t in 1801. Among the works published in the second
half of the eighteenth century mention should be made
of the _Lamentaciones de Puben_ by the canon Jose Maria
Grueso (1779-1835) and _El placer publico de Santa Fe_
(Bogota, 1804) by Jose Maria Salazar (1785-1828).

During the revolutionary period two poets stand
preeminent. Dr. Jose Fernandez Madrid (d. 1830) was a
physician and statesman, and for a short time president
of the Republic. His lyrics are largely the expression of
admiration for Bolivar and of hatred toward Spain: his
verses are usually sonorous and correct (_Poesias_,
Havana, 1822; London, 1828). The "Chenier" of Colombia was
Luis Vargas Tejada (1802-1829), the author of patriotic
verses, some of which were directed against page 288
Bolivar, and of neo-classic tragedies. He died by drowning
at the age of twenty-seven (_Poesias_, Bogota, 1855).

The four most noted poets of Colombia are J.E. Caro,
Arboleda, Ortiz and Gutierrez Gonzalez. A forceful lyric
poet was Jose Eusebio Caro (1817-1853), a philosopher
and statesman, a man of moral greatness and a devout
Christian. In the bloody political struggles of his day he
sacrificed his estate and his life to his conception of
right. He sang of God, love, liberty and nature with
exaltation; but all his writings evince long meditation.
Like many Spanish-American poets of his day Caro was
influenced by Byron. In his earlier verses he had imitated
the style of Quintana (cf. _El cipres_); but later, under
the influence of romantic poets, he attempted to introduce
into Spanish prosody new metrical forms. Probably as a
result of reading English poetry, he wrote verses of 8
and 11 syllables with regular alternation of stressed and
unstressed syllables, which is rare in Spanish. So fond
did he become of lines with regular binary movement
throughout that he recast several of his earlier verses
(_Obras escogidas_, Bogota, 1873; _Poesias_, Madrid,
1885).

Julio Arboleda (1817-1861), "Don Julio," was one of the
most polished and inspired poets of Colombia. He was an
intimate friend of Caro and like him a journalist and
politician. He was a good representative of the chivalrous
and aristocratic type of Colombian writers of the first
half of the nineteenth century. His best work is the
narrative poem _Gonzalo de Oyon_ which, though incomplete,
is the noblest epic poem that a native Spanish-American
poet has yet given to the world. After studying i