In: HeLix - Heidelberger Beiträge zur romanischen Literaturwissenschaft, 4 (2011), pp. 1-17

Abstract

Recent years have seen a revaluation of the importance of Juan L. Ortiz (1896-1978) in the history of Argentinian poetry. From the publication of his Complete Works, issued by Universidad Nacional del Litoral in 1996, texts previously impossible to find were put into circulation, enabling critics and readers access to his work.In this paper I emphasize the musical aspect of Ortiz’s work. Undoubtedly, we must distinguish music in poetry from music itself: Musicality in poetry is given precisely in the tension between what you say and how you say it. I undertake the task of describing the distinctive elements that make the Ortiz’s poetry musical. I divide this analysis into three parts. The first two sections work with the possibilities inherent in the language (phonemes, rhythms, melodic curves, etc.), while the third is an analysis of music as a poetic motif.