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Félix Rubén García Sarmiento ( January 18 , 1867 – February 6 , 1916 ) was a Nicaragua n poet who wrote under the Pseudonym of '''Rubén Darío'''. Darío was born in Metapa, now renamed Ciudad Darío . His childhood was filled with difficult economic and personal situations, but his writing abilities allowed him to publish at a very young age. Darío displayed much talent from an early age, which in 1882 earned him an appearance before President Joaquín Zavala . s and Symbolism , as Garcilaso had infused Castilian verse with Italianate forms and spirit in the sixteenth century, transforming it forever. Darío and Garcilaso led the two most profound poetic revolutions in Spanish, yet neither is known abroad, except by Hispanists. They have not traveled well, particularly in English-speaking countries, where they are all but unknown."González Echevarría 2006, p. 29. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH Rubén Darío experienced a turbulent childhood. His parents separated after his birth, and was raised by godfather Colonel Felix Ramirez.Villacres. He felt the abandonment from his parents from a very early age. During his lifetime Rubén Darío only met his mother on two occasions and very briefly. He viewed his father like one of his uncles. He gained a reputation as "El Niño Poeta" ("the poet child"); by the age of 12 he was publishing poems, the first three being "La Fe" ("Faith"), "Una Lagrima" ("A Tear") and "El Desengaño" ("Deceit"). In 1882, at age 15, he made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a government scholarship to study in Europe, and read before a group including conservative Nicaraguan President Joaquin Zavala. His poem "El Libro" did not go over well.Villacres. President said to him, "My son, if you so write against the religion of your fathers and their homeland now, what will become of you if you go to Europe and learn worse things?" As a result, his goal of a European education was thwarted. Instead, Dario traveled to El Salvador , where he met Francisco Gavidia , who introduced him to Castilian and to the French poetry that would so influence his own writing.Villacres. While still in his teens, he worked in the National Library of Nicaragua. He later moved to Chile at the age of 19. He published an unsuccessful first novel, ''Emelina'', followed by a book of poems, ''Azul…'' in 1888. This 134-page, privately printed book, printed in Valparaiso , a city that at the time was not a notable intellectual center, was nonetheless, in González Echevarría's words, "a turning point in Spanish-language literature." González Echevarría 2006, p. 30. Initial reviews were disparaging, but Spanish critic Juan Valera of the Real Academia Española launched the young poet's career, praising his poems, although sharing other critics' disparagement of his degree of adoption of French models. YOUNG ADULTHOOD In 1883, Dario returned to Nicaragua. He married Rafaela Contreras in 1890; they moved to El Salvador . Contreras died in 1892. Some time after Contreras' death, he married Rosario Murillo; they separated soon after but were never divorced. FATHER OF MODERNISM Rubén Darío produced many exquisite literary works that greatly contributed to revive the literarily moribund Spanish language, thus he became known as the Father of Modernism (''modernismo''). Other great literary writers call him "Príncipe de las Letras Castellanas" (The Prince of Spanish Literature). Rubén Darío participated in, or was the leader of, many literary movements in (''romanticismo''), Symbolism (''simbolismo'') and ''parnasianismo''. These ideas express passion, visual art, and harmonies and rhythms with music. Darío was a genius of this movement. His style was exotic and very vibrant. In his poem ''Canción de Otoño en Primavera'' ("The Song of Fall in Spring") there is much evidence of passion and strong emotions. Soon many literary writers would start using his style in a cautious and elegant form to make music with poetry. His fundamental collection, ''Azul'' ("Blue"), was published in 1888 and established his reputation as one of the most important Spanish-language exponents of Modernism . Many critics consider his death in 1916 to mark the symbolic end of Modernism. Darío marks an important shift in the relationship between literary Europe and America. Before him, American literary trends had largely followed European ones; however, Darío was clearly the international vanguard of the Modernist Movement. His Poetry brought back vigor to the stale, monotonous poetry of the time. QUOTATION :"My pick is working deep in the soil of this unknown America, turning out gold and opals and precious stones, an altar, a broken statue. And the Muse divines the meaning of the hieroglyphics. The strange life of a vanished people emerges from the mist of time." — Rubén Darío :"Si pequeña es la patria, uno grande la sueña." :"If small is the fatherland, one dreams it large." — Rubén Darío SAMPLE POETRY Yo persigo una forma Yo persigo una forma que no encuentra mi estilo, botón de pensamiento que busca ser la rosa; se anuncia con un beso que en mis labios se posa al abrazo imposible de la Venus de Milo. Adornan verdes palmas el blanco peristilo; los astros me han predicho la visión de la Diosa; y en mi alma reposa la luz como reposa el ave de la luna sobre un lago tranquilo. Y no hallo sino la palabra que huye, la iniciación melódica que de la flauta fluye y la barca del sueño que en el espacio boga; y bajo la ventana de mi Bella Durmiente, el sollozo continuo del chorro de la fuente y el cuello del gran cisne blanco que me interroga. REFERENCES
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