Amado Ruiz de Nervo Ordaz (1870-1919) was a Mexican writer and poet. His work was framed within the current of modernism, standing out for being fine, elegant and highly creative. His poetry, particularly, often evidenced the melancholic personality of the author.
Nervo's work was influenced by the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío; At first it had religious overtones, and a special elegance in language and sound. Later, his poetry was transformed due to his relationships with Spanish and French poets.
On a personal level, happiness was not always on the side of the writer. During his life he went through several difficult episodes: the loss of several loved ones made him sad and nostalgic. It was inevitable that his feelings and mood would be reflected in his lyrics due to the melancholy he suffered.
Article index
Amado Nervo was born on August 2, 1870 in Nayarit, Tepic, in the nucleus of a middle-class family, but with serious financial problems. His parents were Amado Nervo y Maldonado and Juana Ordaz y Núñez. When the future poet was barely nine years old, he was orphaned of a father.
Amado Nervo carried out his first years of study at the Colegio San Luís Gonzaga in the city of Jacona, in the state of Michoacán. Later, in Zamora de Hidalgo, he trained in philosophy and science. In addition, for a year, in the seminary of that town, he studied law.
Since the death of Nervo's father, the financial situation of his family has not been good. This led him to withdraw from his academic preparation in 1891. Due to this, he returned to his hometown, and then went to Mazatlán, where he worked as a lawyer's assistant, at the same time that he began to write in a local newspaper..
In 1894 Amado Nervo had already settled in Mexico City, determined to give continuity to the journalistic career that he began in Mazatlán. At that time he began to write for the Blue Magazine, which was a showcase of the modernist movement, and a meeting point for the ideas of many poets.
Nervo's work began to give him recognition among the intellectuals of the time. This allowed him to come into contact with Mexican writers such as the poet Luis Gonzaga Urbina, and others of international stature, among whom were Ramón de Campoamor and Rubén Darío..
Amado's journalistic work spread to newspapers The World, The National Y The universal; pbut it was in The world where it became part of the directory. There he was in charge of the insert with humorous content The Comic World; later the supplement became independent.
The Mexican writer achieved fame when it came to light The bachiller, in 1895. Three years later he ratified it with the poetry books Black pearls Y Mystical. He was also part of the creation and direction of the Modern Magazine, between 1898 and 1900.
Amado Nervo, within his profession as a journalist, worked as a correspondent in Paris for The Impartial, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in 1900. During that time he met writers of the stature of Oscar Wilde, Jean Moréas and Leopoldo Lugones, and also consolidated his friendship with the poet Rubén Darío.
The time that the writer spent in Europe led him to lean towards the philosophy of Parnassus, which rejected the romantic to give way to the pure. From that time are his writings: Poems, The exodus and the flowers of the road, and The voices. At this time, he also took the opportunity to visit several European cities.
Amado Nervo's stay in Paris, apart from connecting him with important intellectuals, also did so with the love of his life: Ana Cecilia Luisa Dailliez. They began their relationship in 1901, which lasted until 1912, the year she passed away. Sadness led him to write The immobile beloved. Ana left a daughter: Margarita.
In 1905 Amado Nervo returned to his country, where he had the opportunity to teach Spanish at the National Preparatory School. Then he was appointed secretary of the embassy of his country in Spain. He continued his literary career and wrote works such as Juana de Asbaje Y Quietly.
The last years of Amado Nervo's life passed between his diplomatic and literary career. However, due to the Mexican Revolution, that trade was stopped for a time until it was retaken in 1918, when Uruguay and Argentina were assigned..
It didn't take long for the writer's life to die down. Nervo died on May 24, 1919, in Uruguay, due to kidney disease, when he was barely forty-eight years old. His remains rest in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons in his native Mexico.
Amado Nervo's literary style was characterized by belonging to the modernist movement. However, many of his writings were in opposition to this current, because they were more aligned with his experiences and personal feelings, where sadness and nostalgia had the greatest importance..
The language used by the Mexican writer in his literature was cultured, well elaborated and refined. Nervo was a perfectionist writer, in his work you can see his care for the form of the verse, as well as the relevance of the stanzas.
Amado Nervo's work was initially oriented by his religious interests, and was characterized by being mystical. However, after his trip to Paris and his contact with other writers, they allowed him to evolve towards a theme more towards man, of universal interest and with greater breadth..
- Black pearls (1898).
- Mystical (1898).
- Poems (1901). Edition published in Paris.
- Sister water (1901).
- The exodus and the flowers on the road (1902).
- Heroic lyre (1902).
- The voices (1904).
- The inner gardens (1905).
- Quietly (1909).
- Serenity (1912).
- In peace (1915).
- Elevation (1916).
- Fullness (1918).
- The lotus pond (1919).
- The divine archer (1920).
- The immobile beloved (1920).
- Complete poems (1935).
- Poet's morning (1938).
- The last moon (1943).
It is considered the first collection of poems by Amado Nervo. Most of the verses contained in the book were originally published in the different newspapers where the writer worked. This work was similar in subject to Mysticism, manuscript that also came to light in 1898.
It was a short work, composed of more than seventy poems oriented towards the religious. It was also a reflection of the poet's personal experiences, in relation to the loss of family; the feelings of sadness and loneliness gave rise to a conversation between the poet and a spiritual deity.
"Do you see the sun, quenching its pure light
in the waves of the amber sea?
So my luck sank its gleams
so as not to be reborn on my way.
Look at the moon: tearing the veil
from the darkness, to shine begins.
So it rose above my sky
the funeral star of sadness.
Do you see the lighthouse on the gnawed rock
that the restless sea with its foam
carpet?
This is how faith radiates over my life,
lonely, pure, hidden:
Like the face of an angel in shadow! ".
It was one of the first poetic works of the author, so it was focused on his youth experiences and his passion for religion. The content of the work is autobiographical in nature, his experience in the seminary was notorious, while there were some poems oriented towards the sensual and erotic.
"O Lord, God of hosts,
Eternal Father, Eternal King,
for this world that you created
with the virtue of your power,
because you said: let the light be,
and at your word the light was;
because you coexist with the Word,
because with you the Word is
from ever and ever
and without tomorrow and without yesterday ... ".
This work by Amado Nervo consisted of a set of poems, of autobiographical content and with some anticipated features about an unspecified love relationship. Perhaps it was an inspiration given his real situation with Margarita, the daughter of his beloved Ana.
The theme of the collection of poems revolves around love for a woman named Damiana. The author oriented the work towards overcoming love disappointment; the language used by Amado Nervo was cultured and lyrical. In it, the writer did not put aside his religious influences and interests.
- "My verse".
- "Night".
- "Sad".
- "Naive".
- "The May Flower Song".
- "Vagueness".
- "Who is Damiana?".
- "This sweet and serious girl ...".
- "You come with the dawn".
- "Exhalation".
- "Damiana is getting married".
- "They are the dreams that pass".
- "Return".
"The woman who in my lush
youth could have been
-if god had wanted-
mine,
in the inner landscape
of a paradise of love
and poetry;
the hero or villager
'my villager' or 'my princess'
it would have been called, that
is, in my book, Damiana ".
This collection of poems by Nervo was a dedication to his mother Juana Ordaz who died close to the date of publication of the book. The work was a kind of confession by the author himself about his wishes to a woman within the texts who became his ally on his literary path.
The language used by the poet in the book is subtle and implicit, which perhaps gave rise to the name of the work. Perhaps Amado's intention was to strengthen ties with readers, especially women, in a society that was in the hands of the male figure.
It was a work published under a Madrid publishing house. In this collection of poems Amado Nervo reflected the serenity and inner peace that he found in his life, at the same time that he expressed hopelessness. However, he kept in mind the possibility of love in the face of loss.
The structure that the poet gave to the book was more for his personal organization than for the reader himself. Also, he listed them and gave them a title. The intention of the writer was the reflection and evolution of being, all framed within symbolism and modernism.
"Beyond impatience
of angry seas,
the quiet indifference
of the iridescent limbs
and the placid existence
of monsters not dreamed.
… Beyond the insane river
of life, of bustle
passionate, the Pacific Ocean ...
with its severe gray wave,
with its immense inert back
that does not whip flying
any breeze ... ".
It was a poem in which Amado Nervo expressed with a clear and very personal language his gratifying position in front of life, as a consequence of his evolution and maturity in the face of different experiences. The writing was later included in his work Elevation in 1916.
The poem was a reflection of the poet's personal learnings, which were confirmed in a first-person narrative. The final message was the responsibility of the human being before life, the experiences lived and the path that he had to travel.
"Very close to my sunset, I bless you, my life,
because you never gave me failed hope,
no unfair work, no undeserved penalty;
because I see at the end of my rough path
that I was the architect of my own destiny ...
I certainly found the nights of my sorrows long;
but you didn't just promise me good nights;
and instead I had some holy serene ...
I loved, I was loved, the sun caressed my face.
Life, you owe me nothing!
Life, we are at peace! ".
In this work, the Mexican author put aside religiosity and also youthful passions. His themes went more towards philosophical and reflective themes. Amado Nervo managed to expose with this title tranquility and peace, a calm and serene spirit.
The main themes were related to love and peace. Nervo also developed the poems both with free verses, as well as with assonance and consonant rhymes. At the same time, he used a lot of metaphors. Provided readers with easy-to-understand poems.
"Mysterious mother of all genesis, mother
portentous, mute and faithful to the lofty souls;
immeasurable nest of all suns and worlds;
a sea in which the fiats of all causes tremble! ...
sphere in which the azure wings of dreams fly:
be my mirror pupils that copy your orbs;
May your subtle silence be the communion of my life;
may your arcane divine sting of my mind;
be your remote truth, behind the grave, my inheritance ".
It was one of the best known poetic works of Amado Nervo, due to its heartbreaking and painful content. In it he reflected the suffering left to him by the sudden death of the love of his life: Ana Cecilia Luisa Dailliez, after typhoid fever.
The collection of poems was made by the writer as a way of venting his grief, so he kept it intimate. However, a year after his death the work was published, and the expressiveness and feelings of the poet transcended.
“He kissed me a lot; as if afraid
leave very early ... His love was
restless, nervous.
I did not understand such feverish haste.
My rude intention
never saw very far ...
She sensed!
She sensed that the term was short,
that the candle wounded by the lash
from the wind, he was already waiting ... and in his anxiety
he wanted to leave me his soul in each hug,
put an eternity in his kisses ".
- Pascual Aguilera (In two editions: 1892 and 1899).
- The bachiller (1895).
- The giver of souls (1899).
- The selfless devil (1916).
It turned out to be one of the most recognized novels by Amado Nervo, it was short and naturalistic in nature. The work was composed of autobiographical nuances, to which religion, eroticism, love and human evolution were added..
The novel tells the story of Felipe, a young man with a melancholic personality and religious inclination, who made the decision to study theology. However, the disciplinary nature of the race caused his health to decline..
Felipe goes to the ranch of his uncle Don Jerónimo, where he grew up after the death of his mother. There she finds love in Asunción, her friend since childhood, and he confesses it to her. The story takes a turn when the bachelor, Felipe, made the decision to "save himself" through castration.
The novel was structured in four parts: a preamble, "In arms of the ideal", "Temptation" and "Origins". Also the author, in his affinity for religion, gave rise to the story with a verse from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, which referred to getting rid of a member of the body if it causes one to fall into temptation..
It was the third novel by Amado Nervo, its publication was given in the supplement The Comic World. The content of the story was developed within the humorous, philosophical and fanciful; It was a work related to the link between man and his soul.
"Ah! I am sad and a little dreamy, I have the melancholy of a Sunday evening, total absence of affection, not even an affection: my kingdom for an affection, my cat, that taciturn emblem of the celibate disgust me. My cook Dona Corpus no longer invents and bald about her stews. Books tire me ... Do I wish to have a wish ...? ".
- Souls that pass (1906).
- They (Unknown date).
- Fullness (1918).
- Mysterious tales (1921).
- Balconies (1922).
This work was a posthumous collection of a series of stories by the Mexican author. The stories were framed within the imaginary. In addition, three phases predominated: that of romance and passion, that of modern elements, and a last more philosophical and also religious..
- "The beautiful yaqui".
- "Those who do not want to be loved".
- "The horoscope".
- "Don Diego at night".
- "Dead and risen".
- "The capitalism".
- "History of a franc that did not circulate".
- "A Marseillaise".
- "Buquineando".
- "The inner sign".
- "The country where the rain was light".
- "The snake that bites its tail".
- "The fallen angel".
“One day, my friend noticed an Indian woman, big, slim, whose face was full of mud..
-Why is that woman so dirty? -asked the interpreter.
The interpreter replied:
-Because it is pretty; left the boyfriend in his land and does not want to be seen by 'foreigners'.
The Indian, meanwhile, motionless, stubbornly lowered her eyes.
-Let's see! -said my friend-, that they wash the face to him to this one. Bring water! ...
His short mouth, red as the prickly pear; his cheeks matte with a delicious flesh; her sensual, half-open nose; and above all that his glistening and sad eyes ... ".
- The exodus and the flowers on the road (1902).
- Juana de Asbaje (1910). Biography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
- My philosophies (1912).
- Comfort (1899, premiered at the Teatro Principal in Mexico City).
- “Love as you can, love who you can, love as much as you can. Do not worry about the purpose of your love ".
- "True love works miracles, because it is already the greatest miracle".
- “Those who ask life for logic forget that it is a dream. Dreams have no logic. Let's wait to wake up ".
- "Higher souls are afraid of only one thing: to commit an injustice".
- “There is something as necessary as daily bread, and it is the peace of each day. The peace without which bread is bitter ".
- "The most obvious sign that the truth has been found is inner peace".
- “If you are proud, you should love solitude; the proud are always left alone ".
- "The soul is a glass that only fills with eternity".
- "I have lived because I have dreamed a lot".
- "If living alone is dreaming, let's do good by dreaming".
Yet No Comments