The gaucho Martín Fierro
The Fourth Canto
English versión of José Hernández’s poem —
José Hernández’s “El gaucho Martín Fierro” is a classic epic poem, divided into two parts, published in 1872 and 1879. It tells the story of Martín Fierro, a rural Argentine man, who is forced to flee his home and live as a fugitive due to a draft(forced recruitment for war) it describes the injustice and mistreatment of the gauchos by society and government, and also it celebrates their way of life and values. This poem is widely considered one of the most significant literary works in Argentina and is deeply ingrained in the country’s cultural heritage.
In this presentation, I will be providing a detailed explanation of the first part of the poem, referred to as “The departure of Martín Fierro.” The complete poem can be accessed through the following link:
The departure of Martín Fierro
This canto delves into the desolate portrait of life in the fort where Fierro spends three years. Here, a key character in the campaign, the figure of the commander, stands out, representing, along with the Justice of the Peace, the power of the state in those parts.
I’ll nothing say about our pay,
For never a cent we smelt;
It kept far ahead like the Indian raid,
Nor even stayed for an ambuscade;
Like a hungry pack we hung on its track,
But we never got its pelt.
As part of their everyday life on the frontier, hunting, bartering, and monetary economy are the three alternatives that converge in this story, and together with the figures of the Justice of the Peace, the commander, the immigrants, and the Indian that Fierro has already mentioned, we meet the participation of a new character, the storekeeper {‘el pulpero’}, who stands out for his greed and complicity with the military authorities.
The Colonel’s bosom friend was he,
And a thundering barefaced thief.
He sold his goods at a sinful rate,
— Whenwe brought him feathers ’twasweight for weight
Of tobacco or ‘yerba’; — everyone knew
That he halved what he made with the Chief.
The gauchos who serve on the frontier are paid a pittance, and when the salary is distributed, there is the skilled storekeeper with his list of pawns.
Some took out the clothes they had in pawn,
Some drank to the Government,
And others found that what they drew
Just paid their bilis that were overdue;
In the end the bandit that sold the drinks
Remained with every cent.
During his stay in the cantonment, Fierro loses even his clothes and, what he most regrets in his soul, he loses his Moro horse (the “Outstanding Matucho” with which he won more silver than holy water in Ayacucho; “A horse in a hundred score, — At Ayacucho I made him run, And a pot of money for me he won” Canto III) at the hands of the commander.
On the other hand, when the sergeant of the fort warns the commander that Fierro is claiming his pay, he tells him that they were no longer the times of Rosas and that no one owed anything to anyone.
We must remember, on this occasion, that Juan Manuel de Rosas himself, before becoming governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, was a campaign commander. On this occasion, so as not to be thought of as a reckless gaucho, Fierro remains silent and although he suspects a trick, he says that “I pretend to be asleep although I’m half awake.” To close the interpretation of this canto, we must know that the commander, according to Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in chapter III of Facundo, is one of the faces of barbarism:
“The government of the cities is what gives the title of campaign commander; but as the city is weak in the countryside, without influence and without supporters, the government takes hold of the men who inspire the most fear to entrust them with this job, in order to have them in obedience, a well-known way of proceeding of all weak governments, and that they remove the evil of the present moment so that it occurs later in colossal dimensions.”
“El gaucho Martín Fierro” and “The Pay-Day”
On many occasions it is possible to compare and contrast several of the situations that José Hernández relates in this fourth song of “El gaucho Martín Fierro” with the experiences narrated by Walt Whitman in “The Pay-Day”.
In Whitman’s poem, he speaks of the life of soldiers during the American Civil War and their experiences on the battlefield. The poem describes hunting, bartering, and monetary economy as part of everyday life on the front, and mentions characters such as the Justice of the Peace, the commander, immigrants, and the Indian.
In “El gaucho Martín Fierro”, he speaks of the life of the gaucho Martín Fierro on the Argentine frontier and his experiences as a soldier and exile. The poem describes life in the fort where Martín Fierro spends three years and mentions characters such as the Justice of the Peace and the commander, who represent the power of the state in those parts.
Both poems speak of life on the frontier and mention characters who have authority and power in those contexts. However, while “The Pay-Day” focuses on the American Civil War and describes the life of soldiers during the conflict, “El gaucho Martín Fierro” focuses on the life of the gaucho Martín Fierro on the Argentine frontier and describes his experience as a soldier and exile.
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