Roberto Juarroz
Encyclopedia
Roberto Juarroz was an Argentine
poet
famous for his "Poesía vertical" (Vertical poetry). He published fourteen volumes of poetry in all, numbered successively 1 to 14, under the general title "Poesía vertical", the first appearing in 1958 and the final one posthumously in 1997. A fifteenth volume was edited by his wife, the poet and critic Laura Cerrato, and published after his death. W.S. Merwin published a bilingual selection of Juarroz' poems in 1977 (Kayak Books) which was re-issued in an enlarged edition in 1987 (North Point Press), both volumes entitled Verical Poetry. In 1992 Mary Crow published her translations of the later work as Vertical Poetry: Recent Poems (White Pine Press), which won a Colorado Book Award. All of these books are now out of print. In 2011 her translations of a selection of his final poems will appear as Vertical Poetry: Last Poems (White Pine Press).
The poetry of Juarroz is spare and sometimes cryptic, with lines such as "busco las espaldas de Dios" ("I seek the back of God").
Octavio Paz
wrote: Each poem of Roberto Juarroz is a surprising verbal crystallisation: language reduced to a bead of light. A major poet of absolute moments.
For Julio Cortázar
, Juarroz's poems included both the most elevated, and most profound, written in Spanish in recent years.
Juarroz, Roberto. "Vertical Poetry: Recent Poems," trans. by Mary Crow. White Pine Press, 1992. ISBN 1-877727-08-3.
Juarroz, Roberto. "Vertical Poetry: Last Poems," trans. by Mary Crow. White Pine Press, 2011.
Individual translations of poems in many anthologies, including "The Vintage Book of World Poetry" and "The Poetry of Our World: An International Anthology of Contemporary Poetry," and literary magazines, including Salamander, Literal: Latin American Voices, Seneca Review, Hawai'i Review, and Visions International.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
famous for his "Poesía vertical" (Vertical poetry). He published fourteen volumes of poetry in all, numbered successively 1 to 14, under the general title "Poesía vertical", the first appearing in 1958 and the final one posthumously in 1997. A fifteenth volume was edited by his wife, the poet and critic Laura Cerrato, and published after his death. W.S. Merwin published a bilingual selection of Juarroz' poems in 1977 (Kayak Books) which was re-issued in an enlarged edition in 1987 (North Point Press), both volumes entitled Verical Poetry. In 1992 Mary Crow published her translations of the later work as Vertical Poetry: Recent Poems (White Pine Press), which won a Colorado Book Award. All of these books are now out of print. In 2011 her translations of a selection of his final poems will appear as Vertical Poetry: Last Poems (White Pine Press).
The poetry of Juarroz is spare and sometimes cryptic, with lines such as "busco las espaldas de Dios" ("I seek the back of God").
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...
wrote: Each poem of Roberto Juarroz is a surprising verbal crystallisation: language reduced to a bead of light. A major poet of absolute moments.
For Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
, Juarroz's poems included both the most elevated, and most profound, written in Spanish in recent years.
| El silencio que queda entre dos palabras | The silence that lingers between two words |
| no es el mismo silencio que envuelve una cabeza cuando cae, | is not the same silence that surrounds a head that falls, |
| ni tampoco el que estampa la presencia del árbol | nor that which marks the presence of a tree |
| cuando se apaga el incendio vespertino del viento. | when the wind's evening fire at last stills. |
Poems in English translation
Juarroz, Roberto. Vertical Poetry, trans. by W.S. Merwin. Kayak Books, 1977. ISBN 0-685-67046-5. Enlarged edition, "Vertical Poetry," trans by W. S. Merwin, North Point Books, 1988 ISBN 0-86547-307-2.Juarroz, Roberto. "Vertical Poetry: Recent Poems," trans. by Mary Crow. White Pine Press, 1992. ISBN 1-877727-08-3.
Juarroz, Roberto. "Vertical Poetry: Last Poems," trans. by Mary Crow. White Pine Press, 2011.
Individual translations of poems in many anthologies, including "The Vintage Book of World Poetry" and "The Poetry of Our World: An International Anthology of Contemporary Poetry," and literary magazines, including Salamander, Literal: Latin American Voices, Seneca Review, Hawai'i Review, and Visions International.
External links
- Juarroz's poetry in Spanish
- Two poems by Roberto Juarroz