Delmonte y Aponte, Domingo

Born Aug. 4, 1804, in Maracaibo, Venezuela; died Nov. 4, 1853, in Madrid. Cuban critic, poet, and public figure.

During the 1830’s, Delmonte y Aponte was a member of the patriotic Economic Society and secretary of the Cuban Academy of Literature, which was closed down in 1832. He had moderately liberal views, spoke out against the slavery of Negroes, and was close to the participants in the anti-Spanish movement in Cuba. He called for the creation of a nationally distinctive poetry; from 1830 to 1840 he headed a circle of progressive romantic poets. After writing classical odes, Delmonte y Aponte wrote a cycle of “Cuban romances” (published in the collection American Poems, 1833).