Rubén Darío’s Nicaragua

I just read this article, nearly 5-months after it was published. I was born in Nicaragua and grew up with a reverence for Rubén Darío. I have memories of reciting "Sonatina" in front of my 5th grade class, of memorizing "A Margarita DeBayle" and at 15, romantically reciting it to my girlfriend Ruth Margarita. I when I first read "A Roosevelt", I wondered at this verse: "And lighting the path of the easy conquest/Liberty raises her torch in New York". The book, Rubén Darío Poesias Completas, which my mother gave me sits next to my bed. Like Nicaragua, it is small, 5.5" long by 3.5" wide. But also like my country, at 1.5" thick and 1,500 pages, it has depth, and beauty, and greatness. I regularly open it to a random page, and read a few verses, and it fills my soul with life and hope. Like most Nicaraguans, Darío lives in me, I am a poet at heart, and go through life filled with light, love, and wonder. His poetry will amaze you. Los Motivos del Lobo will humble you. A Roosevelt may make you think. Sonatina will strum your heart strings. A Margarita DeBayle will delight your inner child (or your actual child). I hope you read Rubén, and tat his poetry will fill your soul too. As for the Bawdy poem the article mentions, its a simple story. Ruben in a fancy restaurant with friends and a particularly annoying waiter who likes to rhyme. The punch line, spoken by an exasperated Rubén is, "ensalada de fruta, hijo de la gran...."

This article is a good and fair attempt to convey to the American audience the existence of a literary giant born in a tiny country, once labeled as part of what was known as America's "backyard". Ruben Dario is an enduring icon of the Spanish written language. The influential universality of Ruben Dario is as palpable as it is undeniable. Just like James Joyce is a perennial subject in English Literature, Ruben Dario is a perennial subject in the Hispanic speaking intellectual world. Nicaragua 's literary tradition is widely recognized throughout the Spanish speaking world. Besides the names of poets mentioned in the article, the names of poets like Ernesto Cardenal and Pablo Antonio Cuadra, are of utmost relevance. Just recently last November, Sergio Ramirez, Nicaragua best known novelist and essayist was awarded the 2017 Cervantes Literature Prize, the Spanish equivalent of the Nobel prize. This event was preceded by another Nicaraguan poet, Claribel Alegria who last May was awarded the prestigious 2017 Iberoamerican Poetry Award, which is also based in Spain. This same prize was once previously awarded to Ernesto Cardenal in 2012. Let's hope that more conversation regarding Ruben Dario is brought into light to the non Hispanic world, through translations and essays of such great literary figure.

Lest we forget the poor people of Nicaragua are crushed by a tyrant and they live extraordinarily unhappy lives compared to when I was there in the seventies. I returned five years ago and to find this appaling scene which by reports has only worsened. Fuera Ortega!!!!

"Darío may be the only Nicaraguan to have earned worldwide acclaim as a poet." You must be forgetting the great Ernesto Cardenal....

How could the author fail to mention that again Nicaragua faces a one-party dictatorship without free elections. The situation is similar to Chile under Pinochet, with economic growth and security for those who don't protest given as the excuse for a lack of democracy.

Absolutely wonderful article! Thank you so much, Neville and NYT. As a writer and university English professor I learned so much.

Everyone you meet in Nicaragua is a poet. I've been to Nicaragua twice for academic related work...it's culture, food, people and landscapes inspire art...

Being a non-Spanish speaker, I would have appreciated it if you had supplied links translating all those Spanish words. It was very awkward to have to look each up in a dictionary.

Thank you for a very nice article, but you mentioned a “bawdy joke” twice without telling the joke. That is poor manners. I know where to find Dario’s poetry, but where do I find the joke? Gracias, Pepe

i‘ve spent a lot of time in nicaragua.. fascinating country.. incredible people.. good writing about dario but one thing the writer fails to note is that dario was a severe alcoholic and this is not to throw dirt on his reputation but only to give more insight to how he thought and the things that afffected and influenced his poetry.. years ago i followed the trail of dario and U.S. americans should know of him and his influence as a latin american poet.. viva la revolution..

Utterly transfixing! Thank you for a wonderful piece of writing.

"La princesa esta triste, Que tendra la princesa? Los suspiros se salen de su boca de fresa..." Ruben Dario cannot be appreciated in translation. The musicality of his verse tugs at your heart and delights your senses when read or recited in Spanish. A different poem than the one above, "La Marcha Triunfal", for instance, requires a stronger tone, a martial tone to be fully appreciated. Many years ago, when I was in my teens, I used to read his poems at The Poetry Hour at a local radio station in my home country. Another life, a kinder age, and a lost world.

It has been several years since visiting Nicaragua after spending time in Costa Rica/ Alot has changed..and alot of things have not changed. As you know, the Oretga's as the leaders of the Sandanista's have been in power for some years now..the same Ortega's that Ronald Reagan spoke about years ago as it the threat of communist encroachment was headed to LA. That said, the condition in Nico are bad and the promises of a "better life" for all is echoed by the people of Cuba (having spent three weeks there Dec of 2016). Education is not mandatory after a certain age..and many go to the fields to pick coffee during the season in lieu of school. It is troubling Nico has not adopted some of the metrics like adjacent Costa Rica to include political to social program initiatives, especially education and individual freedoms (Costa Rica hosts the United Nations University of Peace). Like many revolutionaries who seek equality and justice..to include Che, Zapata, Poncho Villa or Sandino, their dreams and aspirations are caught between corruptible politics and self serving groups who profit from the poor. Central America, and its people have suffered greatly these past years..they deserve more from their leadership and government.

Beautiful and romantic article on Dario written by Mr. Tim Neville. I enjoyed tremendously. I read it slowly, almost with devotion, as I am a Nicaraguan who has not been back to my country for a long time. Mr. Neville choice of words truly reflect the Nicaragua I was born, as well as our culture and idiosyncrasy. But it also describes Ruben Dario as whom he was: our national hero and the man who gave its thunder back to our language. Mr. Neville, your report made cry, because as Ruben said it before: "If one's homeland is small, you dream it big". Thank you for telling the world who was Dario.

What a perfect description of the beautiful country that gave us one of the finest literary talents of the 20th century. I lived in Leon with my family and spent 5th grade in Calasanz elementary school and remember the sights and sounds of Nicaragua with an enormous sense of wonder. The photos, especially of the church that I attended every Sunday with my family, evoke memories that I have not thought about in a very long time. I will go out to my garage today and dust off those gorgeous poems that have been hidden under boxes of forgotten treasures!

As a child, growing up in a free and prosperous Venezuela, I was stirred by Dario's poetry, and wrote poems in imitation of his style. I was all of twelve years old, studying in Merida, but I wanted to catch the rhythm of his poems, and so I wrote, "Ya viene la noche,/ ya muere la luz en los Andes." I didn't know that Ruben Dario had been inspiring people for decades. His poems were a powerful influence, and I can still recite some of them eighty years after I first read them.