Whitman Marti and Dario

Whitman, Martí, and Darío

BLOG PROMPT: Walt Whitman’s work was much admired by Latin American poets José Martí and Rubén Darío. Take one poem from Martí and Darío and identify any similarities that might exist with Whitman’s work. Landscape would be an important element to consider.

     Whitman, Marti and Dario were highly influential writers within their historical and geographic contexts. These three writers helped redefine their poetic cultures by challenging poetic traditions and conventions. Their influence upon their respective poetic cultures worked to define each poetic culture with a sense of nationalism. This nationalism was not free from societal examination and critique, but rather emphasized the ability of a culture to support positive change. The language of each of these influential writers appealed to and reflected the language of the everyman creating artistic cultures that were both revelatory and accessible.

       Whitman’s work was profoundly influential to nineteenth century American poetic culture. Although Whitman challenged poetic and thematic conventions he also worked to create a sense of nationalism; “the nation was such a crucial focus for his work. He was deliberately writing a new, quintessentially American poetry, an art form that would leave European values and traditions behind to celebrate a modern pluralistic democracy” (647). Whitman worked to establish America as its own defining source of art and artistic merit. Whitman’s poetic language “aimed to include all of modern life” (647). He often wrote in a conversational style without regard for poetic meter conventions. This accessibility allowed his poems to be read and understood by a wide and appreciative audience. This language was also used to create and define a sense of American nationalism. In the poem “Song of Myself” Whitman writes, “One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same and the largest the same…” (649). This desire to forge a sense of a truly American poetic culture is best described by Whitman himself when he asserted that “The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth, have probably the fullest poetic nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem” (647).

     Similar to the way Whitman challenged European poetic traditions to forge a new nationalistic centered poetic culture, Jose Marti deliberately rejected “conventional Spanish verse forms paving the way for Latin American modernism” (680). The language of Marti’s poetry was highly accessible. Marti rejected the thematic and format complexities of Romantic era sentiments that had previously defined Spanish poetry. By reflecting values of the common man Marti helped to define a unique Cuban poetic culture free from the Spanish poetic conventions. Marti was a revolutionary who used his poetry to define independent Cuban nationalism. Marti was committed to the efforts to free Cuba from “Spanish colonial rule” (680). The accessibility and desired independent nationalism is reflected in Marti’s poem “I Am an Honest Man”; “I am an honest man From where the palm grows And before I die I wish To fling my verses from my soul. I come from everywhere And I am going toward everywhere: Among the arts, I am art…” (681).

     Like Whitman and Marti, Ruben Dario helped to define a unique poetic culture. Dario helped to establish and define Latin American poetic culture, and he was one of the first modernismo poets who sought an independent nationalistic poetic voice. What separates Dario from Whitman and Marti is that he often embraced traditional literary forms and thematic references to Greek as well as indigenous antiquity. Although he used these conventions, his work was startlingly modern because he addressed modern societal issues and cultural values. Dario’s poetry focused on verse musicality which heightened the influence of his verse to various Latin American folk cultures. Dario “displayed a new poetic awakening to contemporary political and cultural concerns, as well as a somber interrogations of the poet’s own mortality” (691). In his defiant poem “To Roosevelt” Dario exemplifies his desire to use poetry to both establish Latin American poetic culture as well as establish this culture as a means for political and social challenge; “You are the United States future invader of our naïve America with its Indian blood, an America that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish” (693). Dario had a profound impact on Latin American poetry he was such an influential artist that many “historians have broken the story of Spanish language poetry into two periods-before and after Dario” (691).

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. "To Roosevelt." 1650 to the Present. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 695. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2 vols.

Martí, Jose. "I Am an Honest Man." 1650 to the Present. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 681. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2 vols.

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." 1650 to the Present. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 648-653. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2 vols.