José María Heredia y Heredia

Many of his earlier pieces are merely clever translations from French, English and Italian; but his originality is placed beyond doubt by such poems as the Himno del desterrado, the epistle to Emilia, Desengaños, and the celebrated ode to Niágara.

[7] One of his most celebrated poems was called "En El Teocalli de Cholula," which explores the universality of nature and immense beauty of indigenous ruins.

In common with a number of Spanish and Latin American Romantics, his intellectual formation was in Neoclassicism, and indeed his poetry is notable for its perfection of form as well as (often) the sincerity and depth of his feelings.

Andrés Bello (from his exile in London) and Alberto Lista (from Spain) acknowledged the precociousness of Heredia, praising the originality and freshness of his poetry.

A significantly expanded second collection, that included revised versions of many of the poems found in the earlier edition, saw the light in Toluca in 1832, also published by Heredia himself.

[10] As a young boy in Cuba, he learned how to read and write Latin and Greek and translated famous works such as Homer, Horace, and other classical authors and texts.

"[12] Even though he did not manage to pierce the literary spheres of North America (at the time), his two years spent in exile in the United States are increasingly critical with regard to his major works.

His love for liberty grew as he discovered in his travels here the rewarding activity of free men; as he learned to read in English and imitate the prose of his US-American literary counterparts.

; and (7) discovery or inclusion in the humanities of what traditional Latin American society, which had been dominated by culture from France, Spain, and Portugal, had been seen as exotic (i.e., coming from Asia, Oceania, or the Middle East, etc.).

"[13]It has been said that "if the United States had Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, Latin America had the Cuban poet Heredia" in regards to the prominence and literary importance of his poetry.

The most prominent Romantic feature in Heredia is the ever-present involvement of his life in his poetry as well as the dark notes of death, melancholy and gloominess that pervade his writings.

Written after the death of his father in Mexico, a lyrical voice experiences the melancholy of watching the sunset over the fields of the valley of Anahuac, and after, reflecting on the disappearance of the pyramid builders and how the times have changed.