Marti and Dario

Puchner describes Whitman as “affirmative, inclusive, energetic, defiant, and radically experimental” (646). His poetry defied conventions, embracing free verse for modern poetic expression. Marti and Dario, both influenced by Whitman, embraced a poetic awakening in their work. Raab asserts: “that Whitman grounded his verse in his American surroundings and that he presents the lyrical ‘I’ as symbiotically connected to the people, landscapes, scenes, or history out of which it emerges greatly appealed to Martí” (Raab 4). Dario adopts a similar approach in “To Roosevelt,” however, his poem is not grounded in ‘I’ as representative of Latin America, but in “you,” identifying Roosevelt as the United States.

Dario channels Whitman in his poetic address to President Roosevelt: “The voice that would reach you, Hunter, must speak / in Biblical tones, or in the poetry of Walt Whitman” (Dario 1-2). Mirroring Whitman’s imagery of landscapes, the body, and nature, he personifies the United States through Roosevelt’s image, as a godless, depraved hunter who is very different from Latin America: “You are the United States / future invader of our naïve America / with its Indian blood, an America / that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish” (5-8). Dario hears the U.S. shouting “like the roar of a lion” (Dario 22), drawing from Whitman’s “barbaric yawp” (Whitman 52, 4).  “To Roosevelt” offers a warning to the United States not to underestimate the rich, cultural history and faith of Latin Americans, while celebrating his own heritage.

Marti emulates Whitman’s lyric verse in “I Am an Honest Man.” Just as Whitman is everyman in “Song of Myself,” Marti embodies the spirit, art, and people of Cuba. Whitman begins, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (1-2). Similarly, Marti wishes “To fling my verses from my soul. / I come from everywhere / and I am going toward everywhere” (4-6). Intensely emotional, Marti’s poem captures his love of his country through simple landscapes, “where the palm grows” (2), in the herbs and flowers of the land, in the mountains, and vineyards.

Signaling a shift in Latin American poetics, Marti and Dario capture elements of Whitman’s experimental new poetry, adopting images of nature and creating synergy between the people, history, and the land. The arts, especially poetry, become the connectors linking all the parts together.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. “To Roosevelt.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 693-694.

Marti, Jose. “I Am an Honest Man.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 681-682.

Puchner, Martin. “Walt Whitman.”  The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 646-647. 

Raab, Josef. “El Gran Viejo: Walt Whitman in Latin America.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, vol. 3, no. 2, June 2001. doi:10.7771/1481-4374.1122.

Whitman, Walt. From “Song of Myself.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 648-653.