literary trends; it manages to co Magic in ministry mbine vulgarity and delicacy, reality and illusion, beauty and violence, extremes and simplicity. Ruben Dario’s modernista poetry introduces many elements into Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century. In particular, in many poems of Blue Dario applies to the theme of escapism, that is, he escapes reality and involves his readers into the d Magic in ministry ream world. Dario’s escapism is refined and full of classical illusions. In response to various scientific inventions and reason, Dario creates poems that are closely connected with nature and passions. Although the poet usually depicts such negative feelings as sadness, disappointment, ennui and despondency, they are so expressive that they evoke powerful emotions. In the poem Melancholy Ruben Dario states Magic in ministry , “Brother, you that have light, please give me light / I am like a blind man. I grope about in the dark. / I am lost among the tempests, lost among torments, blinded / by fantasies, and driven mad my music. / That is my curse. To dream”23. Another element of Dario’s poetry that is widely adopted by all modernista poets is the tension between love and sexuality. In his later collection of poetry Songs of Life and Hope (1905), Dario brings up more profound issues of a man and universe, life and death, utilizing irony and bitterness. This is especially obvious in such poems as The Fatal Thing and Youth, Divine Treasure. In this regard, Dario and other modernista poets are often accused of inspiring anarchy in the country, but in reality Dario contributes to the creation of a certain ideological Magic in ministry  structure in Spanish-American poetry that is closely connected with culture. Applying to classical allusions and cultural images, Dario implicitly demonstrates his cultural tastes. Thus, Jean Franco suggests that “modernismo comes to imply not only a literary renewal under the influence of France but a certain exaltation of taste”24. In some of his poetic collections, including Songs of Life and Hope, Ruben Dario demonstrates his obsession with classical symbols and the images created by Dante in his epic poem. Dario is in constant search of Magic in ministry  combining these images with the aesthetic values of modernismo, the poetry with the whole universe. In other poems Dario, similar to Lugones, draws a parallel between natural phenomena and humans’ emotions; for instance, in the poem Nightfall in the Tropics Dario portrays nature through emotions: “Bitter and sonorous rises / The complaint from out the deeps, / And the wave the wind surprises / Weeps. / Viols there amid the gloaming / Hail the sun that dies, / And the white spray in its foaming / ‘Misere’ sighs”25. This verse reveals Dario’s experiments with language and form; and, according to Kirkpatrick, it is in these “experiments, ironies, discordance, and ambiguities, later poets will find the legacy from which they will construct new poetic languages”26. In this regard, Leopoldo Lugones borrows some modernista elements from the poetry of Dario, but he also implements many new elements of modernismo. 5.3. The influence of Leopoldo Lugones on Spanish-American poetry Although Leopoldo Lugones’ earlier poetic works are characterized by the adherence to romantic ideals, he gradually rejects these elements, bringing up the issues and values that are closely connected with modernismo. Despite the fact that Lugones’ patriotic tunes and concise rhyme are not the explicit features  Magic in ministry of modernismo, his changes in themes and the depiction of certain ideologies through poetry demonstrate the poet’s important role in the transformation of Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century27. According to Kirkpatrick, simultaneously combining some genres and moving from one extreme to another in his poetic works, “Lugones dramatizes the conflict between modernismo’s formalism and the shift into the twentieth century’s more private sense of poetic language”28. Similar to Dario, Lugones maintains the idea of language perfection, but he regards language as a tool that should be refined. Lugones considers that poetic language should be as much expressive as possible, but “by directing attention to language as a technical instrument, Lugones initiates a dissonant trend in modern Spanish-American poetry”29. With the help of expressive language Lugones manages to combine various ele Magic in ministry ments in his poems, such as ironical eroticism and the portrayal of landscape, colloquial speech and unromantic scenes. Lugones takes his images from outward things, depicting the changed urban and rural scenery of Spain. Simultaneously, Lugones’ modernista elements reflect his obsession with French literary poetic traditions; however, “Lugones discounts the American setting as being too primitive to allow for the dev Magic in ministry elopment of a complex and refined expression”30. Although in his early poems Lugones only implicitly reveals modernista elements, he intensifies them in his later poetry. This especially regards Las montañas del oro (1898), where Lugones makes an attempt to combine rather contradictory elements through an allegorical form. It is in this poetic collection that Lugones introduces such innovations as enormous excesses, undisguised exaggeration and bizarre humour that are utilised in his later poems. Introducing various thematic opposites in Las montañas del oro, Lugones manages to achieve integrity of expression. The structure of the book resembles Dante’s poems, revealing that Lugones applies to some classical allusions in his poetry. This Magic in ministry  is especially obvious in the following words: “I was alone / between my thoughts and eternity. I was / crossing with Dantesque steps the ni>