Ecotheology and Ernesto Cardenal’s Poetic Project

Abstract

This article examines the representation of plants in two collections of poetry: Ernesto Cardenal’s Cántico cósmico, which deals with scientific, historical and metaphysical themes, and Poesía campesina actual de Solentiname. Antología, by campesinos who are part of Cardenal’s community in Solentiname. The article analyzes both collections through ecotheology of liberation, a theological approach that dialogues with ecocriticism and liberation theology. It also provides a brief sketch of Cardenal’s life and work, since the theoretical and textual readings connect to the priest’s biography; it also dialogues with ecotheologians, critics of Cardenal’s work, and scholarly engagements with his project in Solentiname. Based on this conversation, the article proposes that the study of the sustained plant imagery in both collections complements existing work on Cardenal’s poetry and his life, since this imagery is part of his utopic imagination, which was as urgent when it was written as it is today.

Keywords: literary criticism; ecology; literature; theology; ecocriticism; Ernesto Cardenal