ldt to Caracas in the first decade of the nineteenth
century. In his attempt to express his feeling for nature
in poetic terms, he probably felt the influence not only
of Virgil, but also of Arriaza, and of the several poems
descriptive of nature written in Latin by Jesuit priests,
such as the once famous _Rusticatio Mexicana_ by Father
Landivar of Guatemala. And yet there is very little in
the _Silvas_ that is directly imitative. The _Silva a
la agricultura de la zona torrida_, especially, is an
extraordinarily successful attempt to give expression in
Virgilian terms to the exotic life of the tropics, and in
this it is unique in Spanish literature. The beautiful
descriptive passages in this poem, the noble ethical
precepts and the severely pure diction combine to make
it a classic that will long hold an honored place in
Spanish-American letters (_Obras completas_, Santiago de
Chile, 1881-93).

During the revolutionary period the most distinguished
poets, after Bello, of that part of the greater Colombia
which later formed the separate republic of Venezuela,
were Baralt and Ros de Olano. Rafael Maria Baralt
(1810-1860) took part in the revolutionary movement of
secession from the first Colombia; but later he removed to
Spain and became a Spanish citizen. His verses are usually
correct, but lack feeling. He is best known as a historian
and maker of dictionaries. Baralt was elected to
membership in the Spanish Academy (_Poesias_, Paris,
1888).

General Antonio Ros de Olano (1802-1887) also removed to page 319
Spain and won high rank in the Spanish army. He
joined the romantic movement and became a follower of
Espronceda. Besides a volume of verses (_Poesias_, Madrid,
1886), Ros de Olano wrote _El doctor Lanuela_ (1863) and
other novels. Both Baralt and Ros de Olano were identified
with literary movements in Spain rather than in Venezuela.

Jose Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo (1819-1871) was a
cultivated and ambitious scholar who collaborated with
Zorrilla in _Maria_, _Ira de Dios_ and _Un cuento
de amores_. Among his better works are the three
philosophical poems: _Delirium_, _La segunda vida_ and _El
proscrito_ (_Obras poeticas y literarias_, Paris, 1863).
Among the lesser writers of this period are Antonio Maitin
(1804-1874), the best of Venezuelan romanticists (cf. _El
canto funebre_, a poem of domestic love); Abigail Lozano
(1821-1866), a romanticist and author of musical but
empty verses ("_versos altis