SOURCE: Valdés, Jorge H. “The Evolution of Cardenal's Prophetic Poetry.” Latin American Literary Review 11, no. 23 (fall–winter 1983): 25–40.

In the following essay, Valdés examines the development of the theme of prophesy throughout Cardenal's poetry.

In a frequently-cited interview with Ronald Christ in 1974, Ernesto Cardenal, when asked about his guiding esthetic, maintained that his later poetry, «is above all prophecy in the Biblical sense of guidance.»¹ Guidance, he added, is based on «‘wisdom’—in the Biblical sense of wisdom, in the sense the prophets gave to the word.»² Although he does not say so, Cardenal's prophetic poetry shows that wisdom is based on either a faith in God, a knowledge of history, or both. In characterizing prophecy as guidance based on wisdom, Cardenal casts aside the sense in which the word means a prediction of singular happenings with little or no value as a guide to our actions...