nPostednon March 16, 2015
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nCesarnVallejo is considered by some to be one of the great poets of then20th Century.
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nHenpublished just three books of poetry during his life – but each isnconsidered revolutionary!
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| Vallejo’s most famous photograph appears on Peru’s money. |
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nSo…whyndon’t I know him, or his work? Probably because he wrote in Spanish.nStill, writer Thomas Merton called Vallejo “the greatest universal poet since Dante,” and poet and literature expert MartinnSeymour-Smith said that he was the “greatest twentieth-century poetnin any language.”
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nVallejo’snfull name was Cesar Abraham Vallejo Mendoza, and he was born in Perunon this date in 1892. He was the youngest of eleven children, and henwas raised in a remote village in the Andes Mountains. Still, henmanaged to study in a university, although he had to take some timenoff, when his money ran out, to work at a sugar plantation. n
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nAfternhe earned his university degree, Vallejo moved to Lima, where henworked as a school teacher and started meeting people in the arts andnin politics. He had a tough year when his mother died, because henlost his job and was imprisoned for allegedly coming up with the ideanfor some sort of protest or political event. Later, the Judiciary ofnPeru said that he was unfairly accused, but there still seemed to bena threat in continuing to live in Peru.
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nSonVallejo moved to Europe.
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Thenpoet mostly lived in Paris, although he took several trips to thenU.S.S.R. and spent several years in Spain. He knew famous Spanishnartist Pablo Picasso, and he wrote articles for newspapers andnmagazines in Lima, Peru, and also in other parts of Latin America,nSpain, France, and Italy. Vallejo wrote two books about the U.S.S.R.,nseveral plays, a novel, and even a children’s book. After his deathn(he died in his mid-40s from sort of illness), two more books of hisnpoetry were published. n
Thenpoet mostly lived in Paris, although he took several trips to thenU.S.S.R. and spent several years in Spain. He knew famous Spanishnartist Pablo Picasso, and he wrote articles for newspapers andnmagazines in Lima, Peru, and also in other parts of Latin America,nSpain, France, and Italy. Vallejo wrote two books about the U.S.S.R.,nseveral plays, a novel, and even a children’s book. After his deathn(he died in his mid-40s from sort of illness), two more books of hisnpoetry were published. nn
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nHerenis one of Vallejo’s poems:
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nMiguel
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nBY Cesar Vallejo
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nTRANSLATEDnBY Don Paterson
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n I’mn sitting here on the old patio
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n besiden your absence. It is a black well.
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n We’dn be playing, now. . . I can hear Mama yell
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n “Boys!n Calm down!”n We’d laugh, and off I’d go
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n ton hide where you’d never look. . . under the stairs,
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n inn the hall, the attic. . . Then you’d do the same.
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n Miguel,n we were too good at that game.
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n Everythingn would always end in tears.
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n Non one was laughing on that August night
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n youn went to hide away again, so late
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n itn was almost dawn. But now your brother’s through
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n withn this hunting and hunting and never finding you.
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n Then shadows crowd him. Miguel, will you hurry
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n andn show yourself? Mama will only worry.
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| This monument to Vallejo stands in Lima Peru. It says, “There is, brothers, very much to do.” |
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nAlsonon this date:
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nGoddardnDay
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nSt.nUrho Day
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nAnniversarynof the greatest rainfall in 24 hours
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nFreedomnof Information Day
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Plannahead:
Plannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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n Marchn holidays
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n Historicaln anniversaries in March
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nApriln holidays
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