Guillermo Valencia Castillo (October 29, 1873 in

Popayán Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in the Pubenza Valley in southwestern Colombia between the Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range. The municipality has a population of 318,059, an a ...

, Colombia – July 8, 1943 in

) was a Colombian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, and politician. Valencia was a pioneer of

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

in Colombia and a member of the

Colombian Conservative Party The Colombian Conservative Party () is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro. The Conservative Party along with the Colombian Liberal Party ...

. He was the father of five children, including

Guillermo León Valencia Guillermo León Valencia Muñoz (27 April 1909 – 4 November 1971) was a Colombian politician, lawyer and diplomat who served as the 21st President of Colombia from 1962 to 1966. Personal life Valencia was born in Popayán, Cauca on April 2 ...

(1909–1971), Colombian president during 1962–1966, and

Josefina Valencia Muñoz Josefina Valencia Muñoz (22 September 1913 – 4 October 1991) was a Colombian politician, and the first woman to be appointed governor of a Department of Colombia, Colombian department as Governor of Cauca, and the first woman to be appoin ...

, Governor of Cauca.

Biography

Valencia was the son of Joaquín Valencia Quijano and Adelaida Castillo Silva. He became an orphan at eight years old. He studied in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Literary career

His first volume of poetry, ''Ritos'' (1899, rev. ed. 1914; “Rites”), containing original poems and free translations from French, Italian, and Portuguese, established his literary reputation at home and abroad as a leader of the experimental Modernist movement with its exotic imagery. He had the poetry magazine ''Paginas de Anarkos'', considered a major journal associated with many Colombian literary figures of the time. It had illustrations by masters like Santiago Martinez Delgado. He was never a prolific poet; in later years, he abandoned original poetry almost entirely, concentrating on translations. One of these was Catay (1928; “Cathay”), which he translated from Franz Toussaint's La Flute de Jade (“The Jade Flute”), a French translation of an anthology of Chinese poems. He translated La balada de la cárcel de Reading (1932; “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”) from the English poem by the 19th-century writer

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. He also turned more frequently to writing essays, many of which are collected in Panegíricos, discursos y artículos (1933; “Panegyrics, Speeches, and Articles”).

Political career

He led an active career as a statesman and a diplomat and was twice a candidate for the presidency of Colombia, in

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

and

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

. In 1918, he lost to

Marco Fidel Suárez Marco Fidel Suárez (April 23, 1855 – April 3, 1927) was a Colombian political figure. He served as president of Colombia from 1918 to 1921. He was born on April 23, 1855, in the town of Hatoviejo, Antioquia. His parents were Rosalía Suárez a ...

. In 1930, he lost the presidential election to liberal

Enrique Olaya Herrera Enrique Alfredo Olaya Herrera (12 November 1880 – 18 February 1937) was a Colombian journalist and politician. He served as President of Colombia from 7 August 1930 until 7 August 1934 representing the Colombian Liberal Party. Early years ...

Personal life

Vista trasera de la casa museo Guillermo Valencia

Valencia married Josefina Muñoz Muñoz in 1908. Together, they had five children. He was the grandfather of

Pedro Felipe Valencia López Pedro Felipe Valencia López (5 June 1931 – 25 August 2000) was a Colombian politician. A Conservative party politician, he was the son of Guillermo León Valencia Muñóz who was President of Colombia between 1962 and 1966. As a diplomat he s ...

, a Colombian politician.

Honors and awards

The house where he lived and died was turned into a museum. A municipal theater in Popayán, Colombia was also named after him were roads at across different cities and several status in Popayan. The national poetry prize in Colombia is named in his honor.

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''Poesías'' (1898) * ''Ritos'' (1899) * ''Sus mejores poemas'' (1926) * ''Catay'' (1929)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Guillermo 1873 births 1943 deaths

Guillermo Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amador (born 1974), American musician * Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Span ...

Colombian poets Candidates for President of Colombia People from Popayán