Ramón López Velarde
Ramón López Velarde, born on June 15, 1888, in Jerez de García Salinas, Zacatecas, Mexico, is now regarded as a pivotal figure in 20th-century Mexican poetry. He began his poetic journey at a young age while studying at the Council Seminary of Zacatecas and later pursued a law degree, all the while developing his literary voice. López Velarde’s work is characterized by a profound connection to his personal experiences, particularly his love for his cousin Fuensanta, which deeply influenced his first collection, *La sangre devota*. The death of Fuensanta in 1917 led to a shift in his writing, with his subsequent collection, *Zozobra*, revealing his emotional turmoil through modernist imagery.
Despite being influenced by modernism and French Symbolism, he distanced himself from the aestheticism of Modernismo, opting instead to express the raw tension and sensuality of his inner world. Although he worked as a journalist and civil servant, his life was tragically cut short at the age of 33 due to pneumonia. Much of his poetry, including notable works like *El son del corazón*, was published posthumously, solidifying his reputation as a "poet of the provinces" and a significant figure in Mexican literature. Today, López Velarde's influence is evident in the works of later poets, marking him as one of the most distinctly Mexican voices in poetry.
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Subject Terms
Ramón López Velarde
Poet
- Born: June 15, 1888
- Birthplace: Jerez de García Salinas, Zacatecas, Mexico
- Died: June 19, 1921
- Place of death: Mexico City, Mexico
Biography
Virtually unrecognized throughout his short life, Ramón López Velarde is now considered one of the greatest Mexican poets of the twentieth century. Born on June 15, 1888, in Jerez de García Salinas, Zacatecas, Mexico, López Velarde began writing poetry in 1900 while a student at the Council Seminary of Zacatecas. He studied law at the Seminary of Santa Maria de Guadalupe and the Institute of Sciences in Aguascalientes while continuing to write poetry, receiving a law degree in 1911. He greatly admired and was influenced by the Argentinean poet Leopoldo Lugones.
His love for his cousin Josefa de los Ríos (Fuensanta), who was eight years older than himself, became a central theme in López Velarde’s first published collection, La sangre devota, along with his love for the Mexican countryside’s traditions and landscapes. However, when Fuensanta died in 1917, López Velarde’s next collection, Zozobra, displayed more openly the intensity of his feelings of loss and suffering through the use of complex and even startling imagery, almost modernist in tone. Despite the influences of modernism and French Symbolism in his work, López Velarde rejected the poetic aestheticism of Modernismo in favor of expressing the dramatic tension and sensuality within himself, a tension evident in both his spiritual and nonsacred images.
After some time working as a journalist and civil servant, López Velarde died of pleurisy and pneumonia in Mexico City on June 19, 1921, less than a week after his thirty-third birthday. Much of his work was published posthumously, including the poetry collection El son del corazón (1932; Song of the Heart, 1995). Poemas escogidos was published in 1935 and edited by Xavier Villaurrutia, a Mexican poet whose work was strongly influenced by the poetry of López Velarde.
López Velarde also wrote short nonfiction pieces in his characteristically intense poetic style, and some of these essays were included in the posthumously published collections El minutero, El don de febrero, y otras prosas, and Prosa política. Often called a “poet of the provinces,” López Velarde today is considered “one of the most Mexican of Mexican poets.” Although his early death prevented him from seeing his influence upon Mexican poetry, López Velarde eventually had a great impact upon the avant-garde group of poets rising in Mexico, especially Villaurrutia.