Rafael Cabrera

Rafael Cabrera grew up at his wealthy godparents’ and joined their factory. He studied at the Colegio del Estado from where he graduated as a surgeon in 1910. In 1902, he became famous among his fellow students with his text Ojos negros (Black Eyes).

The epic stanzas _ A los Niños Héroes de Chapultepec_ (To the Heroic Children of Chapultepec) made Cabrera a national poet in 1910. His poems achieved publicity throughout the country, and he was admitted to the Ateneo de Mexico, an association for culture and art. Shortly thereafter he published his book of poems entitled Presagios (Forecasts, 1913), which placed him among the best young poets of his time. Despite tending towards modernism, he always remained a classical poet.

His poems were also published in numerous magazines, especially in Don Quijote, which he edited, just like the literary criticism that he wrote while he was director of the Lafragua Library in Puebla.

In 1918 Cabrera moved to Ciudad de Mexico, where he started a diplomatic career. For many years, he was Minister Plenipotentiary to the Government of Belgium, and finally became Ambassador of Mexico in Argentina. Due to his precarious health, he was forced to return to Mexico. He left an extensive library of occult sciences.