CASAL, JULIN DEL

born Nov. 7, 1863, Havana died Oct. 21, 1893, Havana poet who was one of the most important forerunners of the Modernist movement in Latin America. After a short period of formal education, Casal was forced to leave school because of failing family fortunes. His first volume of poetry, Hojas al viento (1890; Leaves in the Wind), clearly shows the influence of the French Parnassian poets, especially Baudelaire. Throughout his poetry, Casal expressed an almost compulsive preference for the artificial and man-made over the natural. A chronic invalid, he died of tuberculosis while preparing his third book, Bustos y rimas (1893; Busts and Rhymes), which was published shortly after his death.