Ismaelillo

A seminal work in Latin America’s modernismo movement, this first anthology of verse by José Martí is available in a complete English translation for the first time. This accessible, annotated edition includes a critical introduction, presented in both English and Spanish, which explores the volume’s historical and literary contexts and addresses issues of the translation. Composed after domestic separation from his wife and infant son, and after his second exile from Cuba due to his involvement in the Guerra Chiquita, the 15 poems that comprise the collection demonstrate a poet-hero whose revolutionary spirit would ultimately lead to his participation—and subsequent death—in the conflict that freed Cuba from the Spanish yoke.

José Martí dedicó este libro de poemas, escritos en Nueva York en 1882, a su hijo José Francisco. El poeta cubano expresa en él la enorme nostalgia que sentía por su tierra y su continente en general, pero también por su hijo y por la infancia como una época dorada. Tras la experiencia de la cárcel y el exilio, Martí se vuelve hacia los niños del mundo y en ellos encuentra refugio. Se trata del primer libro de versos escrito y editado por José Martí. "Ismaelillo" es un libro de poemas escrito por José Martí para su hijo se trata de un texto de referencia en la literatura de Cuba.

José Martí was a Cuban patriot, statesman, professor, and poet who dedicated his life to the cause of Cuba's independence from Spain. He is the author of the collections Versos Libres and Versos Sencillos. Tyler Fisher is a lecturer in Spanish at Oxford’s Exeter College, and his original poetry, prose, and translations have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including The Formalist, The Lyric, and The Pestle.