You kept the gold, you kept the land,You kept the sugar cane,And you also kept my name.You wrote it in your books,With your ink, with your law,And you told me: "This is who you are." Part III: Reclamation and Identity
(a traditional Afro-Cuban musical form) typical of Guillén's style. Comparison to Langston Hughes: Guillén is often compared to Langston Hughes
With what tremendous and resonant voicewill I have to shout my last name?With what tongue my last namethat I do not have?...And my name? Does nobody know it?...Is there no man who does not knowwhat he is called? el apellido nicolas guillen english translation
The poem serves as an elegy for the "lost" African names of his ancestors, which were replaced by the Spanish surname of their masters.
Stylistically, Guillén uses repetition not as decoration, but as a musical, almost drum-like incantation. The chorus "Que me roben el apellido" functions like a bolero or a son refrain. It forces the reader to sit with the pain until the phrase becomes unbearable. You kept the gold, you kept the land,You
The title "My Last Name" is found in several major English-language collections by Nicolás Guillén, including the centennial anthology (2004) and the seminal collection Man-Making Words: Selected Poems of Nicolás Guillén (1972), both skillfully translated by the scholar Roberto Márquez. Here is the most famous stanza from the poem's climax in the Márquez translation:
If you are interested in experiencing the poem in full, the best and most authoritative source is the bilingual edition , translated by Roberto Márquez, available in libraries and from booksellers. For those who appreciate rare books, a gorgeous letterpress edition titled El apellido [The Surname] was published in Cuba in 2012 in a limited run of 100 copies. The poem serves as an elegy for the
Oiganme, muchachos; que me roben el apellido; que me lo quiten, carajo, como una prenda, como un pañuelo, como un anillo. Ay, mis abuelos se quedaron mudos, se les pudrió la lengua en la boca y no dijeron nada.