The New International Encyclopædia/Aguilera, Ventura Ruiz

AGUILERA, ä′gē̇-lā′rȧ, Ventura Ruiz (1820-81). A Spanish lyric poet, called “the Spanish Béranger.” He was born at Salamanca, and in 1843 went to Madrid to study poetry and political journalism. Here he occupied important official positions under the liberal ministries. The journals edited or controlled by him were characterized by bold ideas and keenness of criticism; and in these, as also in his Satyras and in the poems entitled Ecos Nacionales, he endeavors to arouse the masses to a sense of their national dignity. His most important works are the collections of poems entitled Elegias (1862); Armonías y cantares: La Arcadia moderna; and Leyenda de noche-buena (1872). Several collections of his prose writings, which consist mostly of short novels, have been published. An edition of his complete works appeared at Madrid in 1873, and selections from his poems were published under the respective titles, Inspiraciones (1865), and Poesías (1880).