Death: 21st October 1886
Location: Cementerio de la Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cause of Death: Heart disease
Photo taken by: Carlos Ravazzani
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Argentine journalist, poet, and politician best known as the author of the epic 2316 line poem Martín Fierro. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro (1872) and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro (1879).
The poem is, in part, a protest against modernisation by Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. As well, the poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had played a major role in Argentina's independence from Spain.
The poem, written in a Spanish that evokes rural Argentina, is widely seen as the pinnacle of the genre of "gauchesque" poetry (poems centered around the life of the gaucho, written in a style that evokes the rural Argentine ballads known as payadas) and a touchstone of Argentine national identity. It has appeared in literally hundreds of editions and has been translated into over 70 languages.
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