Ricardo Miró Denis (November 5, 1883 in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is loca ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

– March 2, 1940), was a Panamanian writer and is considered to be the most noteworthy poet of this country. He traveled to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

at the age of fifteen to study painting, but was forced to return to Panama in 1899 due to the Thousand Days' War. The magazine ''Isthmus Herald'', where he worked for 10 years, published his first verses. Miró traveled to Spain between 1908 and 1911 where he had the position of consul in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. In 1909 his poem "Patria" (Native Land) was published. His work was characterized as being nostalgic and filled with the author's thoughts about living away from his own native land. In 1917 he returned to Panama to serve as director of the National Archives until 1927, and as a secretary for the Academia Panameña de la Lengua until 1940. He died on March 2, 1940, in Panama City. He is the national poet of Panama.

Legacy

A posthumous annual literary prize was named in his honour, the Ricardo Miró National Literary Contest of the Republic of Panama. The prize was to encourage writers of poetry and fiction in Panama and in 1952 was extended to include works for theater. In celebration of 100 years since his birth, Miró's completed works were published in two volumes by the National Institute of Culture of Panama.

Personal life

Miró's daughter, Carmen A. Miró, became a noted demographer.

Selected bibliography

Novels and collections

* ''Preludes'' (1908) * ''Second Preludes'' (1916) * ''The Pacific legend'' (1919) * ''Maria Flower'' (1922) * ''Patriotic verses and scholastic recitals'' (1925) * ''Silent Ways'' (1929) * ''Poetry'' (collection published 1983) * ''Novels and Stories'' (collection published 1983)

Poems

* ''"The Last Seagull"'' (1905) * ''"Native Land"'' (1909) * ''"To Portobello"'' (1918) * ''"Patria"'' (''"Homeland"'') * ''The reincarnation poem'' (1929)

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miro, Ricardo 1883 births 1940 deaths Panamanian poets Panamanian male writers Male poets 20th-century poets 20th-century male writers