Rafael Obligado (27 January 1851 – 8 March 1920) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Obligado was the son of María Jacinta Ortiz Urién and Luis Obligado y Saavedra. During the 1880s, he became known as ''el poeta del Paraná'' (the poet of

Paraná river The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

). He wrote poetry with

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...

themes, but using cultured and educated language. He was heavily influenced by contemporary French poetry, and became well known in Argentina for his poem ''

Santos Vega Santos Vega was a mythical Argentine gaucho, and invincible ''payador'' (a kind of minstrel that competed in singing competitions resembling dialectic discussions), who was only defeated by the Devil himself , disguised as the ''payador'' ''Jua ...

'', an ode to a

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

, a type of composer and performer known in Argentina under the name of ''payador''. He married Isabel Gómez Langenheim, and in 1896 commissioned a rural residence with a design based on her preference for the works of Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

; the Rafael Obligado Castle, near

Ramallo, Buenos Aires Ramallo is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre for Ramallo Partido. It is located on the Río Paraná. Economy The city has an important port on the Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, l ...

, is one of the premier

estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...

s in the

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

s region. Obligado was one of the founders of the Department of Philosophy and Literature of the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

, where he served as the Assistant Dean on several occasions; in 1909 he was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

by the university. He died in

Mendoza, Argentina Mendoza (, ), officially the City of Mendoza ( es, Ciudad de Mendoza) is the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern si ...

, in 1920.

Spanish wikisource

Rafael Obligado

External links

Facultad de Filosofia y Letras
1851 births 1920 deaths People from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Spanish descent 19th-century Argentine poets Argentine male poets Argentine dramatists and playwrights University of Buenos Aires faculty Male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers {{Argentina-poet-stub