Silva, José Asunción
Silva, José Asunción
(hōsā` äso͞onsyōn` sĭl`vä), 1865–96, Colombian poet, one of the precursors of modernismomodernismo, movement in Spanish literature that had its beginning in Latin America. It was paramount in the last decade of the 19th cent. and the first decade of the 20th cent.
Modernismo derived from French symbolism and the Parnassian school.
..... Click the link for more information. . Silva's life was shadowed by the loss of a crucial manuscript, family debt, and the death of a beloved sister. He committed suicide at 31, leaving behind poems marked by technical innovations, haunting musical tones, and a brooding spirit of pessimism. Reflecting the spirit of European symbolism, they had great influence on Rubén DaríoDarío, Rubén
, 1867–1916, Nicaraguan poet, originally named Félix Rubén García Sarmiento. A child prodigy, he gained a thorough knowledge of Spanish and French cultures through reading; it was then widened during many years abroad in both
..... Click the link for more information. and other modernistas. The best known are "Nocturno III," an elegy for his sister, "Crepusculo," and "Día de difuntos" [day of the dead]. Silva also wrote a novel, De sobremesa, notable for its rejection of realist conventions and its intense, lyrical focus on emotional experience.
Bibliography
See studies by B. T. Osiek (1978) and S. Ingwersen (1986).