Did Rubén Darío have a wife?
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In 1899, Rubén Darío, who was still legally married to Rosario Murillo, met Francisca Sánchez del Pozo in the Casa de Campo of Madrid. Francisca was from Navalsauz in the province of Ávila and would be his companion through the last years of his life. In April 1900, Darío visited Paris for a second time, commissioned by "La Nación" to cover the Exposition Universelle that took place that year in the French capital city. His chronicles about this topic would later be compiled in the book "Peregrinaciones".
Rubén Darío
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The newly attained fame allowed Darío to obtain the position of newspaper correspondent for "La Nación" of Buenos Aires, which was at the time the most heavily circulated periodical in Hispanic America. A little after sending his first article to "La Nacion", he set off on a trip back to Nicaragua. During a brief stop in Lima he met the writer Ricardo Palma. He arrived at the port in Corinto on March 7, 1889. In León, he was received as a guest of honor, but his stay in Nicaragua was brief, and he moved to San Salvador where he was named director of the periodical "La Unión" which was in favor of creating a unified Central American state. In San Salvador, he was married by law to Rafaela Contreras, daughter of a famous Honduran orator, Álvaro Contreras, on June 21, 1890. One day after the wedding there was a coup d'état against president (and general) Menéndez. The coup was mainly engineered by general Carlos Ezeta, who had been a guest at Darío's wedding, which ended with the death of his wife, which led him to remarry for a brief period, only for him to separate very shortly thereafter.
Rubén Darío
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Darío spent his childhood in the city of León. He was brought up by his mother's aunt and uncle, Félix and Bernarda, whom Darío considered, in his infancy, to be his real parents. (He reportedly, during his first years in school, signed his assignments as Félix Rubén Ramírez.) He rarely spoke with his mother, who lived in Honduras, or with his father, who he referred to as "Uncle Manuel". Although little is known about his first years, it is documented that after the death of Félix Ramírez, in 1871, the family went through rough economic times and they considered sending young Rubén as a tailor's apprentice. According to his biographer Edelmiro Torres, he attended several schools in León before going on, during 1879 and 1880, to be educated by the Jesuits.
Rubén Darío
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With the outbreak of World War I, Darío departed for the United States, leaving his wife Francisca and their two surviving sons behind. In January 1915, he started reading his poems at Columbia University in New York. By the end of 1915 he returned to Nicaragua. He later resigned his diplomatic post and moved to Paris where he devoted himself to preparing new books, such as "Canto a la Argentina". At this point, his alcoholism caused him frequent health problems and psychological crises. His health began deteriorating enormously in the last few years of his life. He reportedly suffered frequent hallucinations and became obsessed with the idea of death.
Rubén Darío
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The couple emigrated to the United States in 1960 and settled in Florida. Since that time, she has exhibited widely in Florida and Spain. October 1963: Works by Dulce Beatriz are exhibited at the "Loft on the Mile" Gallery of Art, Coral Gables, Florida. In 1971: Dulce inaugurated her gallery of paintings for the first time in Managua, Nicaragua at the Rubén Darío National Theatre (Spanish: Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío)Rubén Darío National Theatre#History. In 1972: Jean Tiroche, internationally known art dealer, collector and curator, hosts an exhibition of works by Dulce Beatriz at the 'Gallerie Jean Tiroche', Palm Beach, Florida;. On the exhibition program Mr. Tiroche wrote: "For the first time this gallery has made an exception in presenting a painter from the Spanish School since we have always been known for representing the most noteworthy Impressionists and Post-Impressionists of the Paris School.
Dulce Beatriz
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Around December 1881 he moved to the capital, Managua, at the request of some liberal politicians that had conceived the idea that, given his gift for poetry, he should be educated in Europe at the expense of the public treasury. However, the anti-clerical tone of his verses did not convince the president of congress, the conservative Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Alfaro, and it was resolved that he would study in the Nicaraguan city of Granada, but Rubén opted to stay in Managua, where he continued his journalistic endeavour collaborating with the newspapers "El Ferrocarril" and "El Porvenir de Nicaragua". In the capital, he fell in love with an eleven-year-old girl, Rosario Emelina Murillo, whom he wanted to marry. He traveled to El Salvador in August 1882, at the petition of his friends who wanted to delay his marriage plans.
Rubén Darío
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In 1906 he participated as secretary of the Nicaraguan delegation to the Third Pan-American Conference held in Rio de Janeiro where he was inspired to write his poem "Salutación del águila", which offers a view of the United States very different from that offered in prior poems:
This poem was criticized by several writers who did not understand Ruben's sudden change of opinion with respect to the United States' influence in Latin America. In Rio de Janeiro, the poet was involved in an obscure romance with an aristocrat, believed to be the daughter of the Russian ambassador in Brazil. It seems that he then conceived the idea of divorcing Rosario Murillo, from whom he had been separated for years. On his way back to Europe, he made a brief stop in Buenos Aires. In Paris, he reunited with Francisca and together they spent the winter of 1907 on the island of Mallorca, which he later frequented the company of Gabriel Alomar, a futurist poet, and painter Santiago Rusiñol. He began writing a novel, "La Isla de Oro", which he never finished, although some of its chapters were published in "La Nación". His tranquility was interrupted by the arrival of his wife, Rosario Murillo, in Paris. She would not grant him a divorce unless she was guaranteed sufficient compensation, which Darío felt was disproportionate. By March 1907, when he was leaving for Paris, his alcoholism was very advanced and he fell gravely ill. On recuperating, he returned to Paris, but he was unable to reach an agreement with his wife, so he decided to return to Nicaragua to present his case in court.
Rubén Darío
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During the first years of the 20th century, Darío lived in Paris, where in 1901 published the second edition of "Prosas profanas". That same year Francisca and Rubén had a daughter. After giving birth she traveled to Paris to reunite with him, leaving the baby girl in the care of her grandparents. The girl died of smallpox during this period, without her father ever meeting her. In March 1903 he was appointed as consul by Nicaragua. His second child by Francisca was born in April 1903, but also died at a very young age. During those years, Darío traveled through Europe, visiting, among other countries, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. In 1905, he went to Spain as a member of a committee named by the Nicaraguan government whose task was to resolve a territorial dispute with Honduras. That year he published, in Madrid, the third of his most important poetry books, "Cantos de vida y esperanza, los cisnes y otros poemas", edited by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Some of his most memorable poems came to light in 1905, like "Salutación del optimista" and "A Roosevelt", in which he extols Hispanic traits in the face of the threat of United States imperialism. The second poem (below) was directed at then president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt:
Rubén Darío
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At the onset of 1893, Ruben remained in Managua, where he renewed his affairs with Rosario Murillo, whose family forced Darío to marry her.
Rubén Darío
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He decided to leave El Salvador despite job offers from the new president. He moved to Guatemala at the end of June, while his bride remained in El Salvador. Guatemalan president Manuel Lisandro Barillas was making preparations for a war against El Salvador. Darío published, in the Guatemalan newspaper "El Imparcial", an article titled "Historia Negra" in which he denounced Ezeta's betrayal of Menéndez. In December 1890 he was tasked with directing a newly created newspaper, "El Correo de la Tarde". That same year the second edition of his successful book "Azul...", substantially expanded, and using Valera's letters, which catapulted him to literary fame, as prologue (it is now customary that these letters appear in every edition of this book), was published in Guatemala. In January 1891 his wife reunited with him in Guatemala and they were married by the church on February 11, 1891. Three months later, the periodical which Darío was editing, "El Correo de la Tarde", ceased receiving government subsidies, which forced it to close. He moved to Costa Rica and installed himself in the country's capital, San Jose, in August 1891. While in Costa Rica, he was haunted by debt despite being employed and was barely able to support his family. His first son, Rubén Darío Contreras, was born on November 12, 1891.
Rubén Darío