Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history, life and works of the poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. It discusses her defiance of Catholic Order and her learning, including her large library of books and musical and scientific instruments. The paper then discusses her expression of her feminism and her argument, in her best known work, that women need to be educated. The paper discusses the symbolism of some of her poetry.

Table of Contents:
Juana's Defiance of Catholic Order and Her Learning
Her Feminism

From the Paper:

"Much of Sor Juana Ines' poetry centers on the old chestnut of the Golden Age, which is the role of art in breaching the boundaries between illusion and reality and between dream and waking (Kantaris 1992). In her famous Poem 152, "Verde Embeleso de la Vida Humana," she describes life as a waking dream of twists and turns, and in Poem 102, "Decimas que Acompanaron un Retrato Enviado a Una Persona," she brings out the feelings of the "original" woman who sent her. In it, Sor Juana Ines questions the primary of the original over the copy, of reality over art, of the empty presence of the body over the entire world of art, imagination and the intellect. Her clever use of pronouns clouds the gender of the sender and of the recipient (Kantaris)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Disse, Dorothy. Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648/51-1095). Other Women's Voices, 2006. http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/juana.html
• Kantaris, Geoffrey. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (Juana Ramirez de Asbaje), 1992. http://www.latin-america.com.ac.uk/SorJuana
• Peden, Margaret Sayers, trans. Poems, Protest and a Dream. Penguin Classics, 1997

More papers on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz:

• Analytical Essay # 136375 : "Juana Ines de La Cruz and Feminist Writings"
• Essay # 48681 : "Life and Works of Sor Juana Indes de la Cruz"
• Book Review # 92073 : "'Don Quijote de la Mancha'"

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