Colonial Origins of Peruvian Poetry

Abstract

Attempts to show that many of the tendencies of contemporary peruvian poetry originated in the colonial past. Now, as then, the writing of poetry is a heroic activity carried on in conditions unfavourable for literary creation, and for many authors their poetry is a spiritual refuge in an alienating environment. Generally speaking, colonial poetry was conventional and conformist, but there was also a satirical vein that initiated a long tradition of rebellious poetry which questions the prevalent values of a hierarchical society. The poetry of the final decades of the colonial period reflects the ambigüous position of the contemporary poet, working within but against the Western tradition, which he is trying to renew in order to forge his own mode of expression.