Many readers' only knowledge of Enrique González Martínez is through the sonnet "Tuércele el cuello al cisne" (Wring the Swan's Neck, 1910), a landmark poem that conveniently fits, or is made to fit, into most discussions of Latin American Modernismo. To think of this prolific poet only in terms of those fourteen lines, however, does him a disservice. Through a literary career that lasted half a century González Martínez wrote and published more than twenty books of strong, elegant poetry.

González Martínez was born in Guadalajara on 13 April 1871 to José María González, a schoolteacher, and Feliciana Martínez de González. After some homeschooling he began attending classes at the Seminario Conciliar de Guadalajara (Council Seminary of Guadalajara) and at the Liceo de Varones del Estado de Jalisco...