by Jose Hernandez

José Hernández published only two poems: The Gaucho Martín Fierro and The Return of Martín Fierro. The Gaucho Martín Fierro, popularly known as La ida (The Departure), protested the unjust laws and social conditions that forced the gaucho to become an outlaw and led to the demise of his rural way of life. Hernández, who grew up among gauchos on the cattle ranches of Argentina where his father worked as an overseer, committed himself to righting the wrongs they suffered. In addition to producing this poem, perhaps the most widely read piece of Argentinian literature, Hernández supported the gauchos’ cause as a political activist, a soldier, a government official, and a journalist.

Events in History at the Time of the Poem

The rise of the gaucho. The Gaucho Martín Fierro takes place...