Songs of Life and Hope/Cantos de vida y esperanza

Songs of Life and Hope/Cantos de vida y esperanza

  • Author: Darío, Rubén; Derusha, Will; Acereda, Alberto
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • ISBN: 9780822332824
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780822385448
  • Place of publication:  Durham , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2004
  • Month: March
  • Pages: 272
  • DDC: 861/.5
  • Language: English
Renowned for its depth of feeling and musicality, the poetry of Rubén Darío (1867–1916) has been revered by writers including Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz. A leading figure in the movement known as modernismo, Darío created the modern Spanish lyric and permanently altered the course of Spanish poetry. Yet while his output has inspired a great deal of critical analysis and a scattering of translations, there has been, until now, no complete English translation of any of his books of poetry. This bilingual edition of Darío’s 1905 masterpiece, Cantos de vida y esperanza, fills a crucial gap in Hispanic and world literature studies. Will Derusha and Alberto Acereda have provided not only an elegant English translation of Darío’s work but also an authoritative version of the original Spanish text.

Written over the course of seven years and in many locales in Latin America and Europe, the poems in Cantos de vida y esperanza reflect both Darío’s anguished sense of modern life and his ecstatic visions of transcendence, freedom, and the transformative power of art. They reveal Darío’s familiarity with Spanish, French, and English literature and the wide range of his concerns—existential, religious, erotic, and socio-political. Derusha and Acereda’s translation renders Darío’s themes with meticulous clarity and captures the structural and acoustic dimensions of the poet’s language in all its rhythmic sonority. Their introduction places this singular poet—arguably the greatest to emerge from Latin America in modern literature—and his best and most widely known work in historical and literary context. An extensive glossary offers additional information, explaining terms related to modernismo, Hispanic history, mythological allusions, and artists and writers prominent at the turn of the last century.

  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • Prefacio | Preface
  • Cantos de vida y esperanza | Songs of Life and Hope
    • Yo soy aquel . . . | I am the one . . .
    • Salutación del optimista | The Optimist’s Salutation
    • Al Rey Óscar | To King Oscar
    • Los tres Reyes Magos | The Three Wise Men
    • Cyrano en España | Cyrano in Spain
    • Salutación a Leonardo | A Salutation to Leonardo
    • Pegaso | Pegasus
    • A Roosevelt | To Roosevelt
    • Torres de Dios! . . . | Towers of God! . . .
    • Canto de esperanza | Song of Hope
    • Mientras tenéis, oh negros corazones . . . |While you hold, O black hearts . . .
    • Helios | Helios
    • Spes | Spes
    • Marcha triunfal | Triumphal March
  • Los cisnes / The Swans
    • Qué signo haces . . . ? | What sign do you give . . . ?
    • En la muerte de Rafael Núñez |On the Death of Rafael Núñez
    • Por un momento . . . | For one moment . . .
    • Antes de todo, gloria a ti, Leda! . . . |First of all, glory to you, Leda! . . .
  • Otros poemas / Other Poems
    • Retratos | Portraits
    • Por el influjo de la primavera |Because of the Influence of Spring
    • La dulzura del ángelus . . . |The sweetness of the Angelus . . .
    • Tarde del trópico | Evening in the Tropics
    • Nocturno | Nocturne
    • Canción de otoño en primavera |Song of Autumn in Springtime
    • Trébol | Clover
    • Cháritas | Charitas
    • Oh, terremoto mental! . . . |Oh, a mental earthquake! . . .
    • El verso sutil que pasa o se posa . . . |The subtle verse that passes or pauses . . .
    • Filosofía | Philosophy
    • Leda | Leda
    • Divina Psiquis, dulce Mariposa invisible . . . |Divine Psyche, sweet invisible Butterfly . . .
    • El soneto de trece versos | The Thirteen-Verse Sonnet
    • Oh, miseria de toda lucha por lo finito! . . . |O misery of every struggle for the finite! . . .
    • A Phocás el campesino | To Phocas the Peasant
    • Carne, celeste carne de la mujer! . . . |Flesh, a woman’s heavenly flesh! . . .
    • Un soneto a Cervantes | A Sonnet for Cervantes
    • Madrigal exaltado | Exalted Madrigal
    • Marina | Seascape
    • Cleopompo y Heliodemo |Cleopompus and Heliodemos
    • Ay, triste del que un día . . . |Pity the sad soul who one day . . .
    • En el país de las Alegorías . . . |In the Land of Allegories . . .
    • Augurios | Omens
    • Melancolía | Melancholy
    • Aleluya! | Hallelujah!
    • De otoño | In Autumn
    • A Goya | To Goya
    • Caracol | Seashell
    • Amo, amas | I Love,You Love
    • Soneto autumnal al Marqués de Bradomín |Autumnal Sonnet to the Marquis de Bradomín
    • Nocturno | Nocturne
    • Urna votiva | Votive Urn
    • Programa matinal | Morning Plan
    • Ibis | Ibis
    • Thánatos | Thanatos
    • Ofrenda | Offering
    • Propósito primaveral | Springtime Purpose
    • Letanía de Nuestro Señor Don Quijote |Litany of Our Lord Don Quixote
    • Allá lejos | Way Far Away
    • Lo fatal | What Gets You
  • Glossary and Annotations
  • Bibliography

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