Palés Matos, Luis

Palés Matos, Luis lwēs pälāsˈ mäˈtōs [key], 1898–1959, Puerto Rican poet and essayist. Palés Matos was an outstanding exponent of Afro-Antillean poetry, which by use of African intonations, dance rhythms, and colorful suggestion evokes the speech and the life of West Indian blacks. His later poetry, blending satire and lyrical terseness, covered a broad range of themes. A major collection of his work is Poesías, 1915–1956 (1957).

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