This commentary on one of José Lezama Lima's (1910-1976) most memorable poems, "Oda a Julián del Casal", focuses on how six of its textual features - apostrophes, recurrent verbal motifs, obscurity, recognizability, verb tenses and moods, and mythical allusions - interact to produce an overall rhetorical effect. Julián del Casal (Cuba, 1863-1893) is now considered one of the most important Hispanic American poets of his historical moment. Lezama composed his poem in 1963 during the celebration of the centenary of Casal's birth.
José Lezama Lima; Julián del Casal; Latin American poetry