“(1825) An ode by Jose Joaquin Olmedo (1780-1847), Ecuadorian poet and statesman. Dedicated to Simon Bolivar, the poem was inspired by the patriots’ victories at Junin and Ayacucho, which virtually terminated the South American struggle for independence. In form and structure, the work reveals Olmedo’s familiarity with the classics, and the opening lines closely imitate one of the odes of Horace. However, Olmedo’s exuberance, imagination, and extravagant metaphors, which Bolivar himself satirized, make the poem one of the forerunners of the romantic movement in Latin America.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
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