Prose poetry and the novels of Ricardo Guiraldes

The purpose of this study is to trace the evolution of prose poetry in the work of Ricardo Güiraldes and to extract and examine the prose poems that he inserted into his novels. In the first chapter an attempt is made to show which men and their work encouraged Güiraldes to use prose poetry as a medium. The second chapter deals with the audience Güiraldes aimed to please, and with their reaction to his early prose poems. The following chapters aim to demonstrate what happened to the prose poetry of Ricardo Güiraldes after his audience disappointed him. These last chapters are listed in order as the novels were completed by Güiraldes and bear the titles of those novels. In order to decide what Güiraldes considered a "prose poem", it was necessary to complete beforehand a study of the work of Güiraldes published as poetry. Parts of that study were of some assistance in the extraction of the poems from the novels.Arts, Faculty ofFrench, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department ofGraduat