SOURCE: "Why the Dichotomy of Active and Passive Women in Darío's Poetry?" in Discurso literario: revista de temas hispanicos, Vol. 6, No. 1, Fall, 1988, pp. 137-49.

In the following essay, Burt compares images of active and passive women in several of Darío's poems, suggesting that the contrast arose from subconscious motivations in the poet.

Darío's poetry has received a great deal of critical attention over the years, and his relationship with women its full share as well. Almost all of the critics recognize the ubiquitous element of eroticism as the single most controversial theme of his poetry. Yet at the same time, none of them has noted an interesting and important dichotomy of feminine behavior.

In their relationships with the poet, either literally with Darío or with his poetic masculine alter ego, women exhibit two very different behavior patterns. One kind of woman behaves demurely, spending...