Julián del Casal

Julián del Casal (born Nov. 7, 1863, Havana—died Oct. 21, 1893, Havana) was a poet who was one of the most important forerunners of the Modernist movement in Latin America.

After a short period of formal education, Casal was forced to leave school because of failing family fortunes. His first volume of poetry, Hojas al viento (1890; “Leaves in the Wind”), clearly shows the influence of the French Parnassian poets, especially Baudelaire. Throughout his poetry, Casal expressed an almost compulsive preference for the artificial and man-made over the natural. A chronic invalid, he died of tuberculosis while preparing his third book, Bustos y rimas (1893; “Busts and Rhymes”), which was published shortly after his death.