Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

n poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of the 19th century. Darío had a great and lasting influence on 20th-century Spanish-language literature and journalism.

Life

His parents, Manuel García and Rosa Sarmiento were married on 26 April 1866, in

León, Nicaragua León () is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. Founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León, it is the capital and largest city of León Department. , the municipality of León has an estimated population of ...

, after obtaining the necessary ecclesiastic permissions since they were second degree cousins. However, Manuel's conduct of allegedly engaging in excessive consumption of alcohol prompted Rosa to abandon her conjugal home and flee to the city of Metapa (modern Ciudad Darío) in Matagalpa where she gave birth to Félix Rubén. The couple made up and Rosa even gave birth to a second child, a daughter named Cándida Rosa, who died a few days after being born. The marriage deteriorated again to the point where Rosa left her husband and moved in with her aunt, Bernarda Sarmiento. After a brief period of time, Rosa Sarmiento established a relationship with another man and moved with him to San Marcos de Colón, in Choluteca,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. Rubén Darío was born in Metapa, Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Although, according to his baptism, Rubén's true surname was García, his paternal family had been known by the surname Darío for many years. Rubén Darío explained it as follows in his autobiography:

According to what some of the old people in that town of my childhood have referred to me, my great-grandfather had Darío as his nickname or first name. In this small town he was known by everyone as "Don Darío" and his entire family as the Daríos. It was in this way that his and all his family last name began to disappear to the point where my paternal great-grandmother already replaced it when she signed documents as Rita Darío; becoming patronymic and acquiring legal stand and validity since my father, who was a merchant, carried out all his businesses as Manuel Darío...

Darío spent his childhood in the city of León Nicaragua. He was brought up by his mother's aunt and uncle, Félix and Bernarda, whom Darío considered, in his infancy, to be his real parents. (He reportedly, during his first years in school, signed his assignments as Félix Rubén Ramírez.) He rarely spoke with his mother, who lived in Honduras, or with his father, who he referred to as "Uncle Manuel". Although little is known about his first years, it is documented that after the death of Félix Ramírez, in 1871, the family went through rough economic times and they considered sending young Rubén as a tailor's apprentice. According to his biographer Edelberto Torres, he attended several schools in León before going on, during 1879 and 1880, to be educated by the Jesuits. A precocious reader (according to his own testimony, he learned to read when he was three years old), he soon began to write his first verses: a sonnet written by him in 1879 is conserved, and he published for the first time in a newspaper when he was thirteen years old. The elegy, ''Una lágrima'', which was published in the daily ''El Termómetro'' ( Rivas) on 26 July 1880. A little later he also collaborated in ''El Ensayo'', a literary magazine in León, garnering attention as a "child poet". In these initial verses, according to Teodosio Fernández, his predominating influences were Spanish poets contemporary to José Zorrilla, Ramón de Campoamor, Gaspar Núñez de Arce and Ventura de la Vega. His writings of this time display a liberalism hostile to the Roman Catholic Church, as documented in his essay, ''El jesuita'', which was written in 1881. Regarding his political attitude, his most noteworthy influence was the

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian Juan Montalvo, whom he deliberately imitated in his first journalistic articles. Around December 1881 he moved to the capital,

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

, at the request of some liberal politicians that had conceived the idea that, given his gift for poetry, he should be educated in Europe at the expense of the public treasury. However, the anti-clerical tone of his verses did not convince the president of congress, the conservative Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Alfaro, and it was resolved that he would study in the Nicaraguan city of

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, but Rubén opted to stay in

, where he continued his journalistic endeavor collaborating with the newspapers ''El Ferrocarril'' and ''El Porvenir de Nicaragua''. In the capital, he fell in love with an eleven-year-old girl, Rosario Emelina Murillo, whom he wanted to marry. He traveled to

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

in August 1882, at the petition of his friends who wanted to delay his marriage plans. It wasn’t uncommon for people of Darío’s age of 14 to marry.

In El Salvador

, Darío was introduced to the president of the republic, Rafael Zaldivar, by Joaquín Mendez, a poet who took him under his wing. There, he met the Salvadoran poet Francisco Gavidia, a connoisseur of French poetry. Under the auspices of Gavidia, Darío attempted, for the first time, to adapt the French Alexandrine metric into Castilian verse. Although he enjoyed much fame and an intense social life in El Salvador, participating in celebrations such as the centenary of the birth of

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

, things began to get worse. He encountered economic hardships and contracted smallpox. In October 1883, still convalescent, he returned to his native homeland. After his return, he briefly resided in León and then in

but he finally moved again to Managua, where he became an employee of the Biblioteca Nacional de Nicaragua (the National Library of Nicaragua) and he resumed his romance with Rosario Murillo. In May 1884 he was condemned for vagrancy and sentenced to eight days of public work, although he managed to evade the fulfillment of the sentence. During that time he continued experimenting with new poetic forms, and he even had a book ready for printing, which was going to be titled ''Epístolas y poemas''. This second book also did not get published, it would have to wait until 1888 when it was finally published as ''Primeras notas''. He tested his luck with theatre, and he released his first play, titled ''Cada oveja...'', which had some success, but no copy remains. He found life in Managua unsatisfactory, and prompted by the advice of some friends, opted to embark for Chile on 5 June 1886.

In Chile

After making a name for himself with love poems and stories, Darío left Nicaragua for Chile in 1886, and disembarked in Valparaiso on 23 June 1886. In Chile he stayed with Eduardo Poirier and a poet by the name of Eduardo de la Barra, together they co-authored a sentimental novel titled ''Emelina'', with which they entered in a literary contest (although they did not win). It was because of his friendship with Poirier that Darío was able to obtain a job in the newspaper ''La Época'', in Santiago in July 1886. During his stay in Chile, Darío had to endure continuous humiliation from the Chilean aristocracy that scorned him for his lack of refinement and for the color of his skin. Nonetheless, he managed to forge a few friendships, like the one with the son of the then president, the poet Pedro Balmaceda Toro. Soon after he published his first piece, ''Abrojos'', in March 1887. He lived in Valparaiso for several months until September 1887 where he participated in several literary contests. In the month of July 1888, ''Azul'', the key literary work of the modernist revolution that had just begun, was published in Valparaiso. '' Azul...'' is a compilation of a series of poems and textual prose that had already been published in the Chilean media between December 1886 and June 1888. The book was not an immediate success, but was well received by the influential Spanish novelist and literary critic Juan Valera, who published in the Madrid newspaper ''El Imparcial'', in October 1888, two letters addressed to Darío, in which, although reproaching him for the excessive French influence in his writings (Valera's used the expression "galicismo mental" or 'mental Gallicism'), he recognized in Darío " un prosista y un poeta de talento" ("a prose writer and poet of talent").

Journey in Central America

The newly attained fame allowed Darío to obtain the position of newspaper correspondent for ''La Nación'' of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, which was at the time the most heavily circulated periodical in Hispanic America. A little after sending his first article to ''La Nacion'', he set off on a trip back to Nicaragua. During a brief stop in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

he met the writer Ricardo Palma. He arrived at the port in Corinto on 7 March 1889. In León, he was received as a guest of honor, but his stay in Nicaragua was brief, and he moved to San Salvador, where he was named director of the periodical ''La Unión'' which was in favor of creating a unified Central American state. In San Salvador, he was married by law to Rafaela Contreras, daughter of a famous Honduran orator, Álvaro Contreras, on 21 June 1890. One day after the wedding there was a coup d'état against president (and general) Menéndez. The coup was mainly engineered by general Carlos Ezeta, who had been a guest at Darío's wedding, which ended with the death of his wife, which led him to remarry for a brief period, only for him to separate very shortly thereafter. He decided to leave El Salvador despite job offers from the new president. He moved to Guatemala at the end of June, while his bride remained in El Salvador. Guatemalan president Manuel Lisandro Barillas was making preparations for a war against El Salvador. Darío published, in the Guatemalan newspaper ''El Imparcial'', an article titled ''Historia Negra'' in which he denounced Ezeta's betrayal of Menéndez. In December 1890 he was tasked with directing a newly created newspaper, ''El Correo de la Tarde''. That same year the second edition of his successful book ''Azul...'', substantially expanded, and using Valera's letters, which catapulted him to literary fame, as prologue (it is now customary that these letters appear in every edition of this book), was published in Guatemala. In January 1891 his wife reunited with him in Guatemala and they were married by the church on 11 February 1891. Three months later, the periodical which Darío was editing, ''El Correo de la Tarde'', ceased receiving government subsidies, which forced it to close. He moved to Costa Rica and installed himself in the country's capital, San Jose, in August 1891. While in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, he was haunted by debt despite being employed and was barely able to support his family. His first son, Rubén Darío Contreras, was born on 12 November 1891.

Travels

In 1892, he left his family in Costa Rica, and traveled to Guatemala and Nicaragua, in search for better economic prospects. Eventually, the Nicaraguan government named him a member of the Nicaraguan delegation to Madrid, where events were going to take place to commemorate the fourth centennial of the discovery of America. During the trip to Spain, Darío made a stop in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Santander, where he continued his journey to Madrid via train. Among those with whom he interacted frequently were poets Gaspar Núñez de Arce, José Zorrilla and Salvador Rueda; novelists Juan Valera and Emilia Pardo Bazán; erudite Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo; and several distinguished politicians such as Emilio Castelar and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo. In November, he returned to Nicaragua, where he received a telegram from San Salvador notifying him of his wife's illness; she died on 23 January 1893. At the onset of 1893, Ruben remained in

, where he renewed his affairs with Rosario Murillo, whose family forced Darío to marry her.

In Argentina

Darío was well received by the intellectual media of

. He collaborated with several newspapers: in addition to ''La Nación'', to which he was already a correspondent, he published articles in ''La Prensa'', ''La Tribuna'' and ''El Tiempo'', to name a few. His position as the Colombian consul was merely honorific, since, as Darío has stated in his autobiography: "no había casi colombianos en Buenos Aires y no existían transacciones ni cambios comerciales entre Colombia y la República Argentina." In the Argentinian capital he led a bohemian life-style and his abuse of alcohol led to the need for medical care in several occasions. Among the personalities with whom he dealt were the politician

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of Argentine Civil Wars#National unification, unified Argentina. Mitre i ...

, the Mexican poet Federico Gamboa, the

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n poet Ricardo Jaimes Freyre and the Argentinian poets Rafael Obligado and

Leopoldo Lugones Leopoldo Antonio Lugones Argüello (13 June 1874 – 18 February 1938) was an Argentine poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, professor, translator, biographer, philologist, theologian, diplomat, politician and journalist. His poetic ...

. His mother, Rosa Sarmiento, died on 3 May 1895. In October 1895, the Colombian government abolished its consulate in Buenos Aires depriving Darío of an important source of income. As a remedy, he obtained a job as Carlos Carlés's secretary, who was the general director of the institution handling mail and telegrams in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In 1896, in

, Darío published two of his most crucial books: ''Los raros'', a collection of articles about the writers that most interested him, and second, ''Prosas profanas y otros poemas'', the book that established the most definite consecration of Spanish literary modernism. However popular it became, though, his work was not initially well received. His petitions to the Nicaraguan government for a diplomatic position went unattended; however, the poet discovered an opportunity to travel to Europe when he learned that ''La Nación'' needed a Correspondent in Spain to inform about the situation in the European country after Spain's disaster of 1898. It is from the United States military intervention in Cuba that Rubén Darío coined, two years before José Enrique Rodó, the metaphorical opposition between Ariel (a personification of Latin America) and Calibán (a monster which represents the United States of America.) On 3 December 1898, Darío decamped to Europe, arriving in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 ...

three weeks later.

Between Paris and Spain

Darío arrived in Spain committed to sending four chronicles per month to ''La Nación'' about the prevalent mood in the Spanish nation after the defeat it suffered to the United States of America, and the loss of its colonial possessions; Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. These chronicles would end up being compiled in a book that was published in 1901, titled ''España Contemporánea. Crónicas y retratos literarios''. In the writings, he expresses his profound sympathy towards Spain, and his confidence in Spain's revival, despite the state of despair he observed. In Spain, Darío won the admiration of a group of young poets who defended Modernism (a literary movement that was not absolutely accepted by the most established writers, especially those belonging to the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanopho ...

.) Among these young modernists there were a few writers that would later have important roles in Spanish literature such as Juan Ramón Jiménez, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán and Jacinto Benavente, and some that were prevalent in their time, like Francisco Villaespesa, Mariano Miguel de Val, director of the magazine Ateneo, and Emilio Carrere. In 1899, Rubén Darío, who was still legally married to Rosario Murillo, met Francisca Sánchez del Pozo in the Casa de Campo of Madrid. Francisca was from Navalsauz in the province of Ávila and would be his companion through the last years of his life. In April 1900, Darío visited Paris for a second time, commissioned by ''La Nación'' to cover the Exposition Universelle that took place that year in the French capital city. His chronicles about this topic would later be compiled in the book ''Peregrinaciones''. During the first years of the 20th century, Darío lived in Paris, where in 1901 published the second edition of ''Prosas profanas''. That same year Francisca and Rubén had a daughter. After giving birth she traveled to Paris to reunite with him, leaving the baby girl in the care of her grandparents. The girl died of smallpox during this period, without her father ever meeting her. In March 1903 he was appointed as consul by Nicaragua. His second child by Francisca was born in April 1903, but also died at a very young age. During those years, Darío traveled through Europe, visiting, among other countries, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 1905, he went to Spain as a member of a committee named by the Nicaraguan government whose task was to resolve a territorial dispute with

. That year he published, in Madrid, the third of his most important poetry books, ''Cantos de vida y esperanza, los cisnes y otros poemas'', edited by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Some of his most memorable poems came to light in 1905, like "Salutación del optimista" and " A Roosevelt", in which he extols Hispanic traits in the face of the threat of United States imperialism. The second poem (below) was directed at then president of the United States,

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

: In 1906 he participated as secretary of the Nicaraguan delegation to the Third Pan-American Conference held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

where he was inspired to write his poem "Salutación del águila", which offers a view of the United States very different from that offered in prior poems: This poem was criticized by several writers who did not understand Ruben's sudden change of opinion with respect to the United States' influence in Latin America. In Rio de Janeiro, the poet was involved in an obscure romance with an aristocrat, believed to be the daughter of the Russian ambassador in Brazil. It seems that he then conceived the idea of divorcing Rosario Murillo, from whom he had been separated for years. On his way back to Europe, he made a brief stop in Buenos Aires. In Paris, he reunited with Francisca and together they spent the winter of 1907 on the island of

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, which he later frequented the company of Gabriel Alomar, a

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

poet, and painter Santiago Rusiñol. He began writing a novel, ''La Isla de Oro'', which he never finished, although some of its chapters were published in ''La Nación''. His tranquility was interrupted by the arrival of his wife, Rosario Murillo, in Paris. She would not grant him a divorce unless she was guaranteed sufficient compensation, which Darío felt was disproportionate. By March 1907, when he was leaving for Paris, his

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

was very advanced and he fell gravely ill. On recuperating, he returned to Paris, but he was unable to reach an agreement with his wife, so he decided to return to Nicaragua to present his case in court.

Ambassador in Madrid

After two brief stops in New York and Panama, Darío arrived in Nicaragua where he was given a warm welcome. Regardless of the tributes offered to him, he failed to obtain a divorce. In addition, he was not paid what was owed to him from his position as consul; this left him unable to return to Paris. After a few months he managed to be named resident minister in Madrid for the Nicaraguan government of José Santos Zelaya. He had economic problems since his limited budget barely allowed him to meet all of his delegation's expenses, and he had much economic difficulty while he was Nicaraguan ambassador. He managed to get by, partly with his salary from ''La Nación'' and partly with the help of his friend and director of the magazine ''Ateneo'', Mariano Miguel de Val, who, while the economic situation was at its toughest, offered himself as secretary to the Nicaraguan delegation at no charge and offered his house, number 27 Serrano street, to serve as the diplomatic quarters of the Nicaraguan delegation. When Zelaya was overthrown, Darío was forced to resign his diplomatic post on 25 February 1909. He remained loyal to Zelaya, whom he had heavily praised in his book ''Viaje a Nicaragua e Intermezzo tropical'', and with whom he had collaborated in the writing of ''Estados Unidos y la revolución de Nicaragua''. In that work the United States and the Guatemalan dictator

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (21 November 1857 – 24 September 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. A lawyer with no military background, he modernised the country's industry and transportation infrastructure, via granting c ...

were accused of planning the overthrow of the Zelaya government. During his time as ambassador, there was a rift between Darío and his former friend Alejandro Sawa, whose requests for economic assistance went unheard by Darío. The correspondence between them gives room to interpret that Sawa was the real author of several of the articles that Darío had published in ''La Nación''.

Last years

In 1910, Darío traveled to Mexico as a member of a Nicaraguan delegation to commemorate a century of Mexican independence. However, the Nicaraguan government changed while Darío was abroad, and Mexican dictator

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

refused to receive the writer, an attitude that was probably influenced by United States diplomacy. Darío, however, was well received by the people of Mexico, who supported Darío and not the government. In his autobiography, Darío relates those protests with the Mexican Revolution, which was about to occur:

For the first time in thirty three years of absolute control, the house of the old Caesarean emperor had been stoned. One could say that that was the first thunder of the revolution that brought the dethronement.

In light of the slight by the Mexican government, Darío left for La Habana, where, under the effects of alcohol, he attempted to commit suicide, perhaps triggered by the way he had been scorned. In November 1910 he returned to Paris, where he continued being a correspondent for ''La Nación'' and where he took a position for the Mexican Ministry of Public Instruction (Ministerio de Instrucción Pública) which may have been given to him as a compensation for the public humiliation inflicted upon him. In 1912 he accepted an offer from the Uruguayan businessmen Rubén and Alfredo Guido to direct the magazines ''Mundial'' and ''Elegancias''. To promote said publications, he went on tour in Latin America visiting, among other cities,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and

. It was also around this time that the poet wrote his autobiography, which was published in the magazine ''Caras y caretas'' under the title of ''La vida de Rubén Darío escrita por él mismo''; and the work ''Historia de mis libros'' which is very important when learning about his literary evolution. After ending his journey due to the end of his contract with the Guido brothers, he returned to Paris and in 1913, invited by Joan Sureda, he traveled to

and found quarters at the Carthusian monastery of Valldemosa, where many decades into the past figures such as Chopin and

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

had resided. It was in this island where Ruben began writing the novel ''El oro de Mallorca'', which was a fictionalization of his autobiography. The deterioration of his mental health became accentuated, however, due to his alcoholism. In December he headed back to Barcelona, where he lodged at General Zelaya's house. Zelaya had taken Darío under his wing when he was president of Nicaragua. In January 1914 he returned to Paris, where he entered a lengthy legal battle with the Guido brothers, who still owed him a large sum of money for the work he had done for them. In May he moved to Barcelona, where he published his last important work of poetry, ''Canto a la Argentina y otros poemas'', which includes the laudatory poem he had written to Argentina, which had been made to order for ''La Nación''.

Death

Darío died on 6 February 1916, aged 49, in León. The funeral lasted several days, and he was interred in the city's cathedral on 13 February 1973 at the base of the statue of Saint Paul near the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

under a lion made of marble by the sculptor Jorge Navas Cordonero.

Poetry

Range

Darío wrote in thirty seven different metrical lines and 136 different stanza forms.

Influences

French poetry was a determinant influence in Darío's formation as a poet. In the first place, the romantics, particularly

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

. Later on, and in a decisive fashion, Darío was influenced by the parnassians:

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

, Catulle Mendès, and José María de Heredia. Another decisive influence was the writer of prose and poetry and national hero of Cuba, Jose Martí. The final defining element of Darianian aesthetic is his admiration towards the symbolists, especially

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

. Recapitulating his own poetic trajectory in the initial poem of ''Cantos de vida y esperanza'' (1905) Darío himself synthesized his main influences when he affirms that he was "strong with Hugo and ambiguous with Verlaine" ("con Hugo fuerte y con Verlaine ambiguo".) In the section "Palabras Liminares" of ''Prosas Profanas'' (1896) he had already written a paragraph that reveals the importance of French culture in the development of his literary work:

The old Spaniard with a white beard points towards a series of illustrious portraits: "This one—he says—is the great Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, one-handed genius; this one is
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
, this one is Garcilaso, this one Quintana." I ask him for the noble man Gracián, for
Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28March 15154or 15October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during the Counter-Re ...
, for the brave Góngora and the strongest of all, Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas. Then I say: "
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
!
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
! Hugo...! (and in my head: Verlaine...!)"
Then, when saying goodbye: "-Old man, it is important to say: my wife is from my land; my mistress is from Paris."

''Los raros'' is an illustrative volume regarding literary tastes, which he published on the same year as ''Prosas profanas'', and dedicated to briefly glossing some of the writers and intellectuals towards whom he felt profound admiration. Amongst those in the book we find

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

, Villiers de l'Isle Adam, Léon Bloy,

, Lautréamont, Eugénio de Castro and

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...

(the latter being the only one mentioned who wrote their literary work in Spanish.) The predominance of French culture is more than evident. Darío wrote: ''"Modernism is nothing more than Spanish verse and prose passed through the fine sieve of the good French verse and the good French prose."'' Setting aside his initial stage, before ''Azul...'', in which his poetry owes a great deal to the great names of 19th-century Spanish poetry, such as Núñez de Arce and Campoamor, Darío was a great admirer of Bécquer. Spanish themes are well represented in his work, already in ''Prosas profanas'' and, specially, after his second trip to Spain, in 1899. Conscious of contemporaneous Spanish decadence in politics and the arts (a preoccupation he shared with the so-called Generation of '98), he frequently was inspired by characters and elements of the past. Regarding authors in other languages, it is worth mentioning that he felt a profound admiration towards three writers from the United States:

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

and Walt Whitman.

Assessment

Roberto González Echevarría considers him the beginning of the modern era in

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

poetry: "In Spanish, there is poetry before and after Rubén Darío. ... the first major poet in the language since the 17th century ... He ushered Spanish-language poetry into the modern era by incorporating the aesthetic ideals and modern anxieties of Parnassiens and Symbolism, as Garcilaso had infused Castilian verse with Italianate forms and spirit in the 16th century, transforming it forever. Darío led one of the most profound poetic revolutions in Spanish according to Latin American poets Octavio Paz, who wrote a prologue to a translation of Darío's selected poems.

Evolution

The evolution of Darío's poetry is marked by the publication of the books in which scholars have recognized his fundamental works: ''Azul...'' (1888), ''Prosas profanas y otros poemas'' (1896) y ''Cantos de vida y esperanza'' (1905). Before ''Azul...'' Darío wrote three books and a great number of loose poems which make up what is known as his "literary prehistory" ("prehistoria literaria".) The books are ''Epístolas y poemas'' (written in 1885, but published until 1888, under the title ''Primeras notas''), ''Rimas'' (1887) and ''Abrojos'' (1887). In the first of these works his readings of Spanish classics is patent, as is the stamp of Victor Hugo. The metric is classic and the tone is predominantly romantic. In ''Abrojos'', published in Chile, the most acknowledged influence is that from the Spaniard Ramón de Campoamor. ''Rimas'', also published in Chile in the same year, was written for a contest to imitate the Bécquer's ''Rimas'', hence, it is not strange that the intimate tone adopted in this book is very similar to the one present in the writings of the Sevillian poet. It consists of only fourteen poems, of amorous tone, whose expressive means are characteristically bécquerian. ''Azul...'' (1888) has as many tales in prose as poems, which caught the critics' attention through their metric variety. It presents us some of the preoccupations characteristic of Darío, such as his expression of dissatisfaction towards the bourgeoisie. A new edition of the text was published in 1890, this one was augmented with several new texts, amongst which were

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s in

Alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Ro ...

verses. Modernism's stage of plenitude and of the Darian poetry is marked by the book ''Prosas profanas y otros poemas'', a collection of poems in which the presence of the erotic is more important, and which contains some esoteric themes (such as in the poem "Coloquio de los centauros"). In this book, we can also find Darío's own eclectic imagery. In 1905, he published ''Cantos de vida y esperanza'', which announces a more intimate and reflexive trend in his works, without renouncing to the themes that have become linked to the identity of Modernism. At the same time, civic poetry appears in his work, with poems like " A Roosevelt", a trend that would be accentuated in ''El canto errante'' (1907) and in ''Canto a la Argentina y otros poemas'' (1914).

Legacy

Texto del Monumento a La Raza en Sevilla

*Rubén Darío appears as a character in the 1920

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

'' Bohemian Lights'' of Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. *In honor of the centenary of Darío's birth in 1867, the government of Nicaragua struck a 50 cordoba gold medal and issued a set of postage stamps. The commemorative set consists of eight airmail stamps (20 centavos depicted) and two souvenir sheets. *There is a Rubén Darío street and a Rubén Darío museum, and his face appears on statues, paintings, and lottery tickets in his homeland of Nicaragua. The National Library of Nicaragua Rubén Darío was renamed in his honour. * There is a Rubén Darío Plaza and a Rubén Darío metro station in Madrid, Spain. * The Spanglish novel '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) by

Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include '' Empire of Dreams'' (1988), '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998), '' United States of Banana'' (2011), and '' Putinoika'' (2024). ...

features an argument about Rubén Darío's genius versus that of other Spanish language poets Quevedo, Góngora,

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

, and

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

. *There is a Rubén Darío train station in the General Urquiza Railway in Buenos Aires, Argentina. *There is a Ruben Dario avenue in the eastern side of Cochabamba, Bolivia going from north to south right under the big Cristo de la Concordia.

Notes

References

Sources

* Acereda, Alberto and Rigoberto Guevara. "Modernism, Rubén Darío, and the Poetics of Despair". * Orringer, Nelson R. (2002). "Introduction to Hispanic Modernisms", ''Bulletin of Spanish Studies'' LXXIX: 133–148. * Ramos, Julio (2001). ''Divergent Modernities: Culture and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Latin America'' trans. John D. Blanco, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, * Mapes, Edwin K. (1925). ''L'influence française dans l'oeuvre of Rubén Darío'' Paris, republished in 1966 by Comisión Nacional para la Celebración del Centenario del Nacimiento de Rubén Darío, Managua, Nicaragua * Rivera-Rodas, Oscar (1989). "El discurso modernista y la dialéctica del erotismo y la castidad" ''Revista Iberoamericana'' 146–147: 45–62 * Rivera-Rodas, Oscar (2000). "'La crisis referencial' y la modernidad hispanoamericana" ''Hispania'' 83(4): 779–90 * Schulman, Iván A. (1969). "Reflexiones en torno a la definición del modernismo" ''In'' Schulman, Iván A. and Gonzalez, Manuel Pedro (1969) ''Martí, Darío y el modernismo'' Editorial Gredos, Madrid * Crow, John A. (1992). ''The Epic of Latin America''. London: University of California Press * Skidmore, Thomas E. & Smith, Peter H. (2005). ''Modern Latin America''. New York: Oxford University Press

External links

* * * *Ruben Dario Papers 1882-1945 at https://repository.asu.edu/collections/147 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dario, Ruben 1867 births 1916 deaths People from Matagalpa Department Nicaraguan diplomats 19th-century Nicaraguan poets Mestizo writers Modernismo Modernist poets Ambassadors of Nicaragua to Spain Nicaraguan male poets 19th-century male writers 20th-century diplomats 20th-century Nicaraguan poets National Heroines and Heroes of Nicaragua 20th-century Nicaraguan male writers

Life

In El Salvador

In Chile

Journey in Central America

Travels

In Argentina

Between Paris and Spain

Ambassador in Madrid

Last years

Death

Poetry

Range

Influences

Assessment

Evolution

Legacy

Further reading

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links