Latin American poetry

Latin American poetry is often written in Spanish, but is also composed in Portuguese, Mapuche, Nahuatl, Quechua, Mazatec, Zapotec, Ladino, English, and Spanglish.

Works about the influential fighters and leaders were distributed throughout the newly liberated countries of Latin America, as well as a celebrated new focus on the wonders of American land and its indigenous people.

His most famous poem, Yo soy un hombre sincero has entered into popular culture as it has been reproduced hundreds of times into the song "Guantanamera", most recently by Celia Cruz and even the Fugees.

In rebellion against romanticism, the modernists attempted to renew poetic language and to create a poetry characterized by formal perfection, musicality, and strongly evocative imagery.

After gaining popularity in non-Latin cultures due to the wide reach of modernismo, Latin American poetry continued to develop in the 20th century.

Nicolás Guillén (Cuba) and Luis Palés Matos (Puerto Rico) incorporate the African roots in the rhythm of their poetry, in their “Afro-Antillano” verses.

[9][10] Braschi's Empire of Dreams (1988) is a postmodern poetry epic about immigrant life in New York City; the work is a pastiche, riffing on Spanish Golden Age pastoral eclogues and Latin American modernist poems.

[11][12] After World War I, following Modernismo and influences from Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Ultraism, and surrealism, the avant-garde was adopted by Latin American poets.

Many Nobel Prize winners, including Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz, used surrealism in their work and were recognized for it.

[14] Neruda's epic poem Canto General gained worldwide recognition as his "greatest work",[15] and it the lyric voice gives a sweeping description of Latin America from pre-history to the 20th century.

[1] Latin American women have been a force of innovation in poetry in Spanish since the sonnets and romances by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the 17th century.

[27] Mistral's lyrics used a regular meter and rhyme to describe impassioned female subjects, such as the abandoned, the jealous lover, the mother in fear for her vulnerable child, and the teacher who lifts her students with a love for knowledge and compassion.

Julia de Burgos's poetry weaved romance and political activism for women and African/Afro-Caribbean writers, and is considered a precursor to contemporary U.S. Latina/o and Latinx literature.