Can modernism be blue?

TRIVIA
His parents were Manuel Garcia and Rosa Sarmiento Aleman, but he was raised by his mother’s aunt and uncle, the colonel Felix Ramirez Madregil and his wife Bernarda Sarmiento.

With the publication of “Blue” (Azul), a collection of poetic texts in prose and verse, Ruben Dario gave birth to “modernism,” a literary movement of the second half of the 19th century which infused new life to Spanish poetry.

Dario pushed the perfection of form, developed the musical possibilities of words and created a form of expression for every mood.

As the Argentinean Anderson Imbert said, “In Spanish his name divides history into ‘before’ and ‘after’.”

DARIAN METRICS
The number and variety of stanzas used by Dario exceeded 134, and among them he highlighted the use of the French Alexandrine; its introduction into Castilian poetry was the cornerstone of its poetic revolution.

Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento, better known as Ruben Dario, was born on January 18, 1867, in Metapa, Nicaragua, which is today Ciudad Dario.

From a very young age he was attracted to literature, and at age 12 he published his first poems: “The Faith,” “A Tear,” and “The Disillusionment.”

In 1882 he traveled to El Salvador, where he engaged in the activities that would continue throughout his life; traveling, writing poems, writing for newspapers and taking part in diplomatic activities, mixed with a bohemian lifestyle, emotional turbulence, and recurring economic and personal crises.

After the publication of “Blue” (Azul) while he was in Chile, he returned to Nicaragua, traveled again to El Salvador where he married Rafaela Contreras, and then visited Guatemala, Costa Rica and Spain, where he was received by the most important political and cultural figures.

As a man I have lived in the daily; as a poet, I have conceded nothing..

In 1893 Rafaela died, and he married Rosario Murillo; he traveled to Panama and then to Buenos Aires as the Colombian Consul; and visited New York and Paris.

In 1896 he published his second major work, “Profane Prose and Other Poems,” which showcased his fully original and rich lyrical style, propelling him to the status of a leader with enormous influence on all contemporary authors, who admire, imitate, and mythologize him.

He traveled once again to Spain, where he began living with Francisca Sanchez, a country woman who is recognized in one of his love poems as “God’s guide” along his path.

OPINIONS ABOUT DARIO
Enrique Anderson Imbert: “He was a symphonic orchestra.”
Jorge Luis Borges: “We can call him the liberator.”
Octavio Paz: “He is the founder.”
Angel Rama: “Quintessentially American.”

He divided his time between Spain and Paris, with occasional visits to other regions of Europe and North Africa.

In 1905 he published “Songs of Life and Hope,” a collection of poems that show the art of the poet in all of his maturity, dedicated to the exaltation of Latin Americans, and reflecting his growing concerns about the future of Spanish America.

After a tour of the U.S., he returned to Nicaragua where he died February 6, 1916, in the city of Leon, at 49 years of age, having established the literary independence of Latin America almost 100 years after it achieved political independence.

His philosophy of life, as reflected in his work, is summarized by him as follows: “I work everywhere, progressing as much as I want or can; but I leave the field open where Rocinante finds pasture and Don Quixote believes he sees armies of giants.”

Rubén Darío, an example of the best of the latin spirit.