The Land of Poets

Flavia reciting "Caupolican" from memory

Cathedral de Leon -- The bell in the upper left corner is the Ruben Dario Bell

Ever heard of Ruben Dario? I had not until we started reading about Nicaragua several months ago in preparation for the trip. In Leon--the intellectual capital for Nicaragua--he is buried in the altar at the Cathedral de Leon, which is the largest and most important Catholic cathedral in Central America and was recently designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. There is also a Ruben Dario bell on the Cathedral, there is a Ruben Dario museum, he is visible in at least three statues we saw in Leon, there is a Ruben Dario Street, he is on the walls in local restauraunts and he is on the front of the Cien (100) Cordobas. Presidente Daniel Ortega, in announcing the Sapoa peace agreement that brought the end to the Sandinista-Contra war in 1988 began his speech with "Brother Nicaraguans, I speak to you as Constitutional President of the nation of Sandino and Dario.........." In sum, Dario is THE national hero in Nicaragua and yet we have not heard about him.

Ruben Dario was a poet born in Nicaragua in 1867. Lore has it that he read the bible at age 3 and was memorizing the classics at 6 years old. His poetry published as Azul in 1888 (at the age of 21) is considered a classic and every Nicaraguan reads it and many of his other works in secundaria (middle school). There is even a special Dario dictionary necessary for those reading his poetry.

In spending the day in Leon with our Nicaraguan friend Flavia, she read several of his poems to us from memory. I know she had it right as I had downloaded to our Kindle earlier in the week a copy of both Azul and Cantos de Vida y Esperanza (Songs of Life and Hope) and the latter, published originally in 1905, had both the original Spanish versions and translations to English. His poetry is beautiful in all languages, but his poems in Spanish have a certain cantar that reads like a wonderful melody. In fact, one of the reasons we have not studied Dario in the United States is that only recently have scholars even attempted to translate his poetry into English, recognizing that the musicality of his rhyme and rhythm is lost to a certain degree.  By most measures, he is considered the father of Hispanic modernism and one of the most influential poets in Hispanic literature.

In the United States, most of us cannot even name our nation's poet laureate (currently W.S. Merwin), yet in Nicaragua the poets are more famous than athletes, entertainers,and both political and religious leaders.  If you are interested in Nicaragua and its poetry, Salman Rushdie's treatment in The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey, reveals the depth and influence of poets in Nicaraguan society.

Posted by David

David, Ingelise, Maren, Melinda, Andie, LiLi, Nielsen and Louis with Ruben Dario