AbstractPoetry has been for years a fundamental element in which many people express their feelings towards a person, place, or object. The authors of each poem usually express their feelings in a few or many stanzas based mostly on personal experiences such as loving, sad, or melancholic. In this case, Dalton in which he speaks specifically of the injustice that is experienced in El Salvador and sadness or disappointment in a country where the population is affected by corruption. In both poems, we can understand how the "country or the homeland" is being controlled by corruption because El Salvador appeared blurred since the politicians betrayed the spilled blood of their people.
Poetry is a fundamental element in which many people express their feelings towards a person, place, or object. There are different types of poetry around the world, such as dramatic poetry, lyric poetry, avant-garde poetry, epic poetry, etc. The authors of each poem usually express their feelings in a few or many stanzas based mostly on loving, sad, or melancholic personal experiences. In all cases, the authors usually use metaphors in their poems and they are used as a more literal way to express any social issue or belief that the author may have. In this case, we talk about the poems “Spite” and “OAS” written by Roque Dalton in which he speaks of injustices experienced in El Salvador, and about the sadness and disappointment toward a country where the population is affected by corruption. In both poems, we can understand how the "country” or the “homeland" is being controlled by corruption because El Salvador appears to be blurred since the politicians betrayed the spilled blood of their people. Roque Dalton was a Salvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectual. He was born on May 14, 1935, in El Salvador, and throughout his life, he has dedicated himself to denouncing the injustices that occurred in his country. His works and poems were based on themes such as politics and the social. Dalton was considered the most universal writer in El Salvador. On May 10, 1975, he was assassinated because of his writings, including "Spite" and "OAS" in which he denounces injustice. "In both poems, we can understand how the "country” or the “homeland" is being controlled by corruption because El Salvador appears to be blurred since the politicians betrayed the spilled blood of their people." The poem “Spite” consists of 5 stanzas and is free form because the lines of the stanzas are not in a stanzaic unit like the couplet, triplet, or quintet. The point of view is the first person and the theme/tone is a disappointment. This poem talks about the disappointment and spite of the speaker towards his nation because of the injustices that happen. Dalton who has great admiration and respect for his nation changes his mind due to many injustices towards the people and seeing the population is condemned by his own country. Dalton prefers to be an expatriate from his country than to continue living in a place that has unjustly destroyed many people. The spite and disappointment experienced make Dalton express himself totally toward his nation in that manner. In this poem the phonemes from the last stressed vowel of the verse are considered rhyme of a verse, it is included. Dalton describes in this poem the bitter feeling that he feels before the unjust situations that are lived in his country and for which he had to leave there. In this poem, Roque Dalton took his anger out on his country because he watched from afar how the country he loved bled little by little. The poem “OAS” consists of a single stanza and is free form because the lines of the stanzas are not in a stanzaic unit like the couplet, triplet, or quintet. The point of view is the third person and the theme/tone is upset. This poem expresses how El Salvador is dominated by many presidents and not just one. It can be understood that the country is being led by many people which tend to be a connection to corruption and that their country is not independent. This poem leaves us as evidence of how democracy is a sham in Latin America, and that is the reason why the poem is called OAS: the Organization of American States. El Salvador is one many the countries that struggle day-to-day to split its sovereignty from the tentacles of the power of the United States and what Dalton wanted was to end this assumption. Roque Dalton’s objective in his poems was to show us both political militancy in poetry. He used to write clandestinely to feel torn when it was presented as a contradiction between a political or ideological position expressed in literature. El Salvador was going through too many strong events in which two occasions that occurred in the country managed to avoid the tragedy that Roque Dalton could die at the hands of his enemy, who was the government. The first occasion was a coup and the other occasion was an earthquake, and thanks to these events Dalton was spared being shot. "El Salvador is one many the countries that struggle day-to-day to split its sovereignty from the tentacles of the power of the United States and what Dalton wanted was to end this assumption." Many people did not understand why Dalton continued to write about his country El Salvador when he did not live there but from my experience, I can say that nobody leaves his country thinking of never returning, and the further one is, the more Salvadoran one becomes like in the case of Roque Dalton. It hurts to see how your country becomes a battlefield for politics, and how the population is the one who suffers from the consequences of such battles. Many people end up dead or suffering because of the problems, and that is why Dalton kept writing about El Salvador despite not living there. Roque Dalton was a person who never learned to be silent or to obey, and in his poems, he clarifies the structure of politics in El Salvador and in Latin America. His poems and writings led him to his death sentence, where in the night of 10 May 1975, his fellow guerrillas in El Salvador shot him dead while he slept. Poetry is a tool that has helped many poets to express their feelings towards a person, animal, or object. Roque Dalton demonstrates in his two poems called "Spite" and "OAS" that spite, disappointment, injustice, dictatorship, and corruption can lead a country so that its population can face the consequences. Dalton in his poem called “Spite” took his anger out on his country because he watched from afar how the country he loved bled little by little and the other one talked about how democracy is a sham in El Salvador and Latin America. Also, he marked a before and after in literature in El Salvador through his writings, but his politics led him to be an enemy to the government which resulted in his assassination. Work Cited“El Salvador Tragic: 10 Roque Dalton Poems from 3 Books.” Cordite Poetry Review, 15 Sept. 2019, http://cordite.org.au/translations/serrano-dalton/2/. Comments are closed.
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