Cruz, Sor Juana Inés de la

Cruz, Sor Juana Inés de la

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, painting by Miguel Cabrera, c. 18th century; in the National …

(credit: Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis)

(born Nov. 12, 1651, San Miguel Nepantla, Viceroyalty of New Spain—died April 17, 1695, Mexico City) Mexican poet, dramatist, scholar, nun, and early feminist. Born out of wedlock to a family of modest means, she was sent to relatives in Mexico City, where her great intelligence became known to the viceroy. She soon became a nun, remaining cloistered for the rest of her life. Sor Juana had one of the largest private libraries in the New World. Her most important works are the poem First Dream (1692; translated in A Sor Juana Anthology), which recounts the soul's quest for knowledge, and “The Reply to Sister Filotea of the Cross” (1691), her defense of women's right to knowledge.

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Cruz, Sor Juana Inés de la 

(pseudonym of Juana Inés de la Asbaje y Ramires de Santillana). Born Nov. 12, 1651, in San Miguel Nepantla, present-day México State; died Apr. 17, 1695, in Mexico City. Mexican poet.

Sor Juana became a nun in 1667 and devoted herself to the study of science and poetry. She wrote in such traditional forms of Spanish poetry as the sonnet, romance, and redondilla; her style was influenced by L. Góngora y Argote. Sor Juana’s best lyric poetry combined profound intellect with elegant form and refined wit with a penetrating, poetic simplicity. The predominant theme of her poetry was love. She also wrote plays, verse epistles, and satirical and comic verse.

WORKS

Obras completas, vols. 1–4. Mexico City-Buenos Aires, 1951–57.

REFERENCES

Ricard, R. Une Poétesse mexicaine du XVII siècle: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Paris, 1954.
Puccini, D. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Roma [1967].
Chávez, E. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Mexico City, 1970.
Abreu Gómez, E. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Bibliografia y biblioteca. Mexico City, 1934.

I. M. CHEZHEGOVA