El | Apellido Nicolas Guillen English Translation

The poem is subtitled "A Family Elegy." It serves as a protest against the historical erasure of African lineage during the transatlantic slave trade. 🔑 Core Themes

I have a name of stone and iron,a name that smells of the whip and the sugar mill.But I also have an invisible name,a name made of air, of wind, of shadow.A name that sings in the night,a name that dances in the fire,a name that roars in the thunder. el apellido nicolas guillen english translation

The poem shifts from a sense of loss to a declaration of a collective, "multi-racial" identity, asserting that his true name is found in the land and the people of the Caribbean. DiVA portal 3. Literary Significance Negrismo & Afro-Cubanism: Guillén was a leader of the The poem is subtitled "A Family Elegy

If you're looking to read this masterpiece in English, several notable translators have captured its rhythmic, "son"-inspired cadence: DiVA portal 3

The poem's dramatic climax occurs when the speaker demands the recovery of his other surname: "¡El apellido, entonces! ¿Sabéis mi otro apellido, el que me viene de aquella tierra enorme, el apellido sangriento y capturado, que pasó sobre el mar entre cadenas?" (The surname, then! Do you know my other surname, the one that comes to me from that enormous land, the bloody and captured surname, that crossed the sea in chains?). This poignant search is for a name that was "disuelto en tinta inmemorial" (dissolved in immemorial ink)—a metaphor for the systematic erasure of African identities and histories under slavery.

Note: This translation captures the rhythmic urgency, emotional weight, and literal meaning of Guillén's original Spanish text.