, 1888-06-24
THE POETS OF CUnA.

When one honestly contemplates with
the eyes and heart of a man the barbara
ties Of Spanish rule in Cuba to-day, and
the more damnable barbarity on the part
of the American people that these things
are for a moment longer permitted to ex-
list, a consideration of the subjects of this
paper-the poetry, music and amusemcnts
OF Cuba-seem almost as sacrilegious as a
lightsom pauygeric upon the intellectual
and bon vivant qualities of some patriot
martyr, and that in the very presence OF
death.
But they are n part, indeed the chiel
part, of that which must be known in
order to ~intelligably know Cuba, which,
with all her matchless beauty and indie.
scribable luxuriance, has furnished for a
quarter thousand years, the most pitlable
and strangely unheeded spectacle OF
heart breaking longings and efforts for
liberty ever known to man.
OF this real condition the poetry of
Cuba, from that of the mournful Iequeira,
TO the government-proscribed poets of to-
day, while there have been those who
sang ~joyously for the moment of love and
passion, has. in the main, been one cease
less heart sob of a people writhing under
an intolerable tyranny, and n endless
plea to God and the pity Of nations for
the priceless boon of freedom.
1t seems incredible that among the
millions of Americans who can so glibly
sing you of the woes of Greece, of the
pale wraiths Of Poland, the struggles of
Hungary, the barbaritIcs of Bulgaria, or
the wrongs of Ireland, there Is so little
knowledge or heed of these thrilling
voices, which even hate, persecution and
murder by Spain could never still, and
which, pitched in the most exalted strains
ever celestially inspired by the eternaI
spirit of liberty, have sounded mightiei
than the sea against our southern shores.
Hundreds of Cuban poets have so suns
in iungles, in exile, in suffering, in
dungeons, yes, upon crime-stained plazas
in the face of musket volleys which
waited their un%conquerable souls to God.
Among such were IIeredia, Milanes and
Placido.
Jose Maria Heredia, the son of an
exiled p~atroit, was born in Santiago de
Cuba in 1903. On attaining his majority
he was himself exiled, and after becom-
ing Mexican senator and supreme court
Judge, died in the City of Mexico in his
37th year. A man of the ~loftiest aspira-
tons, his life, without stain, was an uu-
utterable PRAYER for the deliverance of his
native land from the thralldom of Spain.
There were never written to liberty more
exalted lines than those from his "Exile's
Hymn.
Another poet, contemporane0us with
Heredia, whose influence upon Cuban
thought and aspiration was OF the noblest
character, was Milanes, an humble clerk
of MatanZas. There is perhaps not an-
other so sad and striking an instance in
the annals of literature of the sacred
flame, burning upon loftiest and purest
shrine, proving 50 piteously disastrous to
its possessor. The inspiration of Milanes
was in the attempted accomplishment OF
the grandest of social missions. Patriotic
to an equality with Heredia, he was more
the poet of reflection, of introspection, of
exalted philosophy. He sung to reveal
the best in men to themselves. Faith,
hope, effort, all that can prompt men to
strive and aspire, breathed in his verse.
Espronceda, the mad poet of Spain. was
his veritable antithesis. The latter, stung
TO madness by the burning CONSCIOUSNESS
of his own unfortunate origin, swept the
universe of inspiration and language for
flaming brands of imagery with which to
annihilate virtue and debase mankind.
An hour came when even the debauched
mind of Spain flooded back in ruin upon
himself.
As a fitting sequel, he composed upon
his mothers grave, in the Madrid Campo
Santo, the most dreadful and devilish
poem ever conceived by human mind,
La Desesperaeion and a blasrhemous
maniac appeared with it before his friends
to destroy himself and to utter as he ex-
PRED the famous defiance, Que talle
otrol' C'Let the mex one deal!') But
poor Milanes-crazed with his country
wrongs, baffled in his efforts to elevate
his countrymen. desperate of the sodden
indifference of progressive and free Amer.
lea to the ignorance and hel plessness OF
his brethren -burned out his life in its
own pure flame, until reason was dethron'
ed and but the ashes Of darkness were left
where famed the poetic fires.
Possibly the most notable figure among
Cuban poets is that of Gabriel de Ia Con.
ception Valdes, or Placido as he named
himself The name "Valdes' is a badge