And in those popular love verses: made a study of it for those works that most ap pealed to me. As the author was a recognized auRecorro los caminos solitarios Siempre pensando en ti : thority in works of literary art and value, my readTú, en tanto, alegre en medio del bullicio, ers who would begin the like study, may find sug: No te acuerdas de mi! gestions and directions in it-most of these Spanish Huyo de la ciudad tumultüosa American authors are Argentines, the product of a single republic: Vicente Fidel Lopes-historiador y literato. Vincente G. Quesada-literato. Cárlos Guido y Spano-poeta notable—“Hojas al viento." ; No te acuerdas de mi! José Marmol-literato y poeta --obras Amalia-El perMas cuando suena la campana un dia egrino, etc. Nicolas Avellaneda-constitucionalista. Pedro Goyena-constitucionalista y escritor. José Manuel Estrada-constitucionalista. Bartolomé Mitre-historiador, poeta y traductor (Dante). Thou, gay in the midst of the crowd, José Maria Pas-historiador (sus célebres memorias). Dost not think of me. Domingo F. Sarmiento-escritor notable (Civilizacion y Barbarie y muchas obras de educacion.) But, when the passing bell one day Eduardo Gutierres-escritor (costumbres criollas). Shall toll near to thee, Estanislas S. Zeballos-literato (Hayne-Espevicion á And my form is borne through the street, la Pamp, etc.). Then wilt thou think of me ! Estéban Echeverria-poeta-obras (La Cantiva) (Avel. And in these, even more dulcet and melodious laneda) (Levantamiento del Sud) (Don Juan) y poesias liricos como “ Canto al Plata." rhythms: Miguel Cané-literato. Osvaldo Manasco-escritor. Joaquin Gonzales--literato. Luis Domingues-historiador argentino. Saldias-historiador argentino “ Historia de Rosas.” Lucio V. Mansilla-literato (sus célebres “Causeries''). Con esas violetas, José M. Moreno-codificador. Nicolas Calvo-constitucionalista. Miguel Navaro Viola-literato. Eduardo Wilde-escritor. Luis V. Varela-literato. Márcos Sastre-escritor notable de obras de educacion primaria. Pastor Obligado-escritor. Rafael Obligado-poeta—“Santos Vega." Joaquin Castellanos-poeta-escritor. Calixto Oyuela-poeta. Juan Maria Gutierres-poeta. Ventura de la Vega-poeta—"El César" y otros. Angel J. Carranza-historiador argentino. Juan M. Larsen-escritor y literato. Vicente Lopes y Planes-poeta (Triunfo Argentine) Which trembling always when thou hurtest them, Himno Nacional. Esteban de Luca – poeta – Arpa perdida y otras As remarkable as it may seem to those unac poesias. Olegario V. Andrade-poeto-Prometeo-Nido de con. quainted with South American literature, the Latin dores-Vuelta al Hogar. American poets are almost as numerous as their or Dean Funes --Historiador “sus ensayos." chids of verse. When, at a literary meeting, I Juan Cruz Varela-poeta—“ Batalla de Ituzaingó” y asked an Argentine writer, what books I should read otras. in order to become intelligent in regard to the coun Florencio Varela-escritor y poeta. try, he said: “There are many; you should read Alberdi-célebre jurisconsulto. our poets first; I will send you to-morrow a list of Veles Sarsfield-codificador y periodista. Guillermo Rawson-orador. the authors of books that I think you ought to Ricardo Gutierres-poeta—“Salmo de la vida”-etc. study in order to become acquainted with the liter Mamerto Esqué-orador sagrado-literato. ary spirit of our republics." I will give here the Labardén-poeta—“Lucia Miranda" drama. memoranda that he sent me, without alteration. It Estanilas Del Campo – poeta — “Fausts" relación contained the names and works of many Argentine criolla. rriters of whom I had not so much as heard. I Leopoldo Dias-poeta. Gervasio Mendes-poeta. Eugenio Cambaceres-escritor—“Silvidos de un vago," etc. Oristobulo Del Valle—orador y jurisconsulto. The memoranda should be useful to the librarian, for the study of South American literature, now limited to a few people, must soon be greatly enlarged, with the new educational and commercial progress. Edwin Arnold is reported as saying that the greatest development of the three Americas is likely to take place on the plains and table lands of the Andes, and the writer of “Social Evolution" has a like view. “ Buenos Ayres," said the great educational President, Sarmiento, the friend of Charles Sumner and Horace Mann,“ will one day become the greatest city in either America," The prophecy may not come true, but the city of the purple seas, skies, and cattle kingdoms, is already one of the most beautiful cities in all America, and her literature is following her Italian sense of Art. The most romantic of the Argentine poets is Don Estevan Echeverria, whose Gouchor like soul, caught the spirit of the pampas, and interpreted LUIS DOMINGUEZ, it to the world. His home was the saddle, and his Parnassus the purple splendors of the plains. He sung as he flew on his steed; the muses followed him. He felt the heart of nature beat, and what be felt, he wrote. He lived when barbarism was dying, and the new age of civilization was flinging into the air the golden spears of the dawn. His early fancies made of little account the restrictions of the critic. “ A Savage of the Pampas." he made a voyage to France, and his studies in the wandering gave to his after work a certain coloring of sentiment and philosophy In his poem “ La Cantiva," he describes the vast and solemn pampas, and the originality and sweep of his theme, and the force of his picturing will ever give the work a fascination which belongs to true interpretation, whatever may be its other defects. Don Luis Domingues. poet, literator and Argentine statesman was born in Buenos Ayres. After the time when he published his first poems he engaged himself in numerous poetic studies, for the inspiration and correction of his style. He produced many forins of lyrical poems; and songs of DOMINGO F. SARMIENTO, Argentine Author, Educator and Statesman. Æneas did not end his journey at Rome; he is building a new empire under the Andes, and if this empire does not fulfill the visions of the prophetic writers that we have quoted, it unquestionably will develop a great future, and the iris of it is already in the sky. She showered roses, oped her crystal springs, It is a strange event in the history of the literature of the lands of the Southern Cross, that Salaverry, the soldier, whose end was tragic, should have written the stirring peace poem of his own, or of any age. In this poem the grand pulse beat for humanity is expressed in martial words that lose their force by translation: Ye warriors of freedom ye champions of right, Sheathe your swords to sweet harmony's strains, No bayonet should gleam and no soldier should fight Where Liberty glorious reigns. "Melt your lances to ploughshares, your swords into spades, And furrow for harvests your plains, Where glorious Liberty reigns. And Beneficence waken her strains, Where Liberty glorious reigns. Nor glory from tumult and strife, Don Juan Godoy whose sublime and glorious ode to the Cordilleras of the Andes will compare with Coleridge's “Hymn in the Valley of Chamouni,” was born in Mendoza, in 1873. He is one of the greatest of the later South American poets. At Mendoza, San Martin organized his army for the liberation of Chili and Peru. The trans-Andine route starts from here, at first following the windings of the Mendoza River. The Cordillera here is thirteen thousand feet high, and over it looms the stupendous dome of Tupungato, in its winter of eternal silence, sheeted with spotless snow. Beyond it rises Aconcagua, higher than Mont Blanc would be were it to wear Mt. Washington for a hood—and whose base is lost in the mysteries of the ocean world. The sight of these peaks probably became a haunting vision to Godoy, and although before such a theme, language struggles for utterance, he produced a most sublime apostrophe, one that to read is an eternal recollection. His thoughts in this ode can be produced, but the music of the poem can only be known through the Spanish tongue, as witness the opening lines: En que tiempo, en cual dia, ó en que hova. love—of his country and domestic life, with equal power, and described with rare skill the natural history and customs of his own land. Besides his articles in the periodicals of the Plata, he produced works of merit, among others the history of Argentina. He was engaged in public work in Uruguay and Argentina. He was active in the national and provincial congresses of his own country, and was eminent for patriotism, social position and worth of character. He, for a time, filled the office of minister plenipotentiary of Argentina to Peru. Don Jose Marmol, whose beautiful tomb is a shrine in the marble walls of the Recoleta of the Palermo of Buenos Ayres, was of gentle blood. He was for many years the librarian of his native city. He had the poetic fire of Echeverria; he felt the grandeur of his native skies, seas, plains and mountains, but he united a refined culture with his work, and tamed his glowing visions with the law of art. BERNARDINO RIVADAVIA, It is delightful to listen to this sympathetic and affluent interpreter, as he touches his chords to the “ Tropics:” The Tropics—shining palace of the Southern Cross, Mighty Cordilleras, Gleaming in splendor o'er the crystal waves ! Some of the thoughts of this apostrophe, which is really an ode to liberty, have an awesome sublimity: The Condor in his flight On thy crests of snow ! What were the Alps, the Caucasus Immense Cordilleras, The pillar of the firmament. The female poet who has the South American ear and favor is Dona Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda who was born in Puerto Principe, Cuba, in 1816. She caught the spirit of liberty, and one of the finest of her poems is a sonnet to Washington. A WASHINGTON. Si con rasgos de sangre guarda el suelo Mientras la fama las virtudes cuente Alza gozosa, América, tu frente, Let me but share in some fair coming day 66 The past could give no model of thy virtue, The Cincinnatus, whom thy clime gave birth. Beautifully sings Avellaneda to " Hope” (A la Esperanza). Come, O thou Diva, I implore thy favor, We have given here an outline of the thought of this grand poem--an outline merely, as a picture of the ideal of a true Latin-American poet, whom all American women should honor. Come 0 Then Diva," is a notable page of philosophical poetry, as a conclusion of introspection and an interpretation of life. The great poet and poetic scholar of Chili is Senor Don de la Barra, although Guillermo Matta has been called the Byron of this land of progress between the oceans and under the mountain towers. The verse of the former rings with hope, and has the tinge of the glory of new horizons, while that of the latter is melancholy and misanthropic, a vision of clouded stars. Eduardo de la Barra was born in Santiago de Chili on February 9, 1839. He belongs to a diplomatic family, and received the most liberal education. A diplomat, as well as a man of letters and of almost universal knowledge, he was a coadjutor of Balmaceda, and left Chili and took up his residence in Rosario in the Argentine Republic, after the great Chilian President fell. He accepted an educational appointment in Argentina, which he held until changing politics made his return to Chili favorable. He is a gentleman of fine face, quick sympathies, liberal views, and Castilian manners. He has published several volumes of poems, and his life has been written by Leonardo Elit. (1889). But the most popular of the Latin-American poets, and one of the true children of genius of the world, is Manuel Acana, a descendant a humble family, who was born in Saltillo, Mexico, in 1849. His history is romantic and touching; in some points it re sembles Chatterton, for it ended in clouds and darkness; his sun went out at noon. His poetic endowments were exalted and multiple; he was a voice of the democracy of Mexico, and so of the spirit of South American republics. His fiery zeal for the democratic principle, for the cause of the people, was toned and refined by a nature full of pure and true affections. He loved his father with a fervor that has seldom found in verse so intense an expression. Amid his rising fame he was true to his simple home, and it is the home poet, like a Horace, a Scott, a Goldsmith, a Longfellow whose verses creep into the heart of the world. His patriotism, his love of his father, and a shadowy romance that brings a touch of pity to his last young days, has made him at once the Keats and the Burns of Latin America. One who could write: "Mi Madre, la que vive todavia, puesto que vivo yo.” would never want for hearts or readers. The poets of sympathy outlast all the others. He was an enthusiastic student of the sciences, and he founded a literary academy in Mexico, of which he became the guiding light. His genius was self-consuming; the sword was too sharp for the scabbard. His beloved father died, he was unhappy in an affair of the heart, and with his own hands he closed the door of life, and so left a shadow. on his works and his memory. His poem on the death of his father called “ Tears" is tears, if ever words were such. “ Over my cradle Thou art vanished-of the book of darkness Father sleep-my trembling heart His poem on the “Fifth of May" is a picture of his love for Mexico, for whose welfare and glory he was willing to die: My country, THE LAST OF THE GOUCHORS—THE WANDERING MINSTRELS OF THE PAMPAS. |