Roberto Sosa
Roberto Sosa was a prominent Honduran poet born on April 18, 1930, in Yoro, Honduras. His early life was marked by travel due to his father's musical career, which exposed Sosa to diverse cultures and experiences. Initially, Sosa faced economic hardships, working from a young age to support his family, but he found his passion for poetry in a fifth-grade classroom, inspired by significant Latin American poets. Despite the challenges of dictatorship and political repression, he pursued education and literature, leading to his first poetry collection, *Caligramas*, published in 1959. Sosa's work often reflects themes of love, poverty, and social justice, capturing the struggles of the marginalized in Central America. He gained international recognition with *Los pobres*, which won the Adonais Prize in 1968, and continued to receive accolades for his literary contributions throughout his life. His poetry is noted for its vivid imagery and compassionate portrayal of human suffering, particularly that of women, amidst a harsh reality. Sosa's legacy as a voice for the downtrodden remains influential in the literary world.
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Subject Terms
Roberto Sosa
Honduran poet, editor, and editor.
- Born: April 18, 1930
- Birthplace: Yoro, Honduras
- Died: May 23, 2011
Biography
Roberto Sosa was born in Yoro, Honduras, on April 18, 1930, but because his father performed as a musician in a band, the Sosa family left Yoro when Sosa was three years old. The family traveled throughout Honduras and El Salvador, and Sosa was eleven when they finally returned to Yoro. While on the road, Sosa learned to read and write from his mother, but in order to help the family’s finances, Sosa was working by the time he was six, selling bread on a train of banana-plantation workers.
Eventually Sosa was able to attend school, and in fifth grade he experienced for the first time the power of poetry, discovered in a hand-written anthology provided by his teacher. The work of the poets in the text, including Rubén Darío of Nicaragua, Amado Nervo of Mexico, and Juan Ramon Molina from Honduras, inspired Sosa’s use of figurative language, rhythm and imagery. Although Sosa was denied a scholarship to attend high school due to a period of dictatorship and severe political repression, Sosa continued to study.
In 1947, his careful reading of Un uomo finito by Giovanni Papini (1912; A Man Finished, 1924) reportedly changed his view of the world and had a profound impact on his poetry. During this time, Sosa moved to Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, in search of the country’s scholars. He worked as a teacher and editor; he also wrote articles for newspapers, although writing poetry was his chosen pursuit. In 1959, he published his first book, Caligramas (calligrams), a collection of primarily love-themed poetry that includes his most anthologized piece, “Submarina,” dedicated to Lidia Ortiz Luna, who later became his wife.
In 1966, while Sosa was working as editor and director of the magazine Presente, a position he held until 1987, he published his second book, with themes of compassion for the poor and the weak. Vivid imagery depicting the desperation of poverty forms the backdrop for his resolve to fight against this existence. In 1968, Sosa achieved international prominence after he won Spain’s Adonais Prize with Los pobres (the poor), published in Madrid in 1969. In that same year, Sosa became director of a cultural supplement of the newspaper La Prensa (the press) in San Pedro Sula. In addition, from 1969 until 1971, he taught courses at the University of Cincinnati in the United States.
The next year, 1972, Sosa won the Casa de las Americas Poetry Prize in Cuba for Un mundo para todos, dividido (a world for all, divided, 1971). He garnered two additional awards, the National Literature Prize (1972) and the Ramon Amaya Prize (1975). Sosa’s poetry serves as a voice for the poor and downtrodden, denouncing the violence in Honduras and Central America. He is known for his sympathetic treatment of women and his vision of love in a harsh, unforgiving landscape.
Author Works
Poetry:
Caligramas, 1959
Muros, 1966
Mar interior, 1967
Breve estudio sobre la poesía y su creación, 1969
Los pobres, 1969
Un mundo para todos dividido, 1971
Roberto Sosa, 1978
Prosa armada, 1981
The Difficult Days, 1983
Poems by Roberto Sosa, 1984
Secreto militar, 1985
Hasta el sol de hoy: Antología poética, 1987
Obra completa, 1990
Diálogo de sombras: Colección Lámpara, 1993
La máscara suelta, 1994 (The Common Grief: Poems, 1994)
El llanto de las cosas, 1995
Antología personal, 1995
Sociedad y poesía: los enmantados, 1997
Piano vacío, 2002
The Return of the River: The Selected Poems of Roberto Sosa, 2002
Digo mujer, 2003
Honduras, poesía negra, 2011
Bibliography
Sosa, Roberto. Return of the River: The Selected Poems of Roberto Sosa. Translated by JoAnne Engelbert, Curbstone Books, 2002. A collection of 100 of Sosa's poems, spanning four decades of his career. The introduction offers some analysis and biographical information.
Sosa, Roberto. "Roberto Sosa: 'Poetry Is Pain.'" Interview by María Antonia Martínez de Fuentes. Via Negativa, 3 July 2009, www.vianegativa.us/2009/07/roberto-sosa-poetry-is-pain. 28 June 2017. An interview in which Sosa discusses his poetry and its engagement with politics.