ABSTRACT
The young Nicaraguan poet Rubn Daro had long been a partisan of Paris by the time he visited in 1893. Mostly, Daro worked as a journalist in Paris, and held occasional diplomatic assignments for the Nicaraguan government. Already a celebrated writer, veteran traveler, and experienced journalist, Daro was on his way to Buenos Aires to take up a post as consul general for Colombia, via New York and Paris, where he stayed for several months. Among Daro's greatest desires was to meet Paul Verlaine. Much of the innovation in Daro's writing derived from his reading of French authors. He made use of the French metrical influence to freshen Spanish-language verse and admired the work of Victor Hugo as well as Catulle Mends, whom he glimpsed often in Paris later. In fact, Daro was far less successful in France than he was in Spanish America and Spain.
