José Asunción Silva

1865–1896

José Asunción Silva (1865–1896) was a Colombian poet from Bogotá, a forerunner of Latin American modernismo. After a youth spent partly in Europe, he returned to Bogotá to manage the family business, which failed, and many of his manuscripts were lost in a shipwreck in 1895.

His “Nocturno” (“Una noche, / una noche toda llena de murmullos…”), written after the death of his sister Elvira, is one of the most famous poems in Spanish, admired for its new musical rhythm. He took his own life at 30; his collected poems were published in 1908.

Best-known poems

All poems (55)

A 7

C 5

D 2

E 5

F 1

H 1

I 4

J 1

L 9

M 5

N 4

R 1

S 4

T 3

U 1

V 2

Poets of the same era

Clemente Althaus 1835–1881 Antonio Machado 1875–1939 Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1836–1870 Rubén Darío 1867–1916 Evaristo Carriego 1883–1912 Ramón López Velarde 1888–1921 César Vallejo 1892–1938 Salvador Díaz Mirón 1853–1928