There are a lot of poets and works to be able to associate together for the test, right? Well, you can learn them. You're welcome to ignore what appears next, but I offer it to you as a sample of memory tricks you could use:

1. José Martí:
   • “Si ves un monte de  espumas”: xxx
   • “Dos patrias”: Martí  = he's a MARTIan in disguise with two countries, Mars and Cuba.

2. José Asunción Silva:
   • “Nocturno III”: xxx

3. Rubén Darío:
   • “El cisne”: Darío = DA [“the”] RIO, “the river”, where you might see da swans swimming
   • “Canción de otoño en primavera”: Darío D-A-R-I-O = Do And Re [notes of a song] In Otoño

4. Amado Nervo:
   • “La pregunta”: Nervo = NERVO[us] about that question (pregunta) on the test
   • “Si tú me dices «¡Ven!»”: NERVO = NE'R VOy, I'm never going, even if you tell me “Come!”

5. Antonio Machado:
   • Proverbios y cantares, XXIX: «Caminante, son tus huellas»: Machado - MAC - CAM [MAC backwards]: Hey MAC, you got it backwards, the CAMino should be in front of you, not behind you (or vice versa, depending on whether you're an existentialist)
   • “La saeta”: Machado a MACHO type guy who hunts with bow and arrow [saeta]

6. Juan Ramón Jiménez:
   • “Intelijencia, dame”: JJJiménez is J-crazy: he ain't got no intelliJence
   • “Vino, primero, pura”: JJJiménez (crazy) JJJuego de palabras, vino primero = «Wine first» or «There came first»

7. Gabriela Mistral:
   • “Meciendo”: MMMistral, MMMeciendo (Make that rocker Move, Momma!)
   • “Yo no tengo soledad”: MMMistral certainly isn't lonely, MMMeciendo that MMMuchacito/a all day long

8. César Vallejo:
   • “Yuntas”: Vallejo = VALLEy-ho, hitch up the pair of oxen (yuntas) and head for the VALLEy (lots of peaks and VALLEys in this poem)
   • “El momento más grave de la vida”: VVVallejo  Momentos graVVVísimos de la VVVida (only VALLEys in this poem, no peaks at all)

9. Vicente Huidobro:
   • “Arte poética”: Huidobro  = HUI'D-O-BRo = WE'D Order Better poetry, artsy poetry
   • “La capilla aldeana”: Huidobro = HUI'D-Obro = WE'D Orar (pray) in the village chapel

10. Juana de Ibarbourou:
    • “La higuera”: Ibarbourou = I-BAR-BOU-ROU  = EEEk, BARBs on the BOUgh of that ROUgh fig tree

11. Federico García Lorca:
    • “Prendimiento de Antoñito el Camborio en el camino de Sevilla”: GGGarcía = (Civil) Guard Grabbed a Great Gypsy.

12. Luis Palés Matos:
    • “Danza negra”: Palés = P-A-L-E-S, Polkas Are Lively, Elegant Stomping (polkas are not necesarily black, but it is dancing)

13. Nicolás Guillén:
    • “Sensemayá”: GUILLén + SENSemayá = GUILLotines are for killing, but aren't too SENSible for killing SSSnakes
    • “No sé por qué piensas tú”: GGGuillén = GGGive and take me and you (YO no sé por qué piensas TU)

14. Pablo Neruda:
    • “Me gustas cuando callas”: Neruda = NE'R-UD = NE'R [never] RUDE: I like you when you're quiet and don't say anything rude.
    • “Verbo”: Neruda = NERUDAr, a new verb meaning “never to be rude”. E.g.: Pablo neruda (“Pablo is never rude”).

15. Gloria Fuertes:
    • “Sale caro ser poeta”: Fuertes = FOOey, it's TOUGH being a poet
    • “Mis mejores poemas”: Fuertes = FFFantásticas, FUERTásticas poemas

16. Octavio Paz:
    • “El sediento”: Paz = PACífico, an ocean of water but I'm still thirsty
    • “Cifra”: Paz + Cifra = PACIFRico, the PACific ocean stretches on into infinity (CIPHERlessness)

17. Ernesto Cardenal:
    • “Epigramas”: Cardenal = CARD-E-N'AL What a CARD, Ernesto, Publishing those EPigrams,

18. Ana María Fagundo:
    • “Casi un poema”: Ana María Fagundo = AMF = Almost Made a Foem [well, F and P almost look alike, don't they?]
    • “Trinos”: Ana María Fagundo = AMF = A Melody For Fájaros [pájaros; there's that F/P problem again] and their Twittering (trinos), that is, a song for/of the birds

19. Nancy Morejón:
    • “Renacimiento”: xxx

[S302 Main page]

[Syllabus]

[Course info]