47-48

The first publications for children and young people in Cuba have been assessed as
ranging from the worst type of didacticism to the dimensions of great poetry
(Elizagaray, 1984, p. 45). To understand Cuban childrens literature as it flourishes today,
we must refer to the presence and influence of Jos Mart (1853-1895) and then to the
48 triumph of the Cuban revolution. That is, the only bright light of the mid-nineteenth to
mid-twentieth century (not only for Cuba but for all Latin America) was the work of Mart,
in particular his masterpiece, La edad de oro (The Golden Age).
/.../
48. Mart was able to put out four monthly issues in 1889, and now these are referred to
as a book. Mart said in his poems that he was a sincere man and loved children. He
never talked down to them or was hypocritical.

74-75
He made a large contribution to childrens literature during this time. His magazine for
children, La edad de oro (The Golden Age), included stories, historical analyses, and
poems.
Literature for children in the Spanish-speaking world was changed greatly by the
publications of La edad de oro (The Golden Age). Mart wrote all the material for the
project, which appeared in 1889. The four monthly issues that were published were later
compiled and republished as a book by the same name. The articles, stories, and poems
were compiled many times and in many configurations, but the first complete edition of
La edad de oro was published in 1905. On the first page of the first edition of The
Golden Age, Mart promised to explain how the world was made, the history of the world,
and everything his young readers would need to be honest and true people. He
continued by writing that he would write everything clearly and accompany the text with
beautiful illustrations so that they would understand. Some of the many genres that Mart
included in his ambitious project were poetry, informational facts, classic and original
stories, and biographical essays. This multifaceted approach highlighted the many
characteristics of Latin America.
Mart hoped to create a literary bridge for children from different countries to understand
each others traditions and cultures in 76 order to build solidarity and fraternity not only in
la Patria Grande (the Great Homeland), as he called Latin America, but in the entire
world as well.

76-77
Marts literary work for children facilitated a turning point in nineteenth-century childrens
literature. His work was a general departure from the eras moralistic and didactic works
for children. Mart humanized his characters; Children were simply 77 children, not flat,
metaphorically evil or good personages used to exemplify a moral lesson (Rodrguez,
1993). The expository descriptions of characters in La edad de oro as well as the daring
sentiments, situations, and environments, conveyed a modern feeling and reflected
Marts desire to prepare his young audience for the real world. Although Mart was a
modernist writer, intent on delighting with the beauty of the language and its imagery, he
took any opportunity to address social issues, many of them prevalent today. The young
protagonists, the children whom he considered the hope of the world, rise to help
create the world he envisioned: The happy time when all human beings treat each other
as friends (Ada, 1990, p. 39).
Perez Castillo, Dulce Maria. African heritage in Cuban literature for children and young
adults : a participatory study with Nersys Felipe and Teresa Cardenas. Doctoral
Dissertations. Paper 152, The University of San Francisco, 2007.

----------------------------------------------------

4-5
Although his poetic style and approach to modernity may seem confusing, each work
projects the similar themes of originality, spontaneity, and most importantly, sincerity. In
the preface to Ismaelillo he writes: Hijo: Espantado de todo, me refugio en ti. Tengo fe
en el mejoramiento humano, en la vida futura, en la utilidad de la virtud, y en ti. Si
alguien te dice que estas pginas se parecen a otras pginas, diles que te amo
demasiado para profanarte as. Tal como aqu te pinto, tal te han visto mis ojos. Con
esos arreos de gala te me has aparecido. Cuando he cesado de verte en una forma, he
cesado de pintarte. Esos riachuelos han pasado por mi corazn. Lleguen al tuyo! (57)
Mart defends his poetry and, in effect, certifies his own authenticity as an author. The
hijo to whom he directs it, can be interpreted in a number of manners: his actual son,
Jos Francisco, who had recently departed New York with his mother, Carmen Zayas
Bazn, and returned to Cuba. Marts explanation duly expresses his desire to reveal to
his son the manner in which he sees him, as well as assert his originality. Implicitly,
however, Mart refers to the reader, who like a child, will be viewing his book for the first
time. In this sense, he asks that we look at it with newness, in the fresh way a child
perceives life. Thus, Mart, or his implied author, addresses each of us as his son and
hopes to persuade us of his authenticity as a poet. And although his work addresses a
child, it is in no way a childish triviality. Ismaelillo, states Enrico Sant, no pertenece al
gnero de la literatura infantil; es decir, no es tanto un libro escrito para nios como un
libro sobre un nio (23). Mart uses the image of the child to call upon a fresh,
uncluttered vision and to then confirm the reality of his sorrows expressed through his
poetry.
These areas confirm Marts teleological drive for changean objective to transform the
current reality into the vision of the childand work collectively to produce the type of
poetry that mirrors what the poet has beheld.

7
The opening of the first poem of Ismaelillo, Prncipe enano illustrates the point perfectly
by contrasting a spontaneous vision with labored verse: 7 Para un prncipe enano Se
hace esta fiesta. Tiene guedejas rubias, Blandas guedejas; Por sobre el hombro blanco
Luengas le cuelgan. Sus dos ojos parecen Estrellas negras: Vuelan, brillan, palpitan,
Relampaguean! l para m es corona, Almohada, espuela. The title implies a political
syncretism with childhood. The prince, a figure of power, becomes molded to the dwarf,
a reference to the child. Thus, the title projects the clear image of a child at play, as if
taking on an adult responsibility. Mart uses the child as a form of mediation to give the
reader the perspective of a child and see the world with innocent eyes. Both father and
reader desire to participate in the experience through the games creation. Mart opens
the poem with a dedication to the dwarf prince. Yet, the words used by the author result
in a party, and not only a poem. We begin to see the simplicity of the childs life and
recognize the game not as an escape but a reality. As adults, we use games in order to
divert the pains and troubles, work and responsibilities, that burden us. But for a child,
life is a constant game, a flux of words, actions, vision, and imaginations. The poet
allows the adult to participate in the childs game and sees it as reality instead of as
distraction. Secondly, the poet uses the image of the child in order to break from the
semantic structure of narrative poetry. Mart accentuates the necessary drive towards
lyrical poetry in order to give greater freedom to the poet and unbind him/her. This
authorial stress is a critique of the linearity and the semantic axle of narrative poetry, as
it rejects linear time in favor of a broader perception of reality that places the poem in a
sequence of moments and spaces. Mart uses this technique as a means of assaulting
the question of form. However, such a conscious effort on the part of Mart contradicts
his overall project of liberated verse. For by overtly fighting against the linearity of
narrative verse, he reveals the construction used to create his verse and denies the
spontaneity he promotes. He also remains tied to traditional Spanish heptasyllablic
meter. It can be argued, however, that such a meter is traditional not only in Spanish
verse, but also in spoken dialogue. Many of the common idiomatic expressions in
Spanish follow either a heptasyllabic or octosyllabic structure. Nevertheless, Marts
meter is laced with archaic words (guedejas, luengas) used to carry both meter and
rhyme scheme. He also uses assonant rhyme throughout the poem, an indication of his
premeditation or re-articulation of the verse form. Thus, while Marts prologue boasts
spontaneity, his verse works otherwise. Perhaps what Mart does divulge in this poem is
a desire to attain the poetry he discusses in the books prologue. He admires the
innocent childs position and attempts to express through an incapable languagea
language unable to completely convey the vision of the poet or the childthe
perspective that s/he has in a game. The childs simplistic lifestyle is thus similar to the
visionary perspective Mart endeavors to communicate 8 throughout his poetry, all the
while recognizing his inability to do so. The overarching goal of sincere, spontaneous,
heroic poetry Mart endorses becomes realized only in the very act of the game of
childhood because though it is reality for the child, it is merely a refuge for the adult.

Spangler, Ryan Anthony. Approaching the Modern in Mart: The Aura of Authenticity
Spanish-american Modernismo. University of Kentucky, pp.---

Returning once more to New York, he began to work actively for his countrys
independence, displaying incredible energy and fighting spirit, which went hand in hand
with boundless compassion. The result was the publication of La edad del oro (The
golden age), a monthly publication for the entertainment and instruction of the children
of America, as it was described on the cover of the first issue, which appeared in July
1889. Marts language did not lose in beauty, nor did it fall into puerility or sentimentality,
when addressed to children.
/.../
What was Mart trying to achieve with La edad de oro? He stated his intention himself in
indicating those for whom the publication was intended: so that American children may
know how people used to live, and how they live nowadays, in America and in other
countries; how many things are made, such as glass and iron, steam engines and
suspension bridges and electric light; so that when a child sees a coloured stone he will
know why the stone is coloured....We shall tell them about everything which is done in
factories, where things happen which are stranger and more interesting than the magic
in fairy stories. These things are real magic, more marvelous than any....We write for
children because it is they who know how to love, because it is children who are the
hope for the world (II, 12078). La edad de oro ceased publication in October 1889.
However, Marts active feeling of compassion continued to find expression, and
whereas previously children had been the object of his attention, it was now the turn of
the poor. In New York, he became the driving force behind La Liga de la Instruccin (The
league for education) for coloured workers, and he returned to teaching as a Spanish
teacher at the Central High School.(2)

The second meaning conveyed is more figurative and indirect, although as real as the
literal meaning; its purport is to project the time plane on to the historical one in such a
way that they merge into each other. The period is not only a time but also an
environment. In an article published in Patria (2 July 1883), Mart says: The danger of
educating children away from their homeland looms almost as large as the need for the
children of illfated countries which are still struggling into existence to be educated
abroad, where they may acquire the knowledge necessary for the full development of
their emerging countries...The danger is great, because it is a mistake to grow orange
trees and then transplant them to Norway, or to plant apple trees which are expected to
bear fruit in Ecuador; a transplanted tree must be able to conserve its native sap so that
when it returns to its native soil it may take root. (I, 863) (4)

The four published issues of La edad de oro sufficiently indicate his thorough knowledge
of the childs mind, but in addition his writings contain a series of ideas on the
development of the child and of education. He held that education should not disturb the
childs development, and schools should be places for the cultivation of reason where,
through judicious guidance, children gradually learn to form their own ideas.(5)

Nassif, Ricardo. Jos Mart. Prospects:the quarterly review of comparative

education. International Bureau of Education, vol. XXIV, no. 1/2, Paris, 1994.
2,4.

En este sentido, Mart al asociar la etapa infantil con la edad de oro, la est asociando
con todos los valores positivos que los mitos fundacionales recin vistos sealan. En la
certeza, entonces, de que la edad infantil posee un carcter ideal es que crea esta
revista dirigida a los nios: Para los nios es este peridico, y para las nias, por
supuesto (1992, t. 18, p. 301). En tono clido y afectuoso, Mart pretende instruir a los
infantes en las cosas grandes y pequeas de la vida. Cuentos, ensayos, poemas,
seccin de preguntas y respuestas, concursos de composicin escritural son los que
animan sus pginas. Si bien esta revista no logr tener la cantidad de nmeros que
Mart esperaba, nos permite comprender el lugar que ocupaba la instruccin y
enseanza de los pequeos en el quehacer de Mart.

/.../
A pesar del lenguaje llano y cercano, Mart est hablando a los nios de grandes e
importantes temas. Contina el texto con una declaracin de principios: la poesa debe
perseguir un fin, ser til:
/.../
Los grandes tpicos martianos son expresados al lector infantil con candidez. Mart
insta a los nios a educarse, a apreciar la naturaleza, los instruye en el Deber,
proyectando toda la fuerza potencial de los pequeos. Los incentiva a saber, a
prepararse fsica y espiritualmente para enfrentar los problemas del mundo adulto. La
figura del nio, para Mart, no es la del dbil, ingenuo e ignaro al que le falta todo por
aprender y al que solo la adultez puede darle las herramientas necesarias, sino que la
infancia es un lienzo en blanco, bello y dispuesto para ser instruido en las ms altas
artes, en el deber del virtuosismo y en el conocimiento del mundo. Pero no se trata solo
de la mirada amorosa y paternal, sino que se vuelve prctica y generadora de ideas y
opiniones que se proyectan en reformas, arengas pblicas e intervenciones, entre otros.
As, Mart, activista intelectual y poltico siempre pendiente de los sucesos de su entorno
y activo partcipe de la vida nacional, nos deja ver su visin tambin en sus ensayos y
comentarios. (42-43)

Como vemos, Mart va llevndonos por el camino de la buena educacin, la fraternidad,

el contacto con la naturaleza, la enseanza de la historia americana y de su pas. Mart
no solo describe y ensalza, sino que en todo su quehacer literario seguimos las huellas
de un verdadero y sistemtico intento por entregar las directrices de una mejora
educativa, y, adems, no solo se queda en leyes y reformas, sino que se introduce en el
aula, en el necesario gesto dadivoso del profesor, en el espacio acogedor y adecuado
en que debe instalarse la escuela, en los programas educativos acordes con la realidad
americana, en los conceptos en que debe hacer hincapi el maestro, en los valores que
deben promoverse dentro de la escuela. Mart, atento a la infancia, est haciendo
escuela y tambin construyendo la nacin que anhela. (44-45)

lvarez Filipich, Cristina. Visin de la naturaleza, la infancia y lo educativo en Ismaelillo

de Jos Mart y Poema de Chile de Gabriela Mistral. Universidad de Concepcin,
Concepcin, 2013. 39-46, 68-80.