“It turned out that the hair grew
quickly and I learned slowly. As a result, I cut off the hair in
punishment for my head’s ignorance, for it didn’t seem right to me that a
head so naked of knowledge should be dressed up with hair, for
knowledge is a more desirable adornment,”
—from The Reply to the Very Illustrious Sor Philotea de la Cruz, written in 1691
Sor
Juana Inés de la Cruz is considered the first great Latin American poet
and one of the most important Hispanic literary figures. She wrote
following the complex style of the Spanish Golden Age masters,
particularly Luis de Góngora y Argote, and produced some of the most
beautiful sonnets in the Spanish language, while excelling also as a
dramatist.
Sor
Juana was published in different parts of the Hispanic world during her
lifetime and she enjoyed the reputation of being the premiere Baroque
poet in New Spain (Mexico), which earned her both praise and vicious
misogynistic attacks. Sor Juana was persecuted for being an intellectual
and a woman, a nun, and a writer who wrote quite provocatively in the
very Christian New Spain of the 1600s.
**Special thanks for EDSITE
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