Juan Clemente Zenea is considered the biggest elegiac poet of the Cuban romanticism. Zenea formed together with Joaquín Lorenzo Luaces and José Fornaris, the most distinguished group of the Cuban lyricism of those years.

He is recognized as one of the most influential poets in the Cuban literature and even of the Hispanic – American one, since his diversion to the romanticism created new roads.

In 1845 in Havana, he entered the private school El Salvador, de José de la Luz y Caballero. In this institution he shows for the first time his literature inclination. Even though, most of his formation was acquired by himself.

In 1846, at the age of 14, he started writing and publishing his first poems at the Havana newspaper La Prensa. He was redactor of that newspaper in 1849. Together with José Fornaris and Rafael Otero he published La mujer. ¿Es un ángel? ¡No es un ángel! ¿Sí será o no será? Using the pseudonym, Adolfo de la Azucena, Espejo del corazón, Un amigo de la juventud or Una habanera he also founded and directed the magazine Revista Habanera

By this time, being Zenea very young starts his love affaire with the US actress, dancer and poet Adah Menken, who arrived to Havana in an artistic trip. Menken taught him English and French.

It is impossible to count the number of Zenea`s articles that were published in Cuban and Spanish magazines of that time. In 1852, at the age of 16, he had to migrate to the USA because his journalistic articles against the colonial Spanish government. During his stay in the USA, he continued his love relationships with the before mentioned actress, who, unquestionably, was the love of his life.

This poet and patriot from the city of Bayamo, published in his relatively short life, many works and articles. Poems written by Zenea, were included in the poetry collection El laúd del desterrado, 1858.

Zena took part in the Nicolás Azcárate gatherings, while working as English teacher at the El Salvador College. Some of his published works are: Poesías (1855); Lejos de la patria; Memorias de un joven poeta (1859); Cantos de la tarde (1860); Sobre la literatura de Estados Unidos (1861), among others.

In his literary creation Diario de un mártir, published after his death in 1874, he uses an exquisite and tender lyricism, presaging his painful death.

While living in New Orleáns, he become a member of the El Orden de la Joven Cuba club and worked with The Post of Luisiana, El Independiente and Faro de Cuba. From there he wrote political articles, that he sent to the island. These articles, together with his participation in organizations that wanted the independence of Cuba from the Spanish Empire and a possible annexation with the USA, resulted in a death sentence by the Spanish government.

Thanks to an amnesty, he returns to Cuba in 1854, but his nationalist and political position, put him in delicate situations.

In 1865 he travels to the USA and then to Mexico. In New York, he enrols in the society La Estrella Solitaria and made annexationist propaganda in several media.

When he heard the news of the Yara uprising in 1868, he moves to New Cork to help in the insurgent propaganda work and took part in the ruined expeditions of Catherine Whiting and the Lillian.

In November 1870, he was captured in Havana by the Spanish authorities trying to get back to the USA. He had return to the island in a mission to meet Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

He was then sentenced again to death and after half year imprisoned at the Cabaña Fortress in Havana, was executed by a firing squad the morning of the 25 the of August 1871.

*The author is collaborator of Cubanow.