page_title: Latin American poetry
section_title: The 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Latin American poetry / The 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Español: A José Martí en la alameda Marqués de Comillas de Cádiz.
context_page_description: Latin American poetry is the poetry of Latin America, mostly but not entirely written in Spanish or Portuguese. Latin American poems have also been composed in Mapuche, Nahuatl, Quechua, Mazatec, Zapotec, Ladino, English, and Spanglish. 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. 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 the modernismo movement, and the international success of Latin American authors, poetry from this region became increasingly influential.
context_section_description: 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. José Martí is an example of a poet-martyr who literally died fighting for the freedom of Cuba. 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 by Celia Cruz and even the Fugees.
  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 of Modernismo (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 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 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. Many poets embrace scenery and love of their land in their new works, including Gutiérrez Nájera and Juana Borrero. Uruguayan Delmira Agustini was a feminist 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 as Alfonsina Storni and Gabriela Mistral.
caption: Monument of Martí in Cádiz, Spain
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