with that of Peru, that the one cannot be properly treated
without some account of the other. The Virreinato del Perú
was the wealthiest and most cultivated Spanish colony in
South America, and in North America only Mexico rivaled
it in influence. Lima, an attractive city, thoroughly
Andalusian in character and appearance, was the page 301
site of important institutions of learning, such as the
famed Universidad de San Marcos. It had, moreover, a
printing-press toward the close of the sixteenth century,
a public theater by 1602, and a gazette by the end of the
seventeenth century. The spread of learning in colonial
Peru may be illustrated by the fact that the Jesuits
alone, at the time of their expulsion in 1767, had twelve
colleges and universities in Peru, the oldest of which
dated from the middle of the sixteenth century and offered
courses in philosophy, law, medicine and theology.
The Peruvians seem to have been content with their lot
as a favored Spanish colony, and they declared for
independence only when incited to do so and aided by
Bolivar of Colombia and San Martin of Buenos Aires. After
the revolution, Peru was torn by internal discord rather
more than other Spanish-American countries during the
period of adolescence; and it was its misfortune to lose
territory after territory. Bolivar took northern Peru,
including the valuable seaport of Guayaquil, and made it
a part of the first Colombia; and largely through the
influence of Bolivar much of Upper Peru was made a
separate republic, that of Bolivia. Lastly, Chile, for
centuries a dependency of Peru, became independent and
even wrested a considerable stretch of the litoral from
her former mistress. It is hard to realize that Peru,
to-day relatively weak among the American countries, was
once the heart of a vast Inca empire and later the colony
whose governors ruled the territories of Argentina and
Chile to the south, and of Ecuador and Colombia to the
north. With the decline of wealth and political influence
there has come to Peru a decadence in letters. Lima
is still a center of cultivation, a city in which the
Castilian language and Spanish customs have been preserved
with remarkable fidelity; but its importance is completely
eclipsed by such growing commercial centers as Buenos
Aires, Montevideo and Santiago de Chile, and by page 302
relatively small and conservative towns such as Bogotá.
In the sixteenth century Garcilasso Inga de la Vega (his
mother was an "Inga," or Inca, princess), who had been
well trained in the Latin classics by Spanish priests,
wrote in excellent prose his famous works, _Florida del
Inca_, _Comentarios reales_ and _Historia general del
Perú_. The second work, partly historical and largely
imaginary, purports to be a history of the ancient Incas,
and pictures the old Peru as an earthly paradise. This
work has had great influence over Peruvian and Colombian
poets. Menéndez y Pelayo (_Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Amer._, III,
_Introd._) considers Garcilasso, or Garcilaso, and Alarcón
the two truly classic writers that America has given to
Spanish literature.
In the Golden Age of Spanish letters several Peruvian
poets were known to Spaniards. Cervantes, in the _Canto de
Calíope_ and Lope de Vega in the _Laurel del Apolo_
make mention of several Peruvians who had distinguished
themselves by their verses.
An unknown poetess of Huanuco, Peru, who signed herself
"Amarilis," wrote a clever _silva_ in praise of Lope,
which the latter answered in the epistle _Belardo á
Amarilis_. This _silva_ of "Amarilis" is the best poetic
composition of the early colonial period. Another poetess
of the period, also anonymous, wrote in _terza rima_ a
_Discurso en loor de la poesía_, which mentions by name
most of the Peruvian poets then living.
Toward the close of the sixteenth century and in the
early decades of the seventeenth century, several Spanish
scholars, mostly Andalusians of the Sevillan school, went
to Peru, and there continued literary work. Among these
were Diego Mexía, who made the happiest of Spanish
translations of Ovid's _Heroides_; Diego de Ojeda,
the best of Spanish sacred-epic poets, author of the
_Cristiada_; Juan Gálvez; Luis de Belmonte, author of _La
Hispálica_; Diego de Avalos y Figueroa whose page 303
_Miscelánea austral_ (Lima, 1603) contains a long poem in
_ottava rima_ entitled _Defensa de damas_; and others.
These men exerted great influence, and to them was largely
due the peculiarly Andalusian flavor of Peruvian poetry.
The best Gongoristic _Poetics_ came from Peru. This is the
_Apologético en favor de D. Luis de Góngora_ (Lima, 1694),
by Dr. Juan de Espinosa Medrano.
In the eighteenth century the poetic compositions of Peru
were chiefly "_versos de circunstancias_" by "_poetas de
ocasión_." Many volumes of these were published, but no
one reads them to-day. Their greatest fault is excessive
culteranism, which survived in the colonies a half-century
after it had passed away from the mother country. The most
learned man of the eighteenth century in Peru was Pedro de
Peralta Barnuevo, the erudite author of some fifty volumes
of history, science and letters. His best known poem is
the epic _Lima fundada_ (Lima, 1732). He wrote several
dramas, one of which, _Rodoguna_, is Corneille's play
adapted to the Spanish stage, and has the distinction of
being one of the first imitations of the French stage in
Spanish letters. All in all, the literary output of
Peru during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is
disappointingly small in quantity and poor in quality, in
view of the important position held by this flourishing
colony. The Peruvian writers, then and now, lack in
sustained effort.
During and immediately following the revolutionary period,
the greatest poet is Olmedo, who was born and educated in
Peru and became a citizen first of the primitive Colombia
and then of Ecuador, only as his native city, Guayaquil,
formed a part of one political division after another.
It is customary, however, to consider Olmedo a poet of
Ecuador, and it is so done in this volume.
After Olmedo, the commanding figure among the classical
poets of Peru is Felipe Pardo y Aliaga (1806-1868). Pardo
was educated in Spain, where he studied with Alberto
Lista. From his teacher he acquired a fondness page 304
for classical studies and a conservatism in letters that
he retained throughout his life. In his later years he was
induced to adopt some of the metrical forms invented or
revived by the romanticists, but in spirit he remained a
conservative and a classicist. He had a keen sense of wit
and a lively imagination which made even his political
satires interesting reading. Besides his _Poesías y
escritos en prosa_ (Paris, 1869), Pardo left a number
of comedies portraying local types and scenes which are
clever attempts at imitation of Spanish drama. As with all
the earlier poets of Spanish America, literature was only
a side-play to Pardo, although it probably took his time
and attention even more than the law, which was his
profession. A younger brother, José (1820-1873), wrote a
few short poems, but his verses are relatively limited
and amateurish. Manuel Ascensión Segura (1805-1871) wrote
clever farces filled with descriptions of local customs,
somewhat after the type of the modern _género chico_
(_Artículos, poesías y comedias_, Lima, 1866).
The romantic movement came directly from Spain to Peru and
obtained a foothold only well on toward the close of the
first half of the century. The leader of the Bohemian
romanticists of Lima was a Spaniard from Santander,
Fernando Velarde. Around him clustered a group of young
men who imitated Espronceda and Zorrilla and Velarde with
great enthusiasm. For an account of the "Bohemians" of the
fourth and fifth decades in Lima [Numa Pompilio Llona
(b. 1832), Nicolás Corpancho (1830-1863), Luis Benjamín
Cisneros (b. 1837), Carlos Augusto Salaverry (1830-1891),
Manuel Ascensión Segura (b. 1805), Clemente Althaus
(1835-1881), Adolfo García (1830-1883), Constantino
Carrasco (1841-1877) and others, see the introduction to
the _Poesías_ (Lima, 1887) of Ricardo Palma (1833-___:
till 1912 director of the national library of Peru).]
Not often could the romanticists of America go back to page 305
indigenous legend for inspiration as their
Spanish cousins so often did; but this Constantino
Carrasco undertook to do in his translation of the famous
Quichua drama, _Ollanta_. It was long claimed, and many
still believe, that this is an ancient indigenous play;
but to-day the more thoughtful critics are inclined to
consider it an imitation of the Spanish classical drama,
perhaps written in the Quichua language by some Spanish
priest (Valdés?). The 8-syllable lines, the rime-scheme
and the spirit of the play all suggest Spanish influence.
In parenthesis it should be added that Quichua verse is
still cultivated artificially in Peru and Ecuador.
The two men of that generation who have most distinguished
themselves are Pedro Paz-Soldán y Unanue, "Juan de Arona"
(1839-1894), a poet of satire and humor; and Ricardo Palma
(1833-___) a leading scholar and literary critic, best
known for his prose _Tradiciones peruanas_ (Lima, 1875 and
1899).
The strongest representative of the present-day
"_modernistas_" in Peru is José Santos Chocano
(1867-___), a disciple of Darío. Chocano writes with much
grandiloquence. His many sonnets are mostly prosaic, but
some are finished and musical (cf. _La magnolia_). He
is more Christian (cf. _Evangeleida_) than most of his
contemporaries, and he sings of the _conquistadores_ with
true admiration [cf. _En la aldea_, Lima, 1895; _Iras
santas_, Lima, 1895; _Alma América_ (_Prólogo_ de Miguel
de Unamuno), Madrid, 1906; _La selva virgen_, Paris, 1901;
_Fiat lux_, Paris, 1908].
A younger man is Edilberto Zegarra Ballón of Arequipa
(1880-___), author of _Vibraciones, Poemas, el al._ His
verse is simpler and less rugged than that of the more
virile Chocano.
References: Men. Pel., _Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Amer._, III,
p. cxlix f.; Blanco García, III, 362 f.; _Diccionario
histórico y biográfico del Perú, formado y redactado
por Manuel de Mendíburu_, 9 vols., Lima, 1874-80;
_Colección de documentos literarios del Perú_, 11
vols., Manuel de Odriozola, Lima, 1863-74; page 306
_América poética_, Juan María Gutiérrez, Valparaíso,
1846; _Parnaso peruano_, J.D. Cortés, Paris, 1875; _La
Bohemia limeña de 1848 á 1860, Prólogo de Poesías de
Ricardo Palma_, Lima, 1887; _Lira americana,_ Ricardo
Palma, Paris, 1865.
=193.=--Olmedo: see preceding note.
8. =Á=, _with_.
=194.=--15-17. The following is a translation of a note to
these lines which is given in _Poesías de Olmedo_, Garnier
Hermanos, Paris, 1896: "Physicists have attempted to
explain the equilibrium that is maintained by the earth in
spite of the difference of mass in its two hemispheres"
(northern and southern). "May not the enormous weight
of the Andes be one of the data with which this curious
problem of physical geography can be solved?"
=195.=--4. The religion of the ancient Peruvians, before
they were converted to Christianity by the Spaniards, was
based on the worship of the sun. The chief temple of the
sun was at Cuzco.
25. Bolivar was a native of Caracas, Venezuela; but, when
this poem was written, Colombia comprised most of the
present States of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador.
Moreover, Colombia is probably used somewhat figuratively
by the poet to designate the "land of Columbus."
26. The Peruvians and the Colombians were allies. It is an
interesting fact that in the war for independence waged by
the Spanish Americans against Spain, the leaders of the
Americans were nearly all of Spanish descent, while the
majority of the rank and file of the American soldiery
was Indian. To this day, a majority of the population of
Spanish America, excepting only Chile, Argentina and the
West Indian Islands, is indigenous, and their poets still
sing of "indigenous America," but they sing in the Spanish
tongue! See p. 211, l. 7.
page 307
=196.=--21. See note to p. 162, l. 8. The Peruvian flag
has an image of the _sun_ in its center.
23. It is reported that the first onslaught of the
Spanish-American cavalry failed, partly by reason of their
impetuousness, and that they would probably have been
defeated if Bolivar had not rallied them and led them on
to victory.
=198.=--10. The battle of Junin began at about five
o'clock in the afternoon, and it is said that only night
saved the Spaniards from complete destruction.
11. =El dios oía=: destiny did not permit the god to stay
his course for an hour, but the god left behind him his
circlet of diamonds (the stars).
=199.=--=Mexico.= The Virreinato de Nueva España was a
favored colony, where Spanish culture took deepest root.
It had the first institution of learning in America
(opened in 1553 by decree of Charles I) and the first
printing-press (1540?). Some 116 books were printed in
Mexico City during the sixteenth century, most of which
were catechisms or grammars and dictionaries in the native
languages. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
several Spanish poets, mostly Sevillans, went to Mexico.
Among these were Diego Mexía (went to Mexico in 1596);
Gutierre de Cetina, Juan de la Cueva, and Mateo Alemán
(published _Ortografía castellana_ in Mexico in 1609).
_Certámenes poéticos_ ("poetic contests") were held in
Mexico, as in other Spanish colonies, from time to time.
The first of importance occurred in Mexico City in 1583,
to which seven bishops lent the dignity of their presence
and in which three hundred poets (?) competed. After the
discovery and conquest of the Philippines, great opulence
came to Mexico on account of its being on a direct route
of Pacific trade between Europe and Asia, and Mexico
became an emporium of Asiatic goods (note introduction of
Mexican dollar into China).
The first native poet deserving of the name was Francisco page 308
de Terrazas (cf. Cervantes, _Canto de Calíope_,
1584), who left in manuscript sonnets and other lyrics and
an unfinished epic poem, _Nuevo mundo y conquista_. It is
interesting that in the works of Terrazas and other native
poets of the sixteenth century the Spaniards are called
"_soberbios_," "_malos_," etc. Antonio Saavedra Guzmán was
the first in Mexico to write in verse a chronicle of
the conquest (_El peregrino indiano_, Madrid, 1599).
_Coloquios espirituales_ (published posthumously in 1610),
_autos_ of the "morality" type, with much local color and
partly in dialect, were written by Fernán González Eslava,
whom Pimentel considers the best sacred dramatic poet of
Mexico. Sacred dramatic representations had been given in
Spanish and in the indigenous languages almost from the
time of the conquest. According to Beristain, at least two
plays of Lope were done into Nahuatl by Bartolomé de Alba,
of native descent, and performed, _viz._: _El animal
profeta y dichoso parricida_ and _La madre de la Mejor_.
The first poet whose verses are genuinely American, exotic
and rich in color like the land in which written (a rare
quality in the Spanish poetry of the period), was Bernardo
de Balbuena (1568-1627: born in Spain; educated in
Mexico). Balbuena had a strong descriptive faculty, but
his work lacked restraint (cf. _Grandeza mexicana_, Mex.,
1604; Madrid, 1821, 1829 and 1837; N.Y., 1828; Mex.,
1860). The great dramatist, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
(1581?-1639), was born and educated in Mexico; but as he
wrote in Spain, and his dramas are Spanish in feeling, he
is best treated as a Spanish poet.
Next only to Avellaneda the most distinguished
Spanish-American poetess is the Mexican nun, Sor Juana
Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), whose worldly name was Juana
Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Cantillana. Sor Juana had
intellectual curiosity in an unusual degree and early
began the study of Latin and other languages. When still a
young girl she became a maid-in-waiting in the viceroy's
palace, where her beauty and wit attracted much page 309
attention; but she soon renounced the worldly life of the
court and joined a religious order. In the convent of San
Jerónimo she turned for solace to books, and in time she
accumulated a library of four thousand volumes. Upon being
reproved by a zealous bishop for reading worldly books,
she sold her entire library and gave the proceeds to the
poor. Sor Juana's better verses are of two kinds: those
that give evidence of great cleverness and mental
acuteness, and those that have the ring of spontaneity and
sincerity. As an exponent of erotic mysticism, she is most
interesting. In the most passionate of her erotic verses
there is an apparent sincerity which makes it difficult
for the lay reader to believe that she had not been
profoundly influenced by human love,--as when she gives
expression to the feelings of a loving wife for a dead
husband, or laments the absence of a lover or tells of a
great jealousy. In addition to her lyrics Sor Juana wrote
several _autos_ and dramas. Her poems were first published
under the bombastic title of _Inundación castálida de la
única poetisa, Musa décima, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz_,
Madrid, 1689 (vol. II, Seville, 1691; vol. III, Madrid,
1700).
During the first half of the eighteenth century the
traditions of the preceding century persisted; but in the
second half there came the neo-classic reaction. Among the
best of the prosaic poets of the century are: Miguel de
Reyna Zeballos (_La elocuencia del silencio_, Madrid,
1738); Francisco Ruiz de León (_Hernandía_, 1755, based on
the _Conquista de México_ by Solís); and the priest Jorge
José Sartorio (1746-1828: _Poesías sagradas y profanas_, 7
vols., Puebla, 1832). The Franciscan Manuel de Navarrete
(1768-1809) is considered by Pimentel superior to Sor
Juana Inés de la Cruz as a philosophic poet (the writer of
this article does not so consider him) and is called the
"restorer of lyric and objective poetry in Mexico" (cf.
Pim., _Hist. Poesía Mex._, p. 442). Navarrete wrote in
a variety of styles. His verses are harmonious, but
_altisonante_ and often incorrect. His best page 310
lyrics, like those of Cienfuegos, have the personal
note of the romanticists to follow (_Entretenimientos
poéticos_, Mex., 1823, Paris, 1835; _Poesías_, Mex.,
1905).
There were no eminent Mexican poets during the
revolutionary period. Andrés Quintana Roo (1787-1851) was
a lawyer and journalist and president of the congress
which made the first declaration of independence. Pimentel
(p. 309) calls him an eminent poet and one of the best of
the period. Two of the most important in the period are:
Manuel Sánchez de Tagle (1782-1847), a statesman given to
philosophic meditation, but a poor versifier (_Poesías_,
1852); and Francisco Ortega (1793-1849), an ardent
republican, who opposed Iturbide when the latter had
himself proclaimed emperor of Mexico in 1821 (_Poesías
líricas_, 1839; cf. _Á Iturbide en su coronación_). To
these should be added Joaquín María del Castillo y Lanzas
(1781-1878), one-time minister to the United States
(_Ocios juveniles_, Philadelphia, 1835); and the priest
Anastasio María Ochoa (1783-1833), who translated French,
Italian, and Latin (Ovid's _Heroides_) works, and wrote
some humorous verses (_Poesías_, N.Y., 1828: contains two
dramas).
Next to Alarcón, the greatest dramatist that Mexico has
produced is Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza (1789-1851), who
wrote few lyric verses, but many dramas in verse and
prose. His plays, which are full of humorous contrasts,
were written during his residence in Spain and are,
for the most part, typically Spanish in all respects.
Gorostiza, in manner and style, is considered a bridge
between Moratín and Bretón. His best comedy is _La
indulgencia para todos_ (cf. _Teatro original_, Paris,
1822; _Teatro escogido_, Bruxelles, 1825; _Obras
dramáticas_, _Bibl. Aut. Mex._, vols. 22, 24, 26, 45,
Mex.,-1899).
Romanticism came into Mexico through Spain. It was
probably introduced by Ignacio Rodríguez Galván
(1816-1842), a translator, lyric poet, and page 311
dramatist. His lyrics have the merit of sincerity;
pessimism is the prevailing tone and there is much
invective. His _Profecías de Guatimoc_ is considered the
masterpiece of Mexican romanticism (_Obras_, 2 vols.,
Mex., 1851; Paris, 1883). Another well-known romantic
lyricist and dramatist is Fernando Calderón (1809-1845),
who was more correct in form than Rodríguez Galvan
(_Poesías_, Mex., 1844 and 1849; Paris, 1883; Mex., 1902).
The revival of letters in Mexico is generally attributed
to the conservative poets Pesado and Carpio, both of whom
sought to be classic, although they were not altogether so
in practise. Probably the best known Mexican poet, though
certainly not the most inspired, is José Joaquín Pesado
(1801-1861). He translated much from Latin, French and
Italian, and in some cases failed to acknowledge his
indebtedness (cf. Pimentel, p. 694). His best translations
are of the Psalms. The _Aztecas_, which were published
as a translation of, or an adaptation from, indigenous
legends, are mostly original with Pesado in all
probability. He is an unusually even writer, and some of
his verses are good (cf. certain sonnets: _Mi amada en la
misa del alba_, which reminds one of Meléndez Valdés in
_Rosana en los fuegos_; _Elegía al ángel de la guardia de
Elisa_; and parts of _La revelación_ in _octavas reales_).
Montes de Oca and Menéndez y Pelayo consider Pesado the
greatest of Mexican poets; but Pimentel does not (p. 694).
Cf. _Poesías originales y traducciones_, Mex., 1839-40
(most complete), 1886 (introduction of Montes de Oca);
_Biografía de Pesado_, by José María Roa Bárcena, Mex.,
1878. Manuel Carpio (1791-1860) began to write verses
after he had reached the age of forty years, and there is,
consequently, a certain ripeness of thought and also a
lack of feeling in his poetry. His verses are chiefly
narrative or descriptive and generally treat of biblical
subjects. His language is usually correct, but often
prosaic (_Poesías_, Mex., 1849).
page 312
Minor poets of this period are: Alejandro Arango
(1821-1883), an imitator of León (_Versos_, 1879; _Ensayo
histórico sobre Fr. Luis de León_, Mex., 1866); Ignacio
Ramírez (1818-1879), of Indian race, who was a free lance
in religion and politics, and largely responsible for the
separation of Church and State in Mexico (_Poesías_, Mex.,
1889, and _Lecciones de literatura_, Mex., 1884);
and Ignacio M. Altamarino (1834-1893), an erotic and
descriptive poet (_Obras_, Mex., 1899).
The most popular Mexican poets during the second half of
the nineteenth century have been Acuña, Flores, Peza and
Gutiérrez Nájera. A materialistic iconoclast, Manuel Acuña
(1849-1873) was uneven and incorrect in language, but
capable of deep poetic feeling. In his _Poesías_ (Garnier,
Paris, 8th ed.) there are two short poems that may live:
_Nocturno_, a passionate expression of disappointment
in love; and _Ante un cadáver_, a poem of dogmatic
materialism. Acuña committed suicide at the age of
twenty-four years. Manuel María Flores (1840-1885), an
erotic poet largely influenced by Musset, is very popular
in Mexico (_Pasionarias_, Paris, 1911). Probably the
most widely read poet of the period is Juan de Dios Peza
(1852-1910). His verses are often incorrect and weak, as
he improvised much; but they are interesting, as they
usually treat of homely topics (_Poesías completas: El
arpa del amor_, 1891; _Hogar y patria_, 1891; _Leyendas_,
1898; _Flores del alma; Recuerdos y esperanzas_, 1899,
Garnier, Paris). The romantic pessimist, Manuel Gutiérrez
Nájera (d. 1888), was tormented throughout life by the
vain quest of happiness and the thirst of truth. His
verses, which are often elegiac or fantastic, are highly
admired by the younger generation of Mexican poets. In
a letter to the writer of this article, Blanco-Fombona
praises Gutiérrez Nájera above all other Mexican poets
(_Poesías_, Paris, 1909, 2 vols.).