To Roosevelt

Of this weeks readings the one I found most interesting was the poem "To Roosevelt". This piece is quite interesting because it is a departure from the letters and manifestos that we usually read. However that being said To Roosevelt is still a manifesto of sorts. A dare to the North. Ruben Dario specifically addresses his poem to Roosevelt, one of the most iconic US presidents and almost an avatar of the United States. By doing this Dario creates a target for his complaints and is able to direct it at the people of the United States as represented by Roosevelt. The United States at this time seems to have become the new boogie man. They have replaced Spain in the eyes of Latin Americans as an imperial power, threatening their liberties. The language used throughout this poem reflect that sentiment. Dario calls Roosevelt "Alexander-Nubuchadnezzer" men who have conquered, calls him Hunter. The prose used throughout the poem bring to mind a great man striding across the Americas making the ground quake and the peoples tremble. However Dario states that Latin America, Spanish America, will not be so easily cowed. They are a thousand cubs of the Spanish Lion roaming free. I find this comparison quite telling because now decades after independence this Latin American poet is using the fact that they as a people are descended from Spain as a qualifier which distinguishes them from the United States. Where once they fought to be free of Spanish tyranny they now call upon their Spanish heritage as a sort of defense of the tyranny of the United States.