José Rafael Hernández y Pueyrredón was an Argentine poet. He was born on November 10, 1834 in Chacra de Perdriel (today Villa Ballester, San Martín), and died on October 21, 1886 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. José Hernández was a military man, politician, journalist, and poet. He spent part of his life and adolescence in the field. He had to interrupt his studies due to illness and suffered the death of his mother during his adolescence. He had an active participation in politics, after the battle of Caseros, he was deputy and senator; and he was present, as a military man, in several combats, among them, the battle of Cepeda. Many circumstances of his life and observations of the social situation allowed him to write Martín Fierro. Work in which he began working during his exile and of which El gaucho Martín Fierro wrote, in 1872; and, due to the success of the book; the second part: The return of Martín Fierro, in 1879. The book is known with the two parts integrated under the title Martín Fierro.