[11] Op. cit., Parte III, Canto 4. [↑]
[12] Compendio Historico del Descubrimiento y Colonization de la Nueva Granada, p. 168, Bogotá, 1901. [↑]
[13] Piedrahita, op. cit., Lib. VII, Cap. 4, Bogotá, 1881. See also Noticias Historiales de las Conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales, por Fr. Pedro Simon, Tom. IV, p. 195, Bogotá, 1892. [↑]
[14] Antologia de Poetas Hispano-Americanos, publicada por la Real Academia Española, Tom. III, Introduccion, Madrid, 1894. [↑]
[15] A peculiar phenomenon, which has been frequently commented on, is that the early prose writers of Latin America exhibited more true poetic feeling and enthusiasm in their productions than did those who expressed themselves in verse. La Araucana, the so-called epic poem of Ercilla, pronounced an Iliad by Voltaire and considered by Sismondi a mere newspaper in rhyme, is a case in point. Nowhere, in this long work of forty-two thousand verses, “has the aspect of volcanoes covered with eternal snow, of torrid sylvan valleys, and of arms of the sea extending far into the land, been productive of any descriptions that may be regarded as graphical.” It exhibits, it is true, a certain animation in describing the heroic struggle of the brave Araucanians for their homes and liberty, but, aside from this, the higher elements of poetry—especially of epic poetry—are entirely lacking.
The same observation can be made with still greater truth of the Arauco Domado, of Padre Oña; of the Argentina, of Barco Centenera; the Cortés Valeroso, and the Mejicana, of Laso de la Vega; and the oft-quoted Elegias de Varones Ilustres de Indias, of Juan de Castellanos. All of these, with the exception of the last-mentioned work, have long since been buried in almost complete oblivion. The influence of the Italian school is everywhere manifest in these productions—an influence which, while it may have contributed to purity, correctness and elegance of expression, was quite destructive of the vigor, freshness and originality so characteristic of the great masters of Spanish verse. Compare Humboldt’s Cosmos, Vol. II, Part I; and Historias Primitivas de Indias, por Don Enrique de Vedia, Tom. I, p. 10, Madrid, 1877, in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles desde la Formacion del Lenguaje hasta Nuestros Dios.
Those who are interested in the literature of Colombia will find the subject ably discussed in Historia de la Literatura en Nueva Granada, by Don José Maria Vergara y Vergara Bogotá, 1867. [↑]
[16] The first printing press seen in the New World was brought to the city of Mexico by its first bishop, the learned Franciscan, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, shortly after the conquest by Cortes. [↑]
[17] The people of some of the other South American capitals would, I am sure, take exception to the claims here made in favor of Bogotá. I myself think them greatly exaggerated. [↑]