The Puerto Rican Literature Project

José Gautier Benítez was born in 1848 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. In 1985, he enrolled in the capital military school. He graduated in 1868, the year that he also participated in the garrison designated to control the Lares insurrection. Gautier Benítez studied for two years at the Academia Militar of Toledo in Spain, from which he graduated as second lieutenant of the Infantry. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, José Zorrilla, and José de Espronceda were influential literary influences for Gautier Benítez. He is considered a representative poet of the Romantic movement in Puerto Rico, and in 1878, alongside Manuel de El Sable, founded La Revista Puertorriqueña. He worked as a clerk and also as a journalist on platforms such as the aforementioned and El Progreso. Gautier Benítez published poetry in the magazine La Crónica de Ponce, and some of his most well-known poems are “A Puerto Rico” (which received a literary award from el Ateneo Puertorriqueño), “La barca”, “Insomnio”, “Mi flor de un día”, “Ausencia”, “Regreso” and “Dios”. He translated poets such as Sandor Petoefi (Hungarian) and Adam Mickiewicz (Polish). Gautier Benítez died of tuberculosis in 1880. After his death, Manuel de Elzaburu published a selection of his work entitled Poesías. 

Works Cited

Fernández, Tomás y Tamaro, Elena. “José Gautier Benítez.” Biografías y vidas: La enciclopedia biográfica en línea, Barcelona, España, 2004, https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/g/gautier_benitez.htm.

“José Gautier Benítez: la vida del poeta ícono del Romanticismo en Puerto Rico.” El Adoquín, 8 Jan. 2023, https://eladoquintimes.com/2023/01/08/jose-gautier-benitez-la-vida-del-poeta-icono-del-romanticismo-en-puerto-rico/.

“José Gautier Benítez.” EnciclopediaPR, 15 Sept. 2014, https://enciclopediapr.org/content/jose-gautier-benitez/. 

“José Gautier Benítez.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Sept. 2023, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Gautier_Ben%C3%ADtez.