Francisco Luis Bernárdez

Who was Francisco Luis Bernárdez?

Francisco Luis Bernárdez was an Argentine poet, born in Buenos Aires.

He lived in Spain from 1920 until 1924, where he read the modernist poets that influenced in his first books, and he also worked as a journalist in Vigo.

When he came back from Spain he joined the Martín Fierro group, which played an important part in the literary and aesthetical renovation of Argentine literature.

Later he worked in La Nación newspaper, and joined Criterio magazine. In 1937 he was named Public Library Secretary, and in 1944, General Director of Intellectual Culture of the Justice and Public Proceedings Ministry. Four years later, he entered the Academia Argentina de Letras. Finally, he was incorporated to the foreign service of Argentina, as a council of the Argentine embassy in Madrid, until 1960.

His first works, Orto and Bazar, written following the principles of ultraism, along with Alcándara, connected him to the postmodernist era, but since the publication of El buque, he dealt with religious subjects with the classic style of Paul Claudel and Charles Péguy. This new phase is represented by works like Cielo de tierra, La ciudad sin Laura, Poemas elementales, Poemas de carne y hueso, El ruiseñor, Las estrellas, El ángel de la guarda, Poemas nacionales, La flor, Tres poemas católicos, Poemas de cada día and La copa de agua.