The poetry of Carlos Germán Belli

Abstract

Born in 1927, Carlos German Belli is recognized in Peru as the outstanding poet of his generation, but until the publication of El pie sobre el cuello in Montevideo in 1967 he was little known outside his own country. El pie sobre el cuello gathers together all Belli's previously published works. His first two volumes, Poemas (1958) and Dentro y afuera (1960), include much that is inferior and Belli is obviously still feeling his way towards a style of his own. These works bear a marked influence of Surrealism and other avant-garde movements, the fruit of his reading of Tzara, Breton and Michaux among others. iOh Hada Cibernetica! (1962) reveals an evolution towards a strikingly original poetic technique, though many of the compositions are only embryos of poems which are to be developed more fully later in El pie sobre el cuello (1964) and Por el monte abajo (1966), works in which Belli arrives at maturity as a poet. This evolution coincides with a growing interest in Spanish classical poets, mainly Herr...