Colombia: Land of Poets

By Rodrigo Campos-López
April/May 2005

The most revered place in Bogotá’s historic José Asunción Silva House is found at the end of the main hallway. Outside a room in the Colombian national landmark is a stone plaque that states simply that the renowned poet died there the morning of May 23, 1896. In effect, the sign commemorates not only Silva’s death at age 30, but also the beginning of the myth surrounding it, a legend that has outlived him by more than a century.

Pombo’s fables are a must-read; all Colombians in elementary school learn them by heart

The night he took his life, Silva visited his friend and doctor, Juan Manrique, and asked him to mark on his chest the exact location of his heart: the same spot at which he pointed and fired a gun before sunrise. Before committing suicide, however, the poet ordered a bouquet of flowers to be placed on his sister’s grave.

Poetry plays an important role in Colombia. From warriors to presidents, many icons of Colombian history have flirted with verses or created models for poetry in Spanish. Colombia's poetry, the power of its words, and the feelings it evokes resonate well beyond the country's borders. But to better understand the forces that shaped the lives—and therefore the writings—of these poets, cross into this literary land, walk where they have walked, and read their poetry in the places it was created.

The Casa de Poesía Silva, also known as the national poetry museum and library, is named for José Asunción, one of the nation’s most beloved bards. Born just as Colombia was adapting to its status as an independent country, this son of a wealthy family was raised as both a writer and a businessman. His grandfather and great-uncles owned Hatogrande, a hacienda a few miles north of Bogotá now used as a retreat for Colombian presidents.

Silva traveled through Europe in the mid-1880s, where he met French poet Stéphane Mallarmé. He returned to Colombia in 1886, the year President Rafael Nuñez signed the republican constitution. A year later, Silva’s father died, leaving the family, especially eldest son José Asunción, to deal with a rising debt.

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Around this time, the publication of Las crisálidas (The Chrysalides) and Las golondrinas (The Swallows) had started to place the young man at the forefront of Colombian poetry. Though his writing success blossomed, the family business failed. A bad economy and his love of a lavish lifestyle took their toll, and five years of battling red ink proved futile. His literary legacy continues, however, at Casa de Poesía Silva in La Candelaria in downtown Bogotá.

Nearby is the heart of Colombia’s largest and most vibrant cultural area. There you will find some of the country’s most important museums. They include the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango; the Botero Museum; some of South America’s greatest collections of European art from the 19th and 20th centuries; and the museums of the Banco de la República, where more than five centuries of Colombian and Latin American art can be studied and admired.

Also near Casa Silva is Fundación Rafael Pombo, where families gather to read. It is named for Rafael Pombo (1833–1912), famous for his fables and, in the eyes of the national intelligentsia, the most respected Colombian poet of all time.

Pombo’s fables are a must-read; all Colombians learn them by heart in elementary school. His literature is most associated with children and children’s stories, but he is known as the best of the nation’s romantic poets. He also was a respected translator: Shakespeare, Byron, Longfellow, Lamartine, Hugo, Schiller, and Goethe are some of the authors whose works he helped introduce to Spanish-language readers. A mathematician and engineer, Pombo also wrote operas.

Traveling north in Bogotá—and ahead in time—another of Colombia’s most esteemed writers is remembered in a trendy area: León de Greiff Park, a newly restored section in the middle of the Zona Rosa. Restaurants, bars, malls, trendy stores, and one of Bogotá’s most traditional bookstores, Biblos, converge here.

Despite the death and suffering that has scarred Medellín, it is well known for the beauty of its landscape and the kindness and tenacity of its people

León de Greiff (1895–1976) was known as an innovator when it came to the use of words, irony, philosophical musings, and humor in his poetry. He was born in Medellín and died in Bogotá before his hometown became world-famous as the center of Colombia’s war against the drug cartels.

Yet, since 1991—in the middle of the drug war—the city has played host to the International Poetry Festival of Medellín. It has usually been held in June. In 2004 more than 70 poets from 52 countries were featured and attendees gathered by the thousands. The city is also home to some of Colombia’s greatest artists and authors, including Fernando Botero, Débora Arango, and Fernando Vallejo. It is home to the newly renovated Museo de Antioquia, which houses another important art collection by Botero. Despite the death and suffering that has scarred Medellín, it is well known for the beauty of its landscape and the kindness and tenacity of its people. The city has found a way to be cozy and appealing to tourists.

The recent death of Fernando Charry Lara, the last of Colombia’s classical poets, takes this tour back to Bogotá and into the United States. Charry (1920–2004) made his way into the annals of Colombian poetry through a body of work comprising only 35 poems. His first book, Nocturnos y otros sueños (Nighttime and Other Dreams), was published in 1949 with a foreword by future Nobel Prize winner Vicente Aleixandre.

Charry belongs to a generation of great Colombian authors and poets that includes Gabriel García Márquez and Álvaro Mutis, winner of the Cervantes award, also known as the Spanish-language Nobel. With the latter, Charry was part of a movement called Mito (“Myth”) that in 1955 published a magazine of the same name that is said to be the genesis of intellectual modernism in Colombia.

With a degree in law, Charry had important positions in private and public companies such as Nestlé and the National Radio. His verses earned him the title “one of the very few truly great Colombian poets”—written in an obituary by Colombian poet Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda. He died in July 2004 in Washington, D.C., where he had traveled to lecture at the Library of Congress.

In Colombia, beloved poets live on: their legacies are cast not only in books, but also in stone, in parks, and, most of all, in hearts. Trace their roots by visiting Bogotá, and meet those who are still building their legacies at the Medellín festival.

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