Alfonso Cortés

Alfonso Cortés (b. 1893 - 1969) was a Nicaraguan poet. He is often referred to as the most important poet after Rubén Darío.cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Alfonso Cortés (1893 - 1969) | date= | publisher= | url =http://archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2003/mayo/12-mayo-2003/cultural/cultural3.html | work =El Nuevo Diario | pages = | accessdate = 2007-07-26 | language = Spanish ] Before his death, he often said he was "less important than Darío, but more profound".cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=A Tale Of Two Poets; Nicaragua's Passion For Poetry: Alfonso Cortés | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.nicaraguaphoto.com/essays/update_nicaraguaJune2004.shtml | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-07-27 | language = ]

Early life

Cortés was born in the colonial city of León, Nicaragua. At the age of 34, he moved into the house in which the famous and most celebrated Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío, spent his childhood. Cortés lost his mind on midnight of February 18, 1927 at the age of 34. Cortés spent much of that year chained to the iron grillwork of his bedroom window as a result of his delirium growing violent. The next 25 years of Cortés life was spent in a mental hospital in Managua. Growing old and at the near end of his life Cortés was transferred to his sisters house in León where he eventually spent his last days and died in 1969 at the age of 66.

Cortés had his moments of lucidity in which his family would unchain him and he would use that time to play guitar and write his poetry which he often wrote down in the margins of newspapers in a script so microscopic that they are hard to read without a magnifying glass. "Song of Space" was the first poem Cortés wrote after he went mad and it remains one of his most popular.

After his death he was buried in the Cathedral of León next to the tomb of Rubén Darío.

Literary works

Poems

*La odisea del Istmo (1922)
*Poesías (1931)
*Tardes de oro (1934)
*Poemas eleusinos (1935)
*Las siete antorchas del sol (1952)
*30 poemas de Alfonso (1952)
*Las rimas universales (1964)
*Las coplas del pueblo (1965)
*Las pumas del pasatiempo (1967)
*El poema cotidiano (1967)
*Treinta poemas (1968)
*Poemas (1971)
*Antología (1980)
*30 poemas de Alfonso (1981)
*El tiempo es hambre y el espacio es frío (1981).

ee also

References

External links

* [http://www.nicaragua.com/museums/museo-alfonso-cortez/ Alfonso Cortés]
* [http://www.manfut.org/museos/cortes.html Archive León Museum] of Alfonso Cortés