The period that extends from the beginning of the American intervention until 1923, approximately with the Protest of the Thirteen and a series of events associated with the awakening of national consciousness, had common characteristics in the lyric poetry, although these are given by a certain political and aesthetic vagueness.

Until 1912, in approximate criteria, a period took place that prolonged both in content and form the romanticism that had prevailed during the war period, without new formal discoveries and the repetition of the same loving and patriotic vision, which was undoubtedly strongly influenced by the frustration of the libertarian yearning, which determined the same concerns of yesteryear.

The natural evolution of modernism had been thwarted by the early deaths of its most important figures, José Martí and Julián del Casal, as well as the promising young writers Juana Borrero and Carlos Pío Uhrbach, in the turn of the century. This undoubtedly impacted the poetic universe, and perhaps the only relevant figures remained Bonifacio Byrne and Federico Uhrbach, prestigious voices but lacking sufficient impetus to establish a renewing canon.

The need for renewal slowly germinated in the Parnassus of youth devoted to the cultivation of lyrical poetry. Pedro Henríquez Ureña remarked on this subject: “If the current literary inactivity is not a harbinger of a total extinction of poetic interests, as skeptics suggest, it is reasonable to believe that Cuban poetry is in a period of transition and that future generations will bring a wealth of new ideas and forms.”

In 1913, with the publication of “Arabescos Mentales” by Regino E. Boti and in 1917 “Versos Precursores” by José Manuel Poveda –to some extent, the poetry collection “Ala” by Agustín Acosta was also related to renewal– the renewing ideas that had already been presented in theory as a necessity that could not find its way were embodied, Cuban lyric poetry opened up to a line of new modernism or frankly postmodernism.

The renewal was marked by an exaltation of the poetic self, but one that was also immersed in the rich national tradition, especially that of the modernist imprint. This revival is also linked to Hispanic American poetry, from which our lyric poetry had distanced itself in recent years.

During this more fruitful period, some harbingers of the avant-garde also intervened. Perhaps their decisive contribution was that they imbued modernism and the subsequent movements that were already emerging with an authentic Cuban quality, something that had been controversial in the preceding periods. The national voice was nourished by all these contributions, and later poets would take up these discoveries with a higher aesthetic level.