Julio Arboleda (1817-1861), "Don Julio," was one of the most polished and inspired poets of Colombia. He was an intimate friend of Caro and like him a journalist and politician. He was a good representative of the chivalrous and aristocratic type of Colombian writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. His best work is the narrative poem Gonzalo de Oyón which, though incomplete, is the noblest epic poem that a native Spanish-American poet has yet given to the world. After studying in Europe he engaged in journalism and politics. He took part in several civil wars. A candidate for the presidency of the Republic, he was assassinated before election (Poesías, colección formada sobre los manuscritos originales, con prólogo por M.A. Caro, New York, 1883).
The educator and journalist José Joaquín Ortiz (1814-1892) imitated Quintana in form but not in ideas. Though a defender of neo-classicism, he did not entirely reject romanticism. Ortiz was an ultra-catholic, sincere and ascetic. His verses are impetuous and grandiloquent, but often lacking depth of thought (Poesías, Bogotá, 1880).
The poet Gregorio Gutiérrez González, "Antioco" (1820-1872), was a jurist and politician. He began as an imitator of Espronceda and Zorrilla and is the author of several sentimental poems (Á Julia, ¿Por qué no canto? Una lágrima, et al.) that are the delight of Colombian young ladies. His fame will doubtless depend on the rustic Georgic poem, Memoria sobre el cultivo del maíz en Antioquia. This work is an interesting and remarkably poetic description of the homely life and labors of the Antioquian country folk (Poesías, Bogotá, 1881; Paris, 1908).
The minor poets of this generation are legion. Among these are: Manuel María Madiedo (b. 1815), a sociologist; Germán Gutiérrez de Piñeres (1816-1872), author of melancholy verses; José María Rojas Garrido (1824-1883), a noted orator, one-time president of Colombia; Joaquín Pablo Posada (1825-1880), perhaps the most clever versifier of Spanish America, but whose décimas were mostly written in quest of money; Ricardo Carrasquilla (b. 1827), an educator and author of genial verses; José Manuel Marroquín (b. 1827), a poet and author of articles on customs and a foremost humorist of South America (he was president when Colombia lost Panama); José María Samper (b. 1828), a most voluminous writer; Rafael Núñez (1825-1897), a philosopher and skeptic, and one-time president of the Republic; Santiago Pérez (1830-1900), educator, journalist and one-time president; José María Vergara y Vergara (1831-1872), a Catholic poet and author of a volume of sentimental verses (Libro de los cantares); Rafael Pombo (1833-1912), an eminent classical scholar and literary critic, and "perpetual secretary" of the Colombian Academy; Diego Fallón (b. 1834), son of an English father, and author of several highly finished and beautiful poems; Pinzón Rico (b. 1834), author of popular, romantic songs; César Conto (b. 1836), a jurist and educator; Jorge Isaacs (1837-1895), better known as author of the novel María; and Felipe Pérez (b. 1834).
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the most eminent man of letters in Colombia has been Miguel Antonio Caro (1843-1909), a son of J.E. Caro. A neo-Catholic and "traditionalist," a learned literary critic and a poet, the younger Caro, like Bello before him and like his distinguished contemporary Rufino José Cuervo, has worked for purity of diction and classical ideals in literature. Caro is also the translator of several classic works, including one of Virgil which is recognized as the best in Spanish.
Other poets of the closing years of the century are: Diógenes Arrieta (b. 1848), a journalist and educator; Ignacio Gutiérrez Ponce (1850), a physician; Antonio Gómez Restrepo (b. 1856), a lawyer and politician; José María Garavito A. (b. 1860); José Rivas Groot (b. 1864), an educator and literary critic, and editor of La lira nueva; Joaquín González Camargo (b. 1865), a physician; Agripina Montes del Valle (b. about the middle of the nineteenth century) noted for her ode to the Tequendama waterfall, and Justo Pastor Ríos (1870-), a philosophic poet and liberal journalist.
The "modernista" poet José Asunción Silva (1860-1896) was a sweet singer, but he brought no message. He was fond of odd forms, such as lines of 8+8, 8+8+8 and 8+8+4 syllables (Poesías, con Prólogo de Miguelde Unamuno, Barcelona, 1908).
References: Cf.: Menéndez y Pelayo, Ant. Poetas Hisp.-Amer., III, p. 1 f.; Blanco García, III, 332 f.; Juan Valera, Cartas Am., primera serie, p. 121 f.; Historia de la literatura (1538-1820) en Nueva Granada, José María Vergara y Vergara, Bogotá, 1867; Apuntes sobre bibliografía colombiana, con muestras escogidas en prosa y verso, Isidoro Laverde Amaya, Bogotá, 1882; Parnaso colombiano, J.M. Vergara y Vergara, 3 vols.; La lira granadina, J.M. Vergara y Vergara, Bogotá, 1865; Parnaso colombiano, Julio Áñez, con Prólogo de José Rivas Groot, 2 vols., Bogotá, 1886-87; La lira nueva, J.M. Rivas Groot, Bogotá, 1886; Antología colombiana, Emiliano Isaza, Paris, 1895.
Ortiz: see preceding note.
Colombia y España: In this poem, dated July 20, 1882, the poet begins by recalling the war of independence that he witnessed as a boy and the heroic figure of Bolivar; then he laments the fratricidal struggles that rent the older and larger Colombia; and, finally, in the verses that are here given, he rejoices over the friendly treaty just made by the mother country, Spain, and Colombia, her daughter.