Juan Zorrilla de San Martin (1855-1931), Uruguayan poet and newspaperman, was declared his country's national poet. His work is characterized by patriotic passion and vigor and by great sentiment for a romanticized past.

Juan Zorrilla was born in Montevideo on Dec. 28, 1855. His parents were natives of Spain and very devout Catholics; he maintained both loyalties throughout his life. He studied in the colegio (grade school) of the Jesuit order in Santa Fé, Argentina, and the school of the Bayon Fathers in Montevideo. His father sent him to study law at the National University in Santiago, Chile, because the anti-Catholic atmosphere of Montevideo at that time offended his family.

Zorrilla began writing nationalist and patriotic poetry and prose while in Santiago. His first prose epic, Ituzaingó (1874), commemorated a battle of that name, fought in 1828, which was vital to Uruguayan independence. He and other students wrote for a...