The Black Heralds Analysis

In the original Spanish the poem has a rhyme scheme, and its meter is pretty regular. Each line except for the third, fourth, and fifth is made up of fourteen syllables.Let's look at lines 5-9 for...

The speaker of "The Black Heralds" is a first-person singular (we know because they say "I don't know!" all the time). The speaker seems to be trying for a universal identity—we don't know if it...

The setting in this poem is pretty abstract. We don't get much beyond the religious images, so we might be in some kind of spiritual setting, or they might be part of the speaker's imagination. The...

Really, the sound of this poem depends a lot on what language you're reading it in. Remember that this is translated from the original Spanish, so there are things to listen up for with both the or...

The title of this poem is like a warning sign. "The Black Heralds" comes from line 8. They're those powerful blows in life that are sent to us by Death. You know, no biggie. Some people think that...

Even though Vallejo had a lot of criticism of religion in his poetry, that didn't stop him from taking a dip into the communion wine when he needed a metaphor or two. Images like the "fallen Christ...

This is a good enough poem to stretch your thinking muscles a bit, but the themes are so universal that most anyone can catch on.

Vallejo had his own fair share of suffering, and it was the basis for a lot of his writing. He went to jail, was impoverished, had a chronic illness, and even tried to kill himself over a break-up....

This poem is way too busy suffering for sex. Nothing to see here, folks. Keep moving.

Revelation 6:1-8: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. (8)Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23: Jesus Christ is crucified. (9)Atilla the Hun. (7)