Romantic Lyricism in Latin America: Authors and Traits

Romantic Lyricism: Definition and Features

Romantic lyric is a literary piece written in verse that has the characteristics of the Romantic movement.

Key Features:

• Directly linked with the author's emotions and experiences.
• Identification of nature with the author's moods.
• Presence of religious elements.
• Identification of the poet with his work, incorporating elements of their life.
• Polyrhythm, meaning the lines are not metrically equal.
• Use of romantic elements, such as metaphors and expressive resources.

Latin American Representatives of Romanticism:

• Martín Fierro
• Rubén Darío
• Esteban Echeverría
• Juan Zorrilla
• Juana Inés de la Cruz

Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde: Romantic Lyricist (19th Century)

Life and Influences:

• Left Venezuela due to disagreements with the prevailing political situation.
• One of the most educated Venezuelans in history, he spoke several languages, including Danish.
• Moved to New York, where he married and had a daughter named Flora, who died at age 3.
• Felt nostalgia for his country.
• Wrote about nature, flowers, the flower of death, and the pain it caused.

Characteristics of His Works:

• Presence of the self (autobiographical elements).
• Concern for the metaphysical and metaphysical elements (from beyond).
• Incorporation of the landscape into the work.
• Use of Romantic resources. Example: epithets for an elderly man.
• Written in verse.
• Presence of religious elements.
• Self-exaltation (expresses his feelings intensely).

Eduardo Blanco

• Venezuelan writer, representative of historical romance.
• He was a pupil of Juan González.
• His main work was Venezuela Heroica, a collection of stories with a romantic vision of history.
• Romantic and fantastic elements dominate in his work, as in the novel Una Noche en Ferrara.
• He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Education.
• He also wrote the novel Zárate, in which the landscape, the hero, and the human framework accompanying the hero have a strong national character.
• His novel El Penitente de los Teatinos was later retitled Una Noche en Ferrara in its second edition.