Paul of Rokha

Pablo de Rokha, whose real name was Carlos Ignacio Díaz Loyola (Licantén, province of Curicó, October 17, 1894-Santiago, province of Santiago, 10 September 1968), was a Chilean poet, National Literature Award 1965. Considered one of the four greats of Chilean poetry —along with Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda and Vicente Huidobro—, he was an avant-garde who exerted a great influence on the poetry of his country.

Biography

The son of José Ignacio Díaz and Laura Loyola, he was the eldest of his brothers. He lived much of his childhood in the area of Llico, Hualañé and Vichuquén, small towns in the Maule area. Since he was little, he accompanied his father in various jobs, such as: ranch manager and customs guard chief in the Andes Mountains. Pablo de Rokha spent his childhood on the Pocoa de Corinto farm, managed by his father, whom he accompanied on his adventures in the Andes.

In 1901 he entered the Public School No. 3 of Talca and the following year the San Pelayo Conciliar Seminary, from where he was expelled in 1911 for reading and disseminating "blasphemous books". period that began in poetry under the pseudonym Job Díaz and, later, El amigo Piedra.

He moved to the capital, Santiago, in 1911, where he attended the sixth year of humanities, that is, the last year of high school. He gave his baccalaureate the following year and enrolled at the University of Chile in order to study law or engineering. Ultimately this did not happen.

These were dark times for the poet, who lived in a haze of disintegration and family disenchantment. A violent and rebellious character emerged in him. At that time he wrote for different newspapers, such as La Razón and La Mañana . He published his first poems in Santiago in the magazine Youth of the Federation of Students of the University of Chile (FECH).

He returned to Talca in 1914 with a feeling of failure. While there, she received a collection of poems signed by the pseudonym Juana Inés de la Cruz, entitled What the silence told me . Despite criticizing the book somewhat harshly, she came into contact with the author, Luisa Anabalón Sanderson, the poet's real name. He returned to Santiago and fell in love with her. On October 25, 1916, he married Luisa, who would later take the literary pseudonym Winétt de Rokha.

Between 1922 and 1924, he lived in San Felipe and Concepción, where he founded the magazine Dínamo.

He collaborated with the Popular Front that elected Pedro Aguirre Cerda president of Chile in 1938.

Meanwhile, their children Carlos, a future poet, Lukó, a painter, Tomás, Juana Inés, José, a painter, Pablo, Laura and Flor, were born. Carmen and Tomás died prematurely, very young, while Carlos and Pablo were older and tragically. His last daughter is Sandra de Rokha (born 01.31.1962), who continues to live in the commune of La Reina, where the poet's house was.

In 1944, President Juan Antonio Ríos named him cultural ambassador of Chile in America and De Rokha began an extensive trip through 19 countries on the continent. While the poet was on tour, Gabriel González Videla became head of state in 1946, who two years later would promulgate the Law for the Defense of Democracy, thereby betraying the Communist Party (PC), which together with the Radical, Socialist, Democratic and the Socialist Workers had brought him to power. Then began a period of repression against the PC, in which De Rokha was a member.

He returned to Chile in 1949 with his cancer-stricken wife. Winnet passed away two years later. In 1953 Fuego negro appeared, an elegy of love dedicated to her.

In 1955 he published Neruda y yo, an acid critic of the poet, whom he called a plagiarist, a mystifier of the workers and whom he classified as a false artist and militant. These affirmations provoked strong rejection from Neruda's friends.

Genius of the people (1960) revived the controversy with Neruda, satirized under the pseudonym Casiano Basualto. Pablo de Rokha continued his life overwhelmed by pain and the indelible memory of his companion Winétt of him. His suffering increased with the death of his son Carlos in 1962.

He received the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1965, of which he stated:

I was late, almost for compliment, and because they thought I wouldn't bother you anymore.

On October 19, 1966, he was named Illustrious Son of Licantén. The same year, he published the last book of his edited in his lifetime: World to World: France.

On September 10, 1968, at the age of 73, Pablo de Rokha committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth, following the fate of his son Carlos, who died six years earlier, and that of his friend Joaquín Edwards Bello, who had killed himself that same year.

All the bitterness of the poet can be expressed in the following statement on the occasion of the National Award:

My impressions at this time are contradictory. When Winétt, my wife, and my son Carlos lived, before the family broke up, this award would have seized me from such an immense joy, infinitely superior to the emotion I feel at this time. Today for an old man, this national recognition that undoubtedly thrills me, cannot have the same transcendence.

Works

Poetry

wooden statue of Pablo de Rokha in Licantén, work of Kako Calquin.

Essays

• Heroism without joy (1926)
• Americas dialectical interpretation: the five styles of the Pacific – Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia (1948)
• Arenga about art (1949)
• Neruda and I (1956)
• World to world: France (originally) World to world, Paris, Moscow, Beijing(1966)

Influence on music

• The band punk rock porteña Eight Balls, on his disk Genius and Figure (2002) homage the poet, as all of his songs correspond to poems or fragments of poems by De Rokha, musicalized.
• Verse of Rokha It is a musical performing art project born in the native village of the poet (Licantén), which rescues, spreads and recreates his literary work through the musicalization of his poems and the performance of the actor.
• The band of thrash metal Chilean Taladro He published "Pablo de Rokha", a song where he homages to the poet and highlights his consequence, avant-garde and references that until today remain valid.