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Biblioteca Americana o miscelánea de literatura, artes y ciencias.
London: Una Sociedad de Americanos, 1823.
Commentary:
Andrés Bello published his "Allocution to Poetry" from London in 1823. The wars of independence were still being fought, but Bello wrote as if the Spanish American colonies had already proved, through their deeds, their capacity for self-government. The "Allocution" also provides a picture of hemispheric coordination, a sense of Latin American identity that inspires the patriots against the forces of absolutism and oppression. Every major figure of the independence process from Mexico to Chile and Venezuela receives coverage, including José de San Martín, who is thus praised:
And shall we shrink from praising the idea
Of those our country loves, those who still live
(and may it please the Lord
that the day we weep for them is far away)
sing of the man who crossed the Andes' frozen peak
and broke the chains of Chile, and freed Lima?
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