Candelario Obeso (12 January 1849 – 3 July 1884) was a Colombian poet. He is known as a precursor of the ''Poesía Negra y oscura (black and dark poetry)'' in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Life

He was a

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

, born of a white ''hacendado'' and a black maid in Mompox, Colombia on 12 January 1849. He studied at Colegio Pinillos de Mompox. In 1886 he obtained an scholarship to do his higher studies at Colegio Militar de Bogotá, and a year later he entered the

Universidad Nacional de Colombia The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, ...

where he started engineering, law and political science, but due to economical struggle, he was unable to graduate from any faculty. He had several jobs during short periods of time. Due to his friendship with influential personalities of the time, he was named consul in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, France and national interpreter in Panama. He also worked as a school teacher in Sucre and municipal treasurer of

Magangué Magangué is a municipality of Colombia in the Department of Bolivar. The town is located in the Magdalena River; 20 km north of the mouth of the Cauca River The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental an ...

. He faced racial discrimination and economical struggle. He fell in love with a white high-society lady who rejected his poems on love and she soon got engaged to a rich man. Heartbroken, he shot himself in the chest and died in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

a few days later. His remains are in the cemetery of Mompox. Tumba Candelario Obeso

Legacy

He is known as the precursor of the ''Poesía Negra y oscura'' (black and dark poetry) in Colombia, a literary style that focused on describing the daily activities performed by the Colombian black communities. He wrote his narrative in the first person and using the language the Afrocolombian communities spoke. An example of this is his first book of poems, ''Cantos Populares de mi Tierra'', published by Imprenta de Borda in 1887. He also wrote ''La familia Pygmalion'' (1871), ''Lectura para ti'' (1878), ''Secundino el Zapatero'' (1880) and ''Lucha de la vida'' (1882). He translated into Spanish Shakespeare's ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'', and works from Víctor Hugo,

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

and

Jonathan Lawrence Jonathan Lawrence (October 4, 1737 – September 4, 1812) was an American merchant and politician from New York. Early life Lawrence was born on October 4, 1737 in Newtown, Queens County in what was then the Province of New York, a part of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obeso, Candelario 1849 births 1884 deaths Colombian writers 19th-century Colombian poets National University of Colombia alumni People from Bolívar Department Suicides by firearm in Colombia English–Spanish translators German–Spanish translators Colombian translators Burials in Colombia Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Translators of William Shakespeare Colombian people of African descent 1880s suicides