Poetry in Peru, like all countries, has been influenced much by what occurs within a society. Many times it captures the insight into the history of a particular nation. Most poets use literature to communicate their feelings to the masses because of passion and or ideas that they’ve developed. Sometimes it comes using satire and other methods and techniques, but nevertheless, the hope is to get the message out.
The message can be political or not. Poets capture the essence of a society through words that will remain for posterity. It can capture the good and bad of a country; it’s goodness and it’s ugliness and especially in politics. Many countries have poets that have discussed the turmoil that existed throughout their history and this has been a great help to understanding the journey of a people in a particular region. Peru is no exception.
The history of Peruvian poetry dates back to a period called the Renaissance Period, like many other Latin based countries. This includes poetry from the 19th century. A main theme that was prevalent during that time was to include issues of tradition. Much of this poetry was done as oral literature and it included many myths as well. In addition, it delved on adventure and the beauty of nature.
In Peru, Poetry can be dissected into two areas, colonial literature and modernism. Colonial poetry entails poems that were written by the ancient Peruvian poets. Some of the main themes captured the political ugliness and the horrible situation of the country. This poetry shows the picture of how the country suffered under the brutality of the colonial power and its impacts to the people.
Modernism, on the other hand, discusses issues about the modern Peru and the transition it made from more obscure times to the more industrialization period. Citizens of Peru are very interested in the history of their country and that is why most of these colonial poems are very popular and very much appreciated by its citizens today.
A well known poet of Peru is Adán Martín. Adan’s work was mostly concentrated on what is termed as metaphysical issues, which details the facts of Peru during the nineteen hundreds. There are others also such as, Arguedas José María, Bondy Sebastián, and Chocano José Santos. Arguedas, on the other hand, wrote his work in Spanish and Quechua through the 1900s. Bondy, despite being a poet also involved himself in writing plays that depict the social issues of the ancient days. José Santos is another famous poet whose work has been labeled to have heavily influenced the founding of Latin America.
