Casal, Julian Del

Casal, Julián Del 

Born Nov. 7, 1863, in Havana; died there Oct. 21, 1893. Cuban poet. Son of a landowner; an official.

The influence of Spanish romanticism noticeable in Casal’s early poetry had already given way to the influence of the French Parnassians by the time of his first book, Leaves in the Wind (1890); this influence in turn gave way to that of the French symbolists, as shown in the collection Snow (1892). Busts and Rhymes (1893) included both poetry and prose. Casal’s poetry is characterized by pessimism and an escape from reality into an exotic world but at the same time by harmoniousness of form and musicality of verse.

WORKS

Poesías completas. Havana, 1945.
In Russian translation:
In the collection Kubinskaia poeziia. Moscow, 1959.
In the collection Soldaty svobody. Moscow, 1963.

REFERENCES

Portuondo, J. A. Istoricheskii ocherk kubinskoi literatury. Moscow,
1961. (Translated from Spanish.) Monner Sans, J. M. J. del Casal y el modernismo hispano-americano.
Mexico City, 1952.