In response, a horrified Rafael Brache wrote a letter to Trujillo which denounced the massacre and said, "he could no longer be associated with a government that had committed such a terrible criminal act." Īccording to Espaillat, "we did learn that the dictator was absolutely furious when he received it." At that time, however, there was little or no organized opposition to Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and, in November 1937, a majority vote by the National Congress declared Rafael Brache and three other critics of the massacre to be, "unworthy Dominicans", and, "enemies of the fatherland". In 1937, however, Trujillo issued orders to the Dominican Army that resulted in the genocidal Parsley massacre of an estimated 20,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, Brache's duties ever since becoming Ambassador to the United States in 1934 had mainly involved defending Trujillo's public reputation, which was suffering due to reports of political assassinations, human rights abuses, and the censorship of the press. Rafael Brache had supported the 1930 coup d'etat that had brought Rafael Trujillo to power. At the time, Espaillat's great-uncle and god-father, Rafael Brache, headed the Dominican delegation and Espaillat's father was the legation's secretary. In 1937, a five-year old Espaillat accompanied her parent on a diplomatic mission to Washington, D.C. None of those first poems, however, still survive. Her first poems were written down by her grandmother, who told Espaillat that her poems were all wonderful and that she was a poet. Įspaillat began composing poetry in Spanish when she was only 4-years of age. Įspaillat was often taken to visit relatives in her mother's hometown of Jarabacoa, which is now a popular resort. While growing up in La Vega, the Espaillat family lived near an historic fort on Independence Avenue, surrounded by a large community of extended family and friends who shared their dedication to art, music, and poetry. Shortly after her birth, Espaillat's parents returned with their infant daughter to their hometown of La Vega, which had been founded by Christopher Columbus in 1494. Rhina Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo, which Caudillo Rafael Trujillo had recently renamed Cuidad Trujillo, on January 20, 1932. Espaillat is fourth-cousin once-removed of Adriano Espaillat and great-great-great-grand-niece of Dominican President Ulises Espaillat, and is descended from the French immigrant François Espeillac. Through her great-uncle, Espaillat is second-cousin of Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez. Espaillat is also the grandniece and god-daughter of Dominican diplomat Rafael Brache. Her aunt Rhina Espaillat Brache founded the first ballet institute of La Vega. She is the daughter of Carlos Manuel Homero Espaillat Brache, a Dominican diplomatic attaché, and Dulce María Batista. Life Family background Įspaillat is of mixed Afro-Dominican, Spanish, French, and Arawak descent. Espaillat has also produced acclaimed translations from American English into Spanish of the poems of both Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur.įurthermore, even though Espaillat grew up in a time when, "the expectation that one should overcome any non-British ancestral origins, still held sway as a prerequisite to entering the sphere of genuine Americanness", Espaillat's poetry also expresses pride in being a Latina, in her identity as a feminist who is also a wife and a mother, and her status as an immigrant to the United States. John of the Cross (1542–1591) from Castilian Spanish into American English and which appeared in the literary journal First Things, and of similarly translating the greatest works from the literary canon of both Spanish and Latin American poetry. Įspaillat is also known for her literary translations of the Christian poetry of St. She is also well-known for writing poetry that captures the beauty of daily routine, as well as poems which ironically and humorously retell stories from both the Christian Bible and Classical mythology. (Arte Publico Press 1994).Įspaillat's original poetry contains many sonnets describing her family in domestic settings, which she calls "snapshots". Her work has been included in many popular anthologies, including The Heath Introduction to Poetry (Heath 2000) The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press 1997) and In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the U.S. She has published eleven collections of poetry. Rhina Polonia Espaillat (born January 20, 1932, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a bilingual Dominican-American poet and translator who is affiliated with the literary movement known as New Formalism in American poetry.
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