Rubén Darío (full name: Félix Rubén García Sarmiento) was born on January 18, 1867, in Metapa, Republic of Nicaragua, and died on February 6, 1916, in the city of León, Nicaragua. He was a poet, journalist, and diplomat, and is considered the foremost representative of literary Modernism in the Spanish language. He acquired the surname "Darío" from his paternal grandfather, who was known by that name.
Rubén received his primary education in León, where he demonstrated a passion for literature from an early age, becoming a precocious reader and writer. His first poems were published in a local newspaper, expressing his progressive ideas and his advocacy for freedom, justice, and democracy. He began his journalism career at the age of fourteen, working for several newspapers in Nicaragua.
At fifteen, he traveled to El Salvador, where he gained the protection of President Rafael Zaldívar thanks to a recommendation from the Guatemalan poet Joaquín Méndez Bonet, the president’s secretary. During his stay there, he met the Salvadoran poet Francisco Gavidia, who introduced him to French poetry. Inspired by Gavidia, Darío attempted for the first time to adapt the French Alexandrine verse to Spanish poetic meters, a hallmark of Modernism.
Darío returned to Nicaragua in 1883 and settled in Managua, collaborating with various newspapers. In 1886, he decided to move to Chile, where he spent three years working as a journalist for publications such as La Época, La Libertad Electoral, and El Heraldo. In Chile, he met Pedro Balmaceda Toro, the son of the Chilean president, who introduced him to literary and social circles and encouraged him to publish his first book, Abrojos (1887). During this period, his literary knowledge expanded through reading Spanish Romantic poets and 19th-century French poets.
In 1888, Darío published his poetry collection Azul in Valparaíso, which is considered the starting point of Modernism. This work earned him fame and a position as a correspondent for the Argentine newspaper La Nación. Between 1889 and 1893, he lived in various Central American countries, continuing his work as a journalist and writing poetry.
In 1892, he traveled to Europe and participated in Madrid as a diplomatic representative of Nicaragua in the celebrations of the fourth centennial of the discovery of America. In Paris, he immersed himself in bohemian circles. Later, between 1893 and 1896, he resided in Buenos Aires and published two significant works: Los raros and Prosas profanas y otros poemas, solidifying the foundation of literary Modernism.
In 1896, La Nación sent him to Spain as a correspondent. His articles were later compiled under the title España Contemporánea, earning him the admiration of young Spanish poets such as Juan Ramón Jiménez, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, and Jacinto Benavente. During his stay in Paris in 1902, he met the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, who expressed admiration for Darío’s work.
In 1903, he was appointed consul of Nicaragua in Paris, and in 1905, he returned to Spain as part of a diplomatic mission. That same year, he published his poetry collection Cantos de vida y esperanza, edited by Juan Ramón Jiménez. In 1906, he participated in the Third Pan-American Conference in Rio de Janeiro and was later appointed resident minister in Madrid until 1909.
Between 1910 and 1913, he visited several Latin American countries, where he wrote his autobiography, published in the magazine Caras y caretas under the title La vida de Rubén Darío escrita por él mismo, as well as the book Historia de mis libros, a key reference for understanding his literary evolution.
In 1914, he settled in Barcelona and published his last major poetic work, Canto a la Argentina y otros poemas. With the outbreak of World War I, he returned to America, briefly staying in Guatemala before finally returning to León, Nicaragua, where he passed away.
