Poetry is a key force in the history of the Latin American continent. In Central Mexico, in xochitl in cuicatl, flower and song, designated the philosophical poetry written and recited since the 14th century. During the colonial period in Mexico, Chile and Peru, Spanish language poetry and drama were published and read in Europe. Octavio Paz considered the 17th century nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, (1651-1695) as the best poet of the baroque period in the Spanish language, a large claim considering that she lived during Spain's Golden Age.

After the Conquest, and even after the wars of independence, the Latin American nations looked up to Europe in matters of culture. In the second part of the 19th century the works of two authors signaled a new level of freedom in cultural production, even as they learned the lessons of French symbolism and parnasianism. The Cuban patriot José Martí (1853-1895) and the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867-1916) opened the way for an aesthetic renewal in language and form. They and many other poets asserted their American roots and were deliberately cosmopolitan at the same time. This movement , known as modernismo, dominated the scene for almost three decades, until the arrival of the vanguardias, or Avant Garde art at the beginning of the 20th century. Since modernismo, Latin America has seen the rise of world-class poets in every generation.

The course focuses on poets born in Latin America between 1902 and 1967. In the short span of one semester, egregious omissions become necessary. But if students develop a thirst for poetry, those omissions are only temporary. We read poetry that breathes and quakes with the powerful forces of nature in Neruda; discover the vindicating power of the word and the dancing rhythms of language in Guillén; go deep in the spirit of the self and the cosmos in Paz and Ibáñez; turn poetry into everyone's loaf of humble, but revolutionary bread with Cardenal; fire the guns of anti-poetry with Parra; denounce injustice in Central America with Alegría; discover and fall in love with the world through Teillier; vindicate the place of women in society with Castellanos; sing a new feminine eroticism with Morejón and Belli; laugh at all solemnity--while exercising a devastating critique of society-- with Cisneros; make the revolution with Dalton; stretch our understanding of humanity with Pizarnik; mourn our disappeared with Gelman and Partnoy; redefine the meaning of Woman and woman with Zamora; recover the soul of an endangered Indigenous language in Toledo and Regino. With all, we expand our understanding of "what can be thought" because it has been said through the hard work of poetry. We become a community of readers as we enter a century of Latin American song.

These are our objectives in the course:

Students are expected to: