Ernesto Cardenal

Ernesto Cardenal, known as one of the most significant Latin American poets of the twentieth century, was born to Rodolfo and Esmerelda Cardenal in a wealthy Nicaraguan family, on January 20, 1925. Always interested

Drake in the Southern Sea

by Ernesto Cardenal (1925–2020)

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15

For Rafael Heliodoro Valle

I set out from the Port of Acapulco on the twenty-third of March

And kept a steady course until Saturday, the fourth of April, when

A half hour before dawn, we saw by the light of the moon

That a ship had come alongside

With sails and a bow that seemed to be of silver.

Our helmsman cried out to them to stand off

But no one answered, as though they were all asleep.

Again we called out: “WHERE DID THEIR SHIP COME FROM?”

Click here for complete poem

Poets Book of Days

January 20

Reynolds Price died, 2011

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What poem provided the title for E. M. Forster's novel Where Angels Fear to Tread and the phrase in the Elvis Presley song, "Fools rush in?"

Answer

Alexander Pope's (1688-1744) "An Essay on Criticism." ("Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead; / For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.")

Previous Trivia Questions

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