Historical Latin Americans: Mexican Poet Amado Nervo

By Efrain Nieves

Juan Crisóstomo Ruiz De Nervo, known by his pseudonym Amado Nervo, was born on August 27th 1870 and is known as one of the most important Mexican poets of the 19th century. Nervo also served as the Mexican Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay from 1918 until his death on May 24th, 1919.

Photo courtesy of Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes

According to britannica.com,

• Nervo abandoned his studies for the priesthood in 1888 to begin a career as a newspaperman in Mazatlán.
• In 1894 he moved to Mexico City, where he wrote his first novel, El bachiller (1895; “The Baccalaureate”), and his first volume of poetry in the modernist idiom, Perlas negras (1898; “Black Pearls”).
• In 1898 he was one of the founders of the Revista moderna (“Modern Review”), which soon became one of the most influential journals of Modernismo.
• Among his finest poems are “Serenidad” (1914; “Serenity”) and “Plenitud” (1918; “Plenitude”).
• Fervent follower of  Buddhist philosophy.

Amado’s legacy, however,  can be best perceived in his  “La Amada Inmóvil (The Immovable Loved One)” a compilation of poems he penned right after the death of his wife Ana Cecilia Luisa Dailliez in 1912 but not made public until 1922.  Below is one of the many poems that can be found in the book.