an imitator of Espronceda and Zorrilla and is the author of several sentimental poems (_Á Julia_, _¿Por qué no canto?_ _Una lágrima_, _et al._) that are the delight of Colombian young ladies. His fame will doubtless depend on the rustic Georgic poem, _Memoria sobre el cultivo del maíz en Antioquia_. This work is an interesting and remarkably poetic description of the homely life and labors of the Antioquian country folk (_Poesías_, Bogotá, 1881; Paris, 1908).

The minor poets of this generation are legion. Among these are: Manuel María Madiedo (b. 1815), a sociologist; Germán Gutiérrez de Piñeres (1816-1872), author of melancholy verses; José María Rojas Garrido (1824-1883), a noted orator, one-time president of Colombia; Joaquín Pablo Posada (1825-1880), perhaps the most clever versifier of Spanish America, but whose _décimas_ were mostly written in quest of money; Ricardo Carrasquilla (b. 1827), an educator and author of genial verses; José Manuel Marroquín (b. 1827), a poet and author of articles on customs and a foremost humorist of South America (he was president when Colombia lost Panama); José María Samper (b. 1828), a most voluminous writer; Rafael Núñez (1825-1897), a philosopher and skeptic, and one-time president of the Republic; Santiago Pérez (1830-1900), educator, journalist and one-time president; José María Vergara y Vergara (1831-1872), a Catholic poet and author of a volume of sentimental verses (_Libro de los cantares_); Rafael Pombo (1833-1912), an eminent classical scholar and literary critic, and "perpetual secretary" of the Colombian Academy; Diego Fallón (b. 1834), page 290 son of an English father, and author of several highly finished and beautiful poems; Pinzón Rico (b. 1834), author of popular, romantic songs; César Conto (b. 1836), a jurist and educator; Jorge Isaacs (1837-1895), better known as author of the novel _María_; and Felipe Pérez (b. 1834).

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the most eminent man of letters in Colombia has been Miguel Antonio Caro (1843-1909), a son of J.E. Caro. A neo-Catholic and "traditionalist," a learned literary critic and a poet, the younger Caro, like Bello before him and like his distinguished contemporary Rufino José Cuervo, has worked for purity of diction and classical ideals in literature. Caro is also the translator of several classic works, including one of Virgil which is recognized as the best in Spanish.

Other poets of the closing years of the century are: Diógenes Arrieta (b. 1848), a journalist and educator; Ignacio Gutiérrez Ponce (1850), a physician; Antonio Gómez Restrepo (b. 1856), a lawyer and politician; José María Garavito A. (b. 1860); José Rivas Groot (b. 1864), an educator and literary critic, and editor of _La lira nueva_; Joaquín González Camargo (b. 1865), a physician; Agripina Montes del Valle (b. about the middle of the nineteenth century) noted for her ode to the Tequendama waterfall, and Justo Pastor Ríos (1870-), a philosophic poet and liberal journalist.

The "modernista" poet José Asunción Silva (1860-1896) was a sweet singer, but he brought no message. He was fond of odd forms, such as lines of 8+8, 8+8+8 and 8+8+4 syllables (_Poesías, con Prólogo de Miguelde Unamuno_, Barcelona, 1908).

References: Cf.: Menéndez y Pelayo, _Ant. Poetas
Hisp.-Amer._, III, p. 1 f.; Blanco García, III, 332
f.; Juan Valera, _Cartas Am., primera serie_, p. 121
f.; _Historia de la literatura (1538-1820) en Nueva
Granada_, José María Vergara y Vergara, Bogotá, 1867;
_Apuntes sobre bibliografía colombiana, con page 291
muestras escogidas en prosa y verso_, Isidoro Laverde
Amaya, Bogotá, 1882; _Parnaso colombiano_, J.M.
Vergara y Vergara, 3 vols.; _La lira granadina_, J.M.
Vergara y Vergara, Bogotá, 1865; _Parnaso colombiano_,
Julio Áñez, _con Prólogo de José Rivas Groot_, 2
vols., Bogotá, 1886-87; _La lira nueva_, J.M. Rivas
Groot, Bogotá, 1886; _Antología colombiana,_ Emiliano
Isaza, Paris, 1895.

Ortiz: see preceding note.

=Colombia y España=: In this poem, dated July 20, 1882, the poet begins by recalling the war of independence that he witnessed as a boy and the heroic figure of Bolivar; then he laments the fratricidal struggles that rent the older and larger Colombia; and, finally, in the verses that are here given, he rejoices over the friendly treaty just made by the mother country, Spain, and Colombia, her daughter.

8. The colors of the Colombian flag are yellow, blue and red.

9. The colors of the Spanish flag are red and yellow. On the Spanish arms two castles (for _Castilla_) and two lions (for _León_) are pictured.

=164.=--J.E. Caro: see note to p. 162.

=167.=--Marroquin: see note to p. 162.

=Los cazadores y la perrilla=: compare with Goldsmith's "Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog."

=168.=--7. =Moratín=: see note to p. 26. _La caza_ is in _Bibl. de Aut. Esp._, II, 49 f.

=169.=--16. =describilla=, archaic or poetic for _describirla_.

=171.=--M.A. Caro: see note to p. 162.

=174.=--14-16. =sombría... alcanzarán= = _(siendo la Eternidad) sombría y eterna, ni el odio ni el amor, ni la fe ni la duda, alcanzarán nada en sus abismos_.

=179.=--=Cuba.= Although the literary output of Cuba is greater than that of some other Spanish-American countries, yet during the colonial period there was in Cuba a dearth of both prose and verse. The Colegio Semanario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio was page 292 founded in 1689 as a theological seminary and was reorganized with lay instruction in 1769. The University of Havana was established by a papal bull in 1721 and received royal sanction in 1728; but for many years it gave instruction only in theological subjects. The first book printed in Cuba dates from 1720. Not till the second half of the eighteenth century did poets of merit appear in the island. Manuel de Zequeira y Arango (1760-1846) wrote chiefly heroic odes (_Poesías_, N.Y., 1829; Havana, 1852). Inferior to Zequeira was Manuel Justo de Rubalcava (1769-1805), the author of bucolic poems and sonnets (_Poesías_, Santiago de Cuba, 1848).

The Cuban poet Don José María Heredia (1803-1839) is better known in Europe and in the United States than Bello and Olmedo, since his poems are universal in their appeal. He is especially well known in the United States, where he lived in exile for over two years (1823-1825), at first in Boston and later in New York, and wrote his famous ode to Niagara. Born in Cuba, he studied in Santo Domingo and in Caracas (1812-1817), as well as in his native island. Accused of conspiracy against the Spanish government, he fled to the United States in 1823, and there eked out a precarious existence by giving private lessons. In 1825 he went to Mexico, where he was well received and where he held several important posts, including those of member of Congress and judge of the superior court. In Heredia's biography two facts should be stressed: that he studied for five years in Caracas, the city that produced Bolivar and Bello, respectively the greatest general and the greatest scholar of Spanish America; and that he spent only twelve years, all told, in Cuba. As he lived for fourteen years in Mexico, that country also claims him as her own, while Caracas points to him with pride as another child of her older educational system.

Heredia was most unhappy in the United States. He admired page 293 the political institutions of this country; but he disliked the climate of New York, and he despaired of learning English. Unlike Bello and Olmedo he was not a classical scholar. His acquaintance with the Latin poets was limited, and seldom does a Virgilian or Horatian expression occur in his verses. Rather did he stand for the manner of Chateaubriand in France and Cienfuegos in Spain. Though strictly speaking not a romantic poet, he was a close precursor of that movement. His language is not seldom incorrect or lacking in sobriety and restraint; but his numbers are musical and his thought springs directly from imaginative exaltation.

Heredia's poorest verses are doubtless his early love-songs: his best are those in which the contemplation of nature leads the poet to meditation on human existence, as in _Niágara_, _El Teocalli de Cholula_, _En una tempestad_ and _Al sol_. In these poems the predominant note is that of gentle melancholy. In Cuba his best known verses are the two patriotic hymns: _Á Emilia_ and _El himno del desterrado_. These were written before the poet was disillusioned by his later experiences in the turbulent Mexico of the second and third decades of the nineteenth century, and they are so virulent in their expression of hatred of Spain that Menéndez y Pelayo refused to include them in his _Anthology_. Heredia undertook to write several plays, but without success. Some translations of dramatic works, however, were well received, and especially those of Ducis' _Abufar_, Chénier's _Tibère_, Jouy's _Sila_, Voltaire's _Mahomet_ and Alfieri's _Saul_. The Garnier edition (Paris, 1893) of Heredia's _Poesías_ contains an interesting introduction by the critic Elías Zerolo (_Poesías_, N.Y., 1825; Toluca, 1832; N.Y., 1875; Paris, 1893).

The mulatto poet Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés, better known by his pen-name "Plácido" (1809-1844), an uncultivated comb-maker, wrote verses which were mostly commonplace and often incorrect; but some evince remarkable sublimity and dignity (cf. _Plegaria page 294 á Dios_). Cf. _Poesías_, Matanzas, 1838; Matanzas, 1842; Veracruz, 1845; Paris, 1857; Havana, 1886. The greatest Cuban poetess, and perhaps the most eminent poetess who has written in the Castilian language, is Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (1814-1873). Since Avellaneda spent most of her life in Spain, an account of her life and work is given in the _Introduction_ to this volume, p. xxxviii. Next only to Heredia, the most popular Cuban poet is José Jacinto Milanés y Fuentes (1814-1863), who gave in simple verse vivid descriptions of local landscapes and customs. A resigned and touching sadness characterizes his best verse (_Obras_, 4 vols., Havana, 1846; N.Y., 1865).

A lawyer, educator and patriot, Rafael María Mendive y Daumy (1821-1886) wrote musical verse in which there is spontaneity and true poetic feeling (_Pasionarias_, Havana, 1847; _Poesías_, Madrid, 1860; Havana, 1883). Joaquín Lorenzo Luaces (1826-1867) was more learned than most Cuban poets and fond of philosophizing. Some of his verse has force and gives evidence of careful study; but much is too pedantic to be popular (_Poesías_, Havana, 1857). A poet of sorrow, Juan Clemente Zenea,--"Adolfo de la Azucena" (1832-1871),--wrote verses that are marked by tender melancholy (_Poesías_, Havana, 1855; N.Y., 1872, 1874).

Heredia was not the only Cuban poet to suffer persecution. Of the seven leading Cuban poets, often spoken of as "the Cuban Pleiad," Avellaneda removed to Spain, where she married and spent her life in tranquillity; and Joaquín Luaces avoided trouble by living in retirement and veiling his patriotic songs with mythological names. On the other hand José Jacinto Milanés lost his reason at the early age of thirty years, José María Heredia and Rafael Mendive fled the country and lived in exile; while Gabriel Valdés and Juan Clemente Zenea were shot by order of the governor-general.

Since the disappearance of the "Pleiad," the most popular page 295 Cuban poets have been Julián del Casal, a skeptic and a Parnassian poet who wrote pleasing but empty verses (_Hojas al viento_, _Nieve_, _Bustos y Rimas_); and Francisco Sellén, whose philosophy is to conceal suffering and to put one's hand to the plow again (_Libro íntimo_, Havana, 1865; _Poesías_, N.Y., 1890). José Martí (1853-1895) spent most of his life in exile; but he returned to Cuba and died in battle against the Spanish forces. He wrote excellent prose, but few verses (_Flor y lava_, Paris, 1910(?)).

References: Menéndez y Pelayo, _Ant. Poetas
Hisp.-Am._, II, p. 1 f.; Blanco García, III, p.
290 f.; E.C. Hills, _Bardos cubanos_ (contains a
bibliography), Boston, 1901; Aurelio Mitjans, _Estudio
sobre el movimiento científico y literario en Cuba_,
Havana, 1890; Bachiller y Morales, _Apuntes para la
historia de las letras y de la instrucción pública de
la Isla de Cuba_, Havana, 1859; _La poesía lírica en
Cuba_, M. González del Valle, Barcelona, 1900; _Cuba
poética_, Havana, 1858; _Parnaso cubano_, Havana,
1881.

Heredia: see preceding note.

5. This is quite true. On the coast of central and southern Mexico the climate is tropical; on the central plateau it is temperate; and on the mountain slopes, as at the foot of Popocatepetl, it is frigid.

13-14. =Iztaccíhual= and =Popocatepec= are the popular names of these mountains, but their official names are _Iztaccíhuatel_ and _Popocatépetel_. These words are of Nahuatlan origin: see in _Vocab_.

16--18. =do... teñirse= = _donde el indio ledo los mira teñirse en púrpura ligera y oro_.

=181=.--3. This poem was written in the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, when Mexico was torn by civil war. There was peace only when some military leader assumed despotic power.

21. Note that the moon set behind =Popocatepec=, a little to the south of west from Cholula, while the sun sank behind =Iztaccíhual=, a little to the north of page 296 west from the city. This might well occur in summer.

=182.=--14. =Fueron= (lit. _they were_), _they are no more_. In this Latinism the preterit denotes that a thing or condition that once existed no longer exists. Cf. _fuit Ilium_ (_Æneid_, II, 325), "Troy is no more."

=186.=--4-5. =Que... seguir= = _que, en su vuelo, la turbada vista quiere en vano seguir_.

=190.=--"Plácido": see note to p. 179.

=Plegaria á Dios=: this beautiful prayer was written a few days before the poet's death. It is said that "Plácido" recited aloud the last stanza on his way to the place of execution, and that he slipped to a friend in the crowd a scrap of cloth on which the prayer was written.

=191.=--4. =del... transparencia= = _á_ (in) _la clara transparencia del aire_.

Avellaneda: see _Introduction_, p. xxxviii.

19. =No... modelo= = _(la historia) no [dió] modelo á tu virtud en lo pasado_.

21. =otra= = _otra copia_.

=192.=--1-2. =Miró... victoria= = _la Europa miró al genio de la guerra y la victoria ensangrentar su suelo_. The =genio= was Napoleon Bonaparte.

4. =Al... cielo= = _el cielo le diera al genio del bien_. Note that =le= is dative and =al genio= accusative. This otherwise admirable sonnet is marred by the numerous inversions of the word-order.

=193.=--=Ecuador= is a relatively small and mountainous country, lying, as the name implies, directly on the equator. The two principal cities are Guayaquil, a port on the Pacific coast, and Quito, the capital. Quito is beautifully situated on a plateau 9300 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is mild and salubrious, and drier than at Bogotá. The early Spanish colonists repeatedly wrote of the beautiful scenery and the "eternal spring" of Quito. page 297 All of the present Ecuador belonged to the Virreinato del Perú till 1721, after which date Quito and the contiguous territory were governed from Bogotá. In 1824 Guayaquil and southern Ecuador were forcibly annexed to the first Colombia by Bolivar. Six years later Ecuador separated from Colombia and organized as a separate state.

In the territory now known as Ecuador the first colleges were established about the middle of the sixteenth century, by the Franciscans, for the natives, and by the Jesuits, as elsewhere in America, for the sons of Spaniards. Several chronicles by priests and other explorers were written during the early years of the colonial period; but no poet appears before the seventeenth century. In 1675 the Jesuit Jacinto de Evia published at Madrid his _Ramillete de varias flores poéticas_ which contains, beside those by Evia, verses by Antonio Bastidas, a Jesuit teacher, and by Hernando Domínguez Camargo, a Colombian. The verses are mediocre or worse, and, as the date would imply, are imbued with culteranism.

The best verses of the eighteenth century were collected by the priest Juan de Velasco (1727-1819) and published in six volumes under the title of _El ocioso de Faenza_. These volumes contain poems by Bautista Aguirre of Guayaquil, José Orozco (_La conquista de Menorca_, an epic poem in four cantos), Ramón Viescas (sonnets, _romances_, _décimas_, etc.) and others, most of whom were Jesuits.

The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 caused the closure of several colleges in Ecuador, and for a time seriously hampered the work of classical education. But even before the edict of expulsion scientific study had been stimulated by the coming of French and Spanish scholars to measure a degree of the earth's surface at the equator. The coming of Humboldt in 1801 still further encouraged inquiry and research. The new spirit was given concrete expression by Dr. Francisco Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo, a physician of native descent, in page 298 _El nuevo Luciano_, a work famous in the literary and the political history of South America. In this work Dr. Espejo attacked the prevailing educational and economic systems of the colonies, and his doctrine did much to start the movement toward secession from the mother country.

Although the poetry of Ecuador is of relatively little importance as compared with that of several other American countries, yet Ecuador gave to the world one of the greatest of American poets, José Joaquín de Olmedo. In the Americas that speak Castilian, Olmedo has only two peers among the classic poets, the Venezuelan Bello and the Cuban Heredia. Olmedo was born in Guayaquil in 1780, when that city still formed part of the Virreinato del Perú. Consequently, two countries claim him,--Peru, because he was born a Peruvian, and because, furthermore, he received his education at the Universidad de San Marcos in Lima; and Ecuador, since Guayaquil became permanently a part of that republic, and Olmedo identified himself with the social and political life of that country. In any case, Olmedo, as a poetic genius, looms suddenly on the horizon of Guayaquil, and for a time after his departure there was not only no one to take his place, but there were few followers of note.

Olmedo ranks as one of the great poetic artists of Spanish literature at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is of the same semi-classic school as Quintana, and like him devoted to artistic excellence and lyric grandiloquence. The poems of Olmedo are few in number for so skilled an artist, and thoroughly imbued with the Græco-Latin classical spirit. His prosody nears perfection; but is marred by an occasional abuse of verbal endings in rime, and the inadvertent employment of assonance where there should be none, a fault common to most of the earlier Spanish-American poets. Olmedo's greatest poem is _La victoria de Junín_, which is filled with sweet-sounding phrases and beautiful images, but is logically inconsistent and improbable. Even page 299 Bolivar, the "Libertador," censured Olmedo in a letter for using the _machina_ of the appearance at night before the combined Colombian and Peruvian armies of Huaina-Capac the Inca, "showing himself to be a talkative mischief-maker where he should have been lighter than ether, since he comes from heaven," and instead of desiring the restoration of the Inca dynasty, preferring "strange intruders who, though avengers of his blood, are descendants of those who destroyed his empire."

The _Canto al general Flores_ is considered by some critics to be the poet's most finished work, though of less substance and inspiration than _La victoria de Junín_. This General Flores was a successful revolutionary leader during the early days of the Republic; and he was later as bitterly assailed by Olmedo as he is here praised. Of a different type is the philosophic poem, _Á un amigo en el nacimiento de su primogénito_, which is filled with sincere sympathy and deep meditation as to the future. With the coming of middle age Olmedo's poetic vein had apparently been exhausted, and the Peruvian bard Felipe Pardo addressed to him an ode in which he sought, though to no avail, to stimulate the older poet to renewed activity (_Poesías_, Valparaíso, 1848, Paris, 1853; _Poesías inéditas_, Lima, 1861).