Cardenal, Ernesto: 1925—: Poet

Ernesto Cardenal: 1925—: Poet

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It is nearly impossible to separate Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal from his country, or his poetry from his politics. He rose to prominence during the dark days of the four-decade-long dictatorship of the Somoza family. Cardenal used his pen as a sword to help undermine the Somoza regime, exposing its atrocities to the world. Some of his most renowned work grew out of that period, including "Zero Hour" and The Psalms of Struggle and Liberation. A Catholic priest as well as a committed activist, Cardenal was also one of the proponents of "liberation theology," a philosophy that worked to integrate spiritual ideals with social practice, namely economic liberation for the poor and oppressed. Following the overthrow of the dictatorship, the left-wing Sandinistas assumed power and appointed Cardenal as Nicaragua's first Minister of Culture, a post he held for nearly a decade. The National Catholic Reporter noted that "Ernesto Cardenal became for many the cultural symbol of the Nicaraguan revolution."

Married Poetry to Politics

Ernesto Cardenal was born on January 20, 1925, in Granada, Nicaragua, where he wrote his first poem at the age of seven. His parents, Rodolfo Cardenal and Esmerelda Martinez, provided Cardenal and his brother Fernando with a middle-class upbringing. Cardenal attended a Catholic school run by the Jesuits in Granada. Upon graduation in 1943 he left to study philosophy and literature at the National University of Mexico, earning a degree in literature in 1947. During his time in Mexico, he published several poems in local magazines.

In 1948 Cardenal traveled to New York City and spent two years studying North American literature at Columbia University. He was impressed by American poets William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman and, in particular, Ezra Pound. The Alsop Review website noted that Cardenal "[Identified Pound's] poetic style as 'exteriorismo'—a word [Cardenal] coined." According to the Painted Rooster Press website, Cardenal defined the style as "objective poetry: narrative and anecdotal, made of the elements of real life and concrete things, with proper names and precise detail and exact data and numbers and facts and sayings … the only poetry that can express Latin American reality, reach the people, and be revolutionary."

At a Glance . . .

Born on January 20, 1925, in Granada, Nicaragua; son of Rodolfo Cardenal and Esmerelda Martinez. Education: National University of Mexico, degree in literature, 1947; Columbia University, New York City, postgraduate study, North American literature, 1948-49; seminary training, Trappist monastery, Gethsemani, KY, 1957-59; Benedictine Monastery, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1959-61; Le Ceja Seminary, Colombia, 1961-65. Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Christian-Marxist.

Career: Poet, 1960–; Priest, 1965–; Minister of Culture, Sandinista regime, Nicaragua, 1979-88.

Memberships: Official, Sandanista National Liberation Front (FSLN), early 1970s-95; National Union for Popular Action (UNAP), 1950s; co-director, co-founder, Casa de Los Tres Mundos, Cultural Center, Granada and Managua, Nicaragua; founder, Solentiname Commune, Nicaragua, 1966-77.

Awards: Honorary doctorates, University of Granada and Valencia, Spain, 1987, and Latin American University, Medillin, Colombia, 1986; honorary member, Academy of Fine Arts, Germany, 1986; Maximum Order of Augusto Cesar Sandino, Government of Nicaragua, 1985; Knights Order, Arts and Letters, Government of France, 1985; Peace Prize, Germany, 1980; Christopher Book Award for The Psalms of Struggle and Liberation, 1972.

Address: Office— Casa de los Tres Mundos, Antigua Casa de Los Leones, Granada, Nicaragua.

In the early 1950s Cardenal was active both poetically and politically. He co-authored a multi-volume translation of North American poetry, launched a poetry magazine called El Hilo Azul ("The Blue Thread"), and published his own work as well as that of other poets. Cardenal also began to sculpt during this time, and his work has been shown in Latin America and the United States. Politically, Cardenal became increasingly disillusioned with the Somoza regime, and sought to reflect those feelings in his poetry. However, the dictatorship harshly censored any writing it deemed revolutionary. As a result, Cardenal published several poems outside of Nicaragua under the name Anonymous Nicaraguan. By 1954 he had joined the National Union for Popular Action (UNAP), an illegal revolutionary group, and on April 3 of that year, members of the group attacked the presidential palace. The attack, which history has called the "April Rebellion," was unsuccessful, and many of Cardenal's associates were captured and executed. Cardenal managed to escape and went into hiding. During this time he wrote one of his most famous poems, "Zero Hour," detailing the 1934 assassination of Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Cesar Augusto Sandino by Somoza's guard. "It's a poem of heroic evocation in which the death of a hero is also seen as the rebirth of nationhood: when the hero dies, green herbs rise where he has fallen," wrote a reviewer in National Catholic Reporter. It was a poem that used history to urge Nicaraguans to continue their struggle against oppression and dictatorship. The poem was an example of Cardenal's "exteriorismo."

Found Inspiration in Religion

In 1956, at the age of 31, Cardenal experienced the first of two incidents he called "conversions," and he decided to become a monk. He renounced all forms of violence and took up residence in the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani, Kentucky. Cardenal studied under the well-known religious scholar and poet Thomas Merton, who was in charge of the novices at the monastery. He and Merton became very close and Merton would later write the forewords to Cardenal's Gethsemani, Ky in 1960 and To Live is to Love in 1970. The former was a series of short poems written on the theme of God's love. The latter was a collection of spiritual meditations on the theme of universal love. A stomach ulcer forced Cardenal to abandon his studies at Gethsemani and return to Latin America. There he recovered and resumed his seminary studies at the Benedictine Monastery in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In 1961 he moved to Colombia and studied for four more years at the Le Ceja Seminary. While in Colombia he completed Epigrams and The Psalms of Struggle and Liberation. The latter won the prestigious Peace Prize for literature from the West German government in 1980. He also completed Prayer for Marilyn Monroe and Other Poems, a collection of poetry critical of the excesses of affluent society, "in which commercialization is seen to have replaced emotional spontaneity," noted the website for Curbstone Press. He also began to research the lives and history of the local indigenous populations, visiting several Indian tribes. The poems in his volume Homage to the American Indians portray the lives of the pre-Colombian natives as spiritually superior to those in money-driven modern society.

Cardenal returned to Nicaragua in 1965, where he was ordained a priest. He soon began building a religious refuge on a lush tropical island in Lake Nicaragua. Founded in 1966, Solentiname was a commune of artists, writers, peasants, and others who sought a contemplative spiritual life, and it also included a school of primitive painting, which produced widely acclaimed works. Life in Solentiname reflected Cardenal's philosophy that men could live in harmony with nature and with each other if they adhered to Christian principles, including those which advocated non-violence. On Sundays, rather than attend a traditional sermon given by a priest, the commune's residents gathered together to take part in a dialogue about spiritual matters. Cardenal began tape-recording these meetings, and in 1975 published them in a multi-volume set called The Gospel in Solentiname. It was considered an important work in the newly emerging philosophy of "liberation theology." While at Solentiname, Cardenal also published one of his most important poems, The Doubtful Strait. Using myth and history, the long poem reexamines the conquests of Christopher Columbus in Central America and juxtaposes them with commentary on the Somoza regime in Nicaragua. Reflecting Cardenal's spirituality, the poem also uses Biblical imagery and implies that Central America's history, like that of the rest of the world, will ultimately bend to God's divine will.

In 1970 Cardenal visited Cuba and had his second "conversion." He spent three months there and had a meeting with Fidel Castro, the country's revolutionary leader. Though he was aware that the island had some serious economic problems, he became convinced that Nicaragua could also have a successful revolution. He felt that if Nicaraguans could accept the ideals that he practiced in Solentiname, post-revolutionary Nicaragua would be a success. According to the Curbstone Press website, "Cardenal changed his stance on violence and decreed that militancy would be necessary to achieve the Christian goals of peace and brotherhood desired by the anti-Somozan majority." The pacifism he had practiced since his days at Gethsemani seemed to be no longer practical. In 1972 he published En Cuba, an account of his trip.

Became Spokesman for Sandinistas

Cardenal became increasingly involved with the Sand-inista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Named for Sandino, Nicaragua's revolutionary hero, the leftist group waged guerrilla warfare in its attempts to oust the Somoza government. Cardenal served as their field chaplain and international spokesperson. In 1972 he published Canto Nacional, which was dedicated to the FSLN. That same year a severe earthquake devastated Nicaragua, destroying Managua. An estimated 10,000 people were killed and 300,000 were left homeless. International aid poured in to help rebuild the country, but Somoza and his cronies diverted much of the relief money into their own accounts. When the news of these actions became known, the country was outraged. Anger increased when Somoza rigged the 1974 presidential elections, ensuring his continued reign. This anger led to more support for the FSLN.

In October of 1977 the Sandinistas launched an attack on Somoza's barracks in San Carlos. Many who participated in the attack were from Solentiname, and in retaliation the government destroyed the refuge. Fortunately, Cardenal had been ordered out of the country by the Somoza leadership days earlier. His role as the voice of the Sandinista movement was much too valuable to be jeopardized. The conflict escalated over the next two years, during which Cardenal fulfilled his role as spokesman, telling the world about the reality of the revolution. Finally, the Somoza regime fell and the Sandinistas took office on July 19, 1979. Cardenal returned home as the first Minister of Culture in Nicaragua's history. In that role he promoted literacy and held poetry workshops throughout the country. The National Catholic Reporter wrote, "By giving people their voices, he created a cultural rebirth in his country, and the recreation of national identity and pride among the working class." Though Cardenal was busy in his new role, he did produce one notable work, 1984's Flights of Victory: Songs in Celebration of the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Sadly things did not progress in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas, though strides were made in healthcare, literacy, and agriculture. Like the Somozas before them, top Sandinista officials began to amass great personal wealth at the expense of the people. And the new Reagan Administration in the United States, opposed to the Sandinista's Marxist philosophies, began supplying money and arms to guerrilla bands of counter-revolutionaries known as the Contras. Instead of the peaceful utopia that Cardenal had hoped for, Nicaragua was plunged into an economic and social depression. The Sandinista government, which had won the country's first post-revolution elections in 1984, became increasingly dictatorial, quashing opponents and terrorizing communities thought to provide refuge for the Contras. Cardenal began to distance himself from the FSLN, though he maintained his role as Minister of Culture until 1988.

Maintained Dream of Utopia

In 1990 and in 1996, the Sandinistas lost the presidential elections. Though many remained loyal to the FSLN, Cardenal renounced his membership in the party in January of 1995. He was deeply disturbed by the human rights violations committed by the FSLN, as well as the increasing corruption within the party. He told the National Catholic Reporter, "The revolution was corrupted when we lost the elections. There was desperation that came along with that loss of power, and there was anxiety to get it back. The leaders of the party created a commander who rules in an authoritarian way." He was referring to Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista president.

In 1989 Cardenal published what many critics consider his masterpiece, Cosmic Canticle. The nearly 500-page poem tackles the big questions: who are we, why are we here, where are we going. A reviewer on the Alsop Review website noted that Cardenal said the poem is "the culmination of my life's work of some thirty years." Cardenal continued, "It deals with the entire cosmos. That's why the poem is so long. It is principally written in scientific language. I attempt here to unify science and poetry; also poetry and politics, science and mysticism, and mysticism and revolution!" When not composing or reading poetry, Cardenal devoted his time to the Casa de los Tres Mundos, the cultural center he co-founded in 1992 in Granada, Nicaragua. Though his days were filled with art, he was not immune to the strife all around him. In 1998 Nicaragua was rocked by Hurricane Mitch, which killed over 6,000 people and left over 300,000 homeless. By the dawn of the new millennium, Nicaragua was the second poorest nation in Latin America, behind Haiti. It continued to be plagued by economic, political, and social instability. Yet Cardenal, still strong in his faith, continued to express hope for the future. He told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, "Still we have to maintain our hope for a utopia."

Selected writings

Gethsemani, Ky., Ecuador 0 Degrees, 1960.

Oracion por Marilyn Monroe, y otros poemas, Ediciones La Tertulia, 1965, translated as Marilyn Monroe and Other Poems, Search Press, 1975.

El estrecho dudoso, Ediciones Cultura Hispanica, 1966, translated as The Doubtful Strait, Indiana University Press, 1995.

Salmos, Institucion Gran Duque de Alba, 1967, translated as The Psalms of Struggle and Liberation, Herder & Herder, 1971.

Homenaje a los indios americanos, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua, 1969, translated as Homage to the American Indians, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.

Vida en el Amor, Lohle, 1970, translated as To Live Is to Love, Herder & Herder, 1972.

La hora cero y otros poemas, Ediciones Saturno, 1971, translated as Zero Hour and Other Documentary Poems, New Directions, 1980.

En Cuba, Lohle, 1972, translated as In Cuba, New Directions, 1974.

El Evangelio en Solentiname, Ediciones Sigueme, 1975, translated as The Gospel in Solentiname, Orbis Books, 1976.

From Nicaragua with Love: Poems 1979-1986, City Lights Press, 1986.

Golden UFOs: The Indian Poems/Los Ovnis de oro: poemas indios, Indiana University Press, 1992.

Cosmic Canticle, Curbstone Press, 1993.

Sources

Periodicals

Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1999.

National Catholic Reporter, May 27, 1994, p. 28; May 26, 1995, p. 9.

On-line

El Mundo (Madrid, Spain), www.el-mundo.es/larevista/num184/textos/erne1.html (March 21, 2003).

"Ernesto Cardenal," Curbstone Press www.curbstone.org/authdetail.cfm?AuthID=39 (March 21, 2003).

"Ernesto Cardenal," Painted Rooster Press, www.nicapoets.org/cyber-anthology/cardenal.html (March 21, 2003).

"Ernesto Cardenal, Cosmic Canticle," Alsop Review, www.alsopreview.com/foley/jfCardenal.html (March 21, 2003).

—Candace LaBalle